The top 3 in the world as far as “satire, with a meaning” goes are: Dilbert, Ramesh Srivats and Amit Varma. I have been a fan of Amit Varma and IndiaUncut for years now – and it was but obvious that I had to read his book!
Just imagine “What if IndiaUncut had been a book?” – and thats My Friend Sancho for you!
The Story:
Well, this is no suspense story – but I'll still keep the story part short so as to avoid “spoilers”
Abir Ganguly, a reporter on a crime beat is informed by the police about an impending arrest. The reporter reaches the scene where the “arrest” turns out to be a shooting and one man ends up dead.
Muneeza, is the daughter of the man who was shot dead.
The two meet when Abir is asked to do a story about the life of the innocent man who was shot dead. Abir takes Muneeza's help to know her father's life better. It doesn't help when Abir is later asked to make it a split-story; with half of it painting a picture of the person who shot the bullet – Inspector Thombre.
How Abir goes about writing this story occupies the rest of the book.
What's So Special About It?
For one, there's copious amounts of Amit Varma's hallmark humor and satire. Secondly, the book abounds in Amit Varma's second hallmark – humor with a message. The main point of the book is about the kind of life journalists lead – and it made me regret the criticism I often hurl at them. It's also about the kind of life policemen lead – putting the reader in their shoes.
By the time you are done reading the book (by the way the 200 pages won't take you too much time – 3 hours, give-or-take); you will be happy with your life and end up wondering “Why the hell am I complaining about my life? Had I been in these people's shoes, would I have handled things as well as they did?”
And that is the best quality of My Friend Sancho. I would rate it at 3.5 stars. It is not outstanding, but is still a must-read. Go get yourself a copy right away!
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Other books I have reviewed:
- Wise and Otherwise (by Sudha Murthy)
- Bitter Chocolate - Child Sexual Abuse in India (by Pinki Virani)
- Frontline Pakistan (by Zahid Hussain)
- Dude, Where's My Country (by Michael Moore)
- Games Indians Play (by V Raghunathan)
have heard about the book.will take your review as one needing me to go and grab it.
neha p.
am a big fan of Amit's blog. Wanted to read his book, but its not available here in Singapore. Maybe on my next trip home will buy one there.
Nicely done...
Read the book and I really liked it, though somehow I felt that it could have been taken a bit more, than stop abruptly..
You write nice reviews, short n sweet n jus enuf to make a reader wonder wht really happens in d buk!
@bambi, @Liju: Ya please do grab a copy - don't follow in the footsteps of the author by procrastinating :D
@Roshmi: Thanks!
@Rahul: I suspect that could be a precursor to a sequel!
@JSincro: Thanks! Although if you think all my reviews are short and sweet, you obviously have not read my reviews of Frontline Pakistan or Bitter Chocolate!
liked the review. Great book, isn't it?
John