Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Aniruddha Bahal - Bunker 13


Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Borrowed @ Browser, Sector 9, Chandigarh
I am reading Bunker 13 by Aniruddha Bahal at the moment. It is written in a referral kind of a style. Instead of saying 'I shot the bastard because he was about to shoot me and my comrades', he says 'You shot the bastard because he was about to shoot you and your comrades'.. Get it? Maintaining that tone for the entire book is not easy.

I am about midway through and have skipped some chapters. I suppose he wants to bust the Army myth. That upright - mere vatan ke logon kind of an image to a more selfish, self centered, screwed up bunch of bastards out to make money kind of an image. It is a novel concept and you won't look at army guys in the same way again.

Will write more on it later.. as I progress with the reading, if I get fed up, I will stop.