Review - Vermilion Harvest : Playtime at the Bagh

 

Vermilion Harvest : Playtime at the Bagh
by
Reenita M. Hora

312 pages, Indignor House, Inc.

Genre: Historical Fiction

“Mumma. She said that from the moment you are born,
you start your journey to Bhagavan-ji ka ghar. Such a long
journey can take all your life. So … how are all these people
going to get there without their chappals?” - Gopal


It is the time of the satyagraha ( truth and firmness)  in the Indian subcontinent when people are protesting non-violently against the Rowlatt Act which gave power to the British govt to arrest, torture and kill any person of the Indian subcontinent after declaring them as terrorists or enemies of the Empire.

Aruna Duggal is an Anglo Indian school teacher. Born as a result of rape of her Punjabi mother by her unknown British army father, she and her mother face ostracism from both her mother's Punjabi Hindu community and also the British community in general. However she falls in love with Ayaz, a Muslim law student who is also a Gandhian freedom fighter thanks to their fondness for Jane Austen's novel -Pride and Prejudice. Her best friend is Amrita Singh, a Sikh homemaker and mother of young Gopal. They are all young and hopeful in 1919.

Set against the backdrop of Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar which fell on Baisakhi (Punjabi Harvest Festival) and when people gathered to celebrate the festival while some to protest peacefully against the Rowlatt Act  and the arrest of pro-independence activists Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr.Satyapal  who symbolized unity of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, the book examines what it really means to be human. Hora ponders using the Jallianwala Bagh massacre if all those who fought for freedom from British colonization of the subcontinent, really got what they wanted or what they dreamed of in 1919 - a free subcontinent and instead  of what we did in 1947 - a partition of the subcontinent into three countries with people still struggling with scars even after 75 years.  Those who died in Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar would have never accepted the partition.

Hora's writing style is crisp, fast paced, sensitive and heartbreaking. It is a well researched book that makes you wonder about hyphenated identities of people in the subcontinent. Everyone is a minority here. The narrative is unique as it tells it from an Anglo-Indian perspective which also covers how the unfounded fear from the British administration that led to the massacre thanks to General Dyer who yelled" Fire" without even asking the people to disperse which made it a turning point in the freedom struggle.

I don't know why this book hit me so hard and made me cry. Is it because from July 1, 2024, Indians will face a modified version of Rowlatt Act in India? Or is because I have always felt, that partition was a double insult to the freedom fighters  who dreamed of a unified subcontinent with free people and never of partition and the British cheated us of it? I don't know. All I know is that this book is a must read for all.

It is a unique book. Buy it here - AMAZON

Book Review - Babanango Trilogy - A Rougher Task

Babanango Trilogy - Part 1
A Rougher Task
by DJG Palmer
Cranthorpe Millner Publishers
344 Pages, 2024



What was the main reason for Britons joining the Army during the Victorian Era? Was it just patriotism or poverty? Who is a sapper and who is an officer? Why did the British invade Africa and Asia? DJG Palmer answers this and more in his part 1 of his trilogy, A Rougher Task.

Albert Bond finds himself penniless and friendless as his father dies while doing business and leaves him in debt which he repays by having to sell off everything he has including the golden pocket watch his parents presented him with for his 21st birthday. He plans to marry Clara who is the daughter of a retired Colonel but he doesn't have a respectable income. So he hopes to seek his fortune by joining the Army after due training at the Royal Military Academy just as Clara's father and his maternal Uncle Captain AW McGonagle.

As a gentleman officer, he is required to have a batman/sapper and he is lucky it is Jack Coleman who is a good looking, dutiful chap who has joined the Army because of poverty. However Bond is not too fond of his maternal uncle who has done a tour of India and now lives in Africa as his reputation in the Army is that of a maniac that Bond hides his correspondence with him so as not ruin his own reputation.

Bond and Coleman get on well despite their difference in class and rank. When their company is sent off to South Africa, so that they can fight the Zulus, they all get excited as they leave Chatham in 1878. It made me laugh that the Queen's regulations for a ship traveling to either Africa or India meant - a horse had 125 cubic feet of space while an officer had 175 and they stuck to it loyally. If two officers shared a cabin, then it was 275 cubic ft. while a sapper had only 50 ft. Some stuff like this are crazy and hilarious at the same time.

This book is all over the place as it is the first part introducing too many characters but is mostly about the brewing bromance between Bond and Coleman. There is the battle with Zulus which for the first time though fiction is an honest account, actually shows how scared and disorganised the British were when they fought, how terrified they were of Zulus when they first met them in the battle field which Brits would have lost but for their superior weaponry, etc. The McGonagle monologue might be okay for someone like me in India who knows about the sepoy mutiny but can be confusing for most people. 

For those who are interested in history, colonialism and war strategy - this would be a great read.

Buy it here    AMAZON