Today, I read review about Death at my Doorstep - Khushwant Singh on MouthShut – the consumer review website.
In Death At My Doorstep, a collection of obituaries written over the years, he presents the dead in death, as in life good, bad or ugly. Even though it talks about death & dead, it is not depressing at all as it opens those closed doors beyond which we have never seen because most of it all happened half a century ago.
His discussions with Dalai Lama, Acharya Rajneesh, V.P. Singh (ex-Prime Minister), Dr. Satya Vrat Shastri, etc are a treat to read.
Very few people have dates with death apart from those who take their own lives or are convicted by court to hang. He has given an example of Z.A. Bhutto who was hanged in Pakistan. 13 pages about Bhutto takes the reader to a different world, which narrates his last few days in prison before he was hanged. His struggle to survive & failure to do so makes the reading more interesting. He was even found crying in prison & was heard saying, "marna bahut mushkil hota hai".
His meeting with Tikka Khan, who was sent to Bangladesh with permission to loot, rape & kill anyone it suspected of being disloyal to Pakistan, is a sucker punch. You will be proud of him.
This book introduces people like M.O.Mathai, Rajni Patel, Dhiren Bhagat, Mulk Raj Anand, R.K.Narayan, Harbhajan Singh & many others and unfolds their relationship with the writer.
Chetan Anand is not unknown to anyone but did we know that he was very close to Khushwant Singh? Then there was a drift in their relations. Thats a very emotional write up.
There are many other known characters like Protima Bedi, Prabha Dutt (Barkha Dutt of NDTV is her daughter), Amrita Shergil, which surprises the reader.
Best part about Death at my Doorstep - Khushwant Singh is everything.
Rating: 3/5.
You can read the detailed review of Death at my Doorstep - Khushwant Singh on MouthShut.
book fiction non-fiction Death at my Doorstep Khushwant Singh review mouthshut mouthshut.com
No comments:
Post a Comment