Nowhere People

‘Can one just step into a photo frame and thus re-enter the past?’

The first time I heard of a place called McCluskieganj was in 2013 when I read Ian Jack’s lovely collection of non-fiction work, Mofussil Junction. It is a  village located roughly 65 kilometers from Ranchi (Jharkhand) which gets its peculiar name from its founder, Mr. Timothy Ernest McCluskie. Mr. McCluskie ( who ran  a real estate business), was a  prominent member of the Anglo-Indian community along with being a member of the Bengal’s Legislative Council in the 1920s. He had a vision for establishing a separate homeland for his community and formed a cooperative society through which fellow members could buy plots near a station then called Lapra.The foundation ceremony was held in November 1934. Unfortunately Mr.McCluskie passed away the following year but his dream was fulfilled even though it was doomed to fail in the future. The community was looked down upon by the British ( “racially impure’’) and local population (mostly tribals) always looked upon them as outsiders. Though many Anglo-Indian families settled there post independence, most of the next generation decided to migrate out of India to Canada, Australia and New Zealand for better prospects, never to return.

Vikas Kumar Jha’s book, McCluskieganj, The story of the only Anglo-Indian Village in India (Harper Perennial 2015, Rs.399) presents an updated account of life in the village seamlessly mixing fiction and non-fiction. The author who is a journalist, has spent a considerable time in the village and several of his characters are based on actual people staying there. The protagonist is Mr. Dennis McGowan who like many others had moved to Hong Kong from McCluskieganj, and now longs to go back to his village where he grew up. He is extremely nostalgic about his life in the village and continuously shares his stories with his son Robin. This motivates Robin to plan a visit to McCluskieganj and write a novel about the place. Meanwhile life moves on slowly in McCluskieganj where mostly the senior members of the Anglo-Indian community are left and they have over the years more or less integrated well with the local tribals. Their daily chores and challenges are very well described in detail by the author and they seem to have made peace with their existence even though a sense of tragedy always hangs in the background. Each and every character has an interesting story linked to him/her. Most poignant amongst these is the story of Mrs. Kitty Taxeria who once belonged to a wealthy family but now sells fruits at the railway station to make ends meet. (Her photograph also adorns the cover of the book).

 Robin’s arrival in the village triggers old memories in the community. At one level the novels also works as a commentary on nostalgia and displacement. After spending time in the village and falling in love with a local tribal girl, Robin comes up with the idea of celebrating 3^rd November as the founder’s day. This decision sets of a chain of events as the whole village starts gearing up for the big day with relatives flying in from abroad to take part in the celebrations. Towards the end the story, a rather dramatic turn takes over. Some of the readers would find this sudden turn in the story a bit incredulous but that is only a minor irritant in an otherwise excellent book. It is a tribute of the small community which has not got its due and may not even exist in the next few decades. Many of us would always be grateful to the community for the excellent educational institutions which they continue to run selflessly  with discipline and without compromising on the values.

This book was originally published in Hindi in 2011 and it is easy to see the amount of effort put in by the author and the relationships he established in the village. In a small interview towards the end he says ‘The completion of McCluskieganj left a big void in my life. For several years I was at a loss as to what I should write next’.

The book also contains several photographs of prominent people and places of McCluskieganj and these along with the excellent cover add value to the book.

The Desert Fox

The first thing which intrigued me when I received the book – The Ghost Runner (Bloomsbury 2014, Rs.299) was the name of the author –Parker Bilal. Turns out that the name is the pseudonym of England born, Barcelona based writer, Jamal Mahjoub. The name Parker Bilal is a homage to his grandmother, who fed him thrillers when he was a child growing up in Khartoum, Sudan. His parents later moved to Cairo and it is a city the author knows well and it shows in the novel. The protagonist, Cairo based, private detective Makana, who is battling his past of escaping from Sudan and losing his wife and daughter is called upon by a lawyer to investigate the death of a young girl, Karima who has been burnt alive in downtown Cairo. The investigation takes Makana from Cairo to Siwa a small town deep into the desert in Egypt. This is the place from where Karima’s parents –Nagat (who raised Kaima in Cairo) and Musab (who was later exiled to Denmark) grew up before moving to Cairo.

 Siwa appears to be a typical laid back small town. The peace is however soon shattered by the mysterious death of the Qadi (town judge) and the police chief Hamama, with an eye on his promotion, asks Makana to help him in the investigation. Soon, another murder follows. And then another. Could these murders and Makana’s search for Karima’s killer be connected? Has the police chief been entirely honest with Makana?  What is the secret of the beautiful women’s rights’ worker Zahra Sharif whom Makana met in Cairo and is in constant touch with? What is behind Musab’s sudden return from Denmark? In order to unravel the maze, Makana has to deal with a bunch of quirky characters in Siwa. From Dr Medina, the town doctor with bare minimum facilities and  who needs a drink to be sober (and also has secrets of his own) to Wad Nubawi the evasive superstore owner, to Sadig the aggressive police chief’s assistant who is always suspicious of Makanas’ moves and dying to put him behind bars. Events unfold against the background of Israel-Palestine conflict and the aftermath of 9/11 and these also cast a shadow on the plot besides giving a contemporary edge to the story. This a very intelligently written crime thriller which is sure to keep the readers of this genre glued. It is can easily hold against the best of Nordic crime fiction which has come to dominate this genre nowadays.  This novel is the third in the Makana series by the author and even as I write this a fourth novel (also based in Egypt) is already out in the market. Can’t wait to get my hands on the same.