Review : Shoes of the Dead by Kota Neelima

Title: Shoes of the Dead
Author: Kota Neelima
Pages: 274 Hardcover
Publisher: Rupa Publications
Genre: Fiction
Release: 2013
Buy the Book: Flipkart / Homeshop18

(Source : review copy via Blogadda.com)

Crushed by successive crop failures and the burden of debt, Sudhakar Bhadra kills himself. The powerful district committee of Mityala routinely dismisses the suicide and refuses compensation to his widow. Gangiri, his brother, makes it his life’s mission to bring justice to the dead by influencing the committee to validate similar farmer suicides.

Keyur Kashinath of the Democratic Party - first-time member of Parliament from Mityala, and son of Vaishnav Kashinath, the party’s general secretary - is the heir to his father’s power in Delhi politics. He faces his first crisis every suicide in his constituency certified by the committee as debt-related is a blot on the party’s image, and his competence.

The brilliant farmer battles his inheritance of despair, the arrogant politician fights for the power he has received as legacy. Their two worlds collide in a conflict that pushes both to the limits of morality from where there is no turning back. At stake is the truth about ‘inherited’ democratic power. And at the end, there can only be one winner. Passionate and startlingly insightful, Shoes of the Dead is a chilling parable of modern-day India.

A book that will make you stroll through India’s corridors of power and politics with a perfect portrayal of how its consequences creep into the lives of the farmers forcing them to commit suicide. Get ready to read a gripping tale by Kota Neelima

When everyone is not fussing about "Cricket", they open the news paper which covers some serious issues India is facing today, one of them is 'Farmer's suicides', albeit one can easily Google the statistics of farmer's suicide and also read many articles on WHY? No one can ever know the truth behind it until they hike the tenacious mountains of the crude reality. 'Shoes of the Dead' gave an insight to the Mire of political world. How every step is calculated and precise, the manipulation and media ethics.

Story opens with the focus on the son of the Secretary of The Democratic Party (DP) in Delhi, Keyur Kashinath, who called a meeting to discuss and take effective measures to control the Farmer's suicide in Mityala district including Gopur village. Which gave the glimpse to all the characters, even those who were not present at the meeting, and no one appeares to be what they truly are.

Meanwhile in the village, there is a committee of members who decides whether a widow of a farmer deserves the compensation of Rs. 1 lac or not. And nothing is fair on the committee, Moneylender Durga Das and the Maha sarpanch Lambodar are the puppet masters whose every verdict in calculative, in their interest. Many Widows are denied the claim and no one speaks for them until an unfortunate farmer Sudhakar Bhadra, from the Gopur Village commits suicide leaving his family (wife and two children) in debt and hunger, his widow is denied the compensation, his younger much established brother, Gangiri returns and is determined to fight for justice.

Fighting against so many politically driven and powerful people is not easy. Videhi Jaichand, a survey analyst at the Center for Contemporary Societies and wife of one of the India's richest men decides to help him with the help of Nazir, a journalist who doesn't bother with formalities buy honesty and nothings stops him from showing it in his articles.

Gul, the collector, the village doctor and many others are caught in the middle of all this. Gangiri is the man of principals and he is does not yield before wrongness ans 'Shoes of the dead' is his story. Its a story of a complex politician Keyur, its the story of the bloodcurdling politics farmers are target of each day.

The ending unexpected, its not where everything falls in place and there is a happy ending, no. Its the reflection of Reality from First to last page that will bind you and you won't put it down until you are done, and when you are done, there will be a lump in your throat and your eyes will be moist, and you'll find yourself with a vision for this current India. That is what happened with me.
I am really thankful to blogadda.com for giving me the opportunity to read this amazing Book.