Silent Sob Suffocates

The Edge Of Desire is a page turner particularly for those who want to explore pits and plots. This writing has a lot of variations Tuhin A Sinha, the author, has woven in his story narration. He concisely gave the protagonist Shruti Ranjan’s voice a strength that wins many hearts.

The story is about Shruti, a scribe from Delhi. She finds her boyfriend in bed with her best friend. She feels duped and lost and goes back to her native place and starts living with her parents. Now she is completely shattered due to this culture shock she’s experienced in this city, notorious for its ostentatious style. She submitted to her parents and settled down with Rohit in an arranged format drawn by her parents. Rohit is a Deputy Commissioner of Kishanganj, a town in Bihar. This marriage led her to an ugly turn. The story floats around Shruti who fights the system for justice and around her are Sharad Malviya and Manoj who spin a good yarn in the novel.

After you have flipped through about half of the pages, the book talks about the real disgusting tale of sin and corruption India has ever remain infested with, a malaise that took root. The legal system is paralytic, files do not move in courts, gaping chinks in the system one needs money to plug them. The book grips you with certain fact files. It’s like you will die dirty if you are sometime somewhere a part of Indian politics. There is no renunciation and there is no penance either.

The book is elaborately authored by Tuhin who has studied the political system from a close range that describes Indian politics as an old cauldron in which a blend of sheer frustration, utter helplessness, profound sadness, seething anger and ultimate betrayal is brewed. This further narrates those absolutely appalling and horribly obnoxious reports, the daily and periodicals are screaming aloud to nudge our attention. We are for a small moment saddened by such mishaps; accept them in the same fold and move on to our businesses rather than fighting back to resolve the issue once and for all. Most fresh bureaucrats with new bubbles break their vows to right the wrong; many of them end up becoming a part of the system buckling under the strain as they easily succumb to the dazzle of power and money. On the other hand, there are just handfuls too, who cannot afford to resist this monstrous machinery and also decline to suck up to the politicos in the ministry concerned just for staying intact in the plum position, rather quit the job than to abuse their conscience.

The book is unputdownable, gives a vivid view, the characters well defined in the book and the intriguing plot inside the pages. The fact lies far beneath the dirty layers of politics and when it comes to the state like Bihar it gets more murky and grimey. A kurta-clad solely focuses on garnering votes, sympathising with the rape victim and simply playing her a pawn and provides no justice to the sufferer. She thinks the opposition party leaders would at some point during their speech address the incident of rape in order to drive home the message of lawlessness but to no avail. The party in the state sustains on the mercy of the government at the Centre. Rape is a minor thing for those who belong to a political party. A voice screaming anguish of sexual assault remains either unheard or muffled. Above all, the system gets disgustingly distressful when such victim is exploited by the police official particularly one who happens to be an IO (Investigating Officer) in the case and also the counsel (lawyer) who commands an exorbitant fee either in cash or kind or both. The most unfortunate part and tragic irony this read gives is that the rape victim is cajoled into contesting an election as she may be given a Lok Sabha ticket. There is no justice to a weak voice in a country like India; people with clout influence the probe, there are many such choked Shrutis who are the victims of circumstances. Either suffer in silence or silence this satanic system full of sins and sufferings.

 By Syed Wazid Ali