Book Review: The Curse by Randeep Wadhera.

The Curse

Randeep Wadehra

Blurb

Through peace, it’s justice we seek!

The hunter will meet the fate of the hunted

And the mighty will serve the meek!

Twenty years ago, a corrupt President, a greedy industrialist, and a sycophant policeman uprooted the tribal people from their own land and burned their houses. Twenty years later, the Republic of Bodh is in danger from a similar evil troika.

The curse uttered by a frail tribal woman during the carnage twenty years ago has inspired Jwaala, the only female leader in the Senate, to reform the Republic of Bodh.

But the same curse has turned Saaya, once an innocent victim of the massacre, into a relentless killing machine with a mission to prey on the predators.

Even when the Republic spirals into a storm of scandals, the greedy and corrupt President Chaupat is torn between his lust for a dancer and his unrequited passion for his wife Kaamini.

Will Saaya succeed in his mission or will Chaupat thwart his efforts?

Will Jwaala, orphaned in a violent attack, be able to turn the curse for the greedy into a blessing for the poor? Will she succeed to save the Republic from another ensuing bloodshed?

The Curse is a gritty political thriller about people who have lost much to greed but want to transform their nation.

My Review:

This is the first time I have read a book by Randeep Wadhera.

As one reads, one can feel the pain and anger of someone who loves his country and can’t really do anything about it. And this is exactly why writers write. We write because our pen (or the PC nowadays) helps stem that helpless feeling. We are not “not doing” anything about it. We are writing about it. We are sharing our thoughts with others and hopefully it will reach those people who can do something about it.

Wadhera has a way of describing things

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It had me nodding my head and saying, “Yes, that is so apt.”

It resonated with me when he says

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But as I read, I also felt sad. This is because though Wadhera talks about a dystopian world, the boundaries between fiction and reality get blurred. Parts of the story are too near home and one can only wish that solutions in real life were a possibility.

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About the author

“I am an independent content editor, columnist, radio script-writer and blogger. I was a columnist for The Tribune for about fifteen years; my columns – Punjabi Antenna, Write View, Short Takes and Channel Surfer – were quite popular. My articles also appeared in the Chandigarh editions of The Times of India, The Indian Express, the Haryana Review, and the SouthAsiaPost.com. My analytical articles on current affairs as well as various important social and national issues have featured in the op-ed columns of The Financial World, the Tehelka, and The Daily Post etc.

I did freelance scriptwriting for All India Radio, Chandigarh as well as its World Service. For instance, I have done a five-part series on Chandigarh for the All India Radio, which was broadcast on primetime. Scripts on Microfinance and India’s growth prospects were broadcast by the AIR World Service.

I write both fiction and non-fiction. I am a published author. A collection of my short stories Walls & Other Stories was published in 2004, and the other Rendezvous in Cyberia in 2017. Canada’s All Hallows magazine and the USA’s Espresso.com, fictionmagazines.com and IndianReview.in etc – the literary websites that pays its contributors — have published a couple of my short stories. In addition, I am translating a Hindi classic into English.

Some of my poems have been included in the anthology, The Silken Web, published by the Bangalore based publisher, Unisun, in 2007. The Beehive Press, London, included one of my poems in an anthology titled Earthly and Divine Love. My poems have also appeared in Femina, the Asian Age, Deccan Herald, the Chandigarh edition of The Times of India, and The Tribune. In May 2011, my poetry collection, Singing through the nightmare, was published by Ukay Publishing Co., and has been well received by critics and poetry lovers alike. My latest anthologies – My Beautiful World (Illustrated poems for children) and Rhythms of Love are available on Kindle, Amazon.Com and Pothi.Com.

One of the books edited by me, Evolution of Education in India: a historical perspective by Lacchman Dass Bhimbhat, was published in the first week of July 2011. Another book, an autobiography edited by me, Law, Lawyers & Lawmakers by Harbhagwan Singh was published in 2014. Both these books are available on Kindle and Amazon.com outlets.

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