I know I am supposed to write an introduction, discuss about the title, cover and genre of the book in the first paragraph of my book review of Mainak Dhar's 3.02, but somehow I feel it is more appropriate to start with this particularly uncanny incident that took place when I leisurely started reading the book on one fine Saturday night. I had just finished reading the back cover of the book to get a feel of what I was up to when there was an unanticipated power cut. No, power cut isn't an out-of-place phenomenon in India and of course people in India don't find it strange either but when you have an idea of what the book is about you will indeed find power cut scarier than ever.
The fiction opens with a regular modern day scenario where the protagonist, Aadi celebrates professional success in one of the innumerable pubs of Mumbai. Ten pages down, you might still mistake the story as just another modern day telltale with beers and cheers connecting the dots. However, the course of action rapidly takes a turn and for the better, I must say. The suspense element is upped by an unusual power cut (Now I guess you can understand why I mentioned my story of power cut) in Aadi’s housing community. All electronic devices are rendered useless (imagining a day without your phone is so hard, ain't it?), cars break down, the communication system goes for a toss. There is suddenly mayhem and chaos instead of dinner dates and happily-ever-afters. The luxuries of everyday life that people are so accustomed to take for granted are suddenly gone and they are stripped to bare necessities. Within a couple of hours Aadi realizes that the problem is much far stretched than he would have liked it to be. In an attempt to help his aged neighbour with his heart ailment, he finds out that the health care system together with the busy Mumbai streets have come to a standstill. He kind of senses that the power is not going to be restored soon. And sensibly he takes the lead in his housing community to handle the never-faced-before situation with his pragmatic acumen. And he does well by roping in proper resources and fearlessly tackling opposition and consequently handling criticism. A perfect example of leading from the front.
And in no time the book converts into a bollywood masala film where there is dollops of drama, handful of heroism and roomy romance. And you will definitely not regret it if you are an action flick addict. There is a good proportion of realism and better proportion of surrealism in the progress of the story but the flow of the story has a very natural easy-going characteristic which is not disrupted till the last page. And that, I believe will keep you going till the end along with terrorists, Indian army and geeks. OK, no more spoilers. You have to read the book to find out more.
Mainak’s style of writing is lucid and his character sketches are vivid. His eye for painstaking details is admirable. He can take you into his world of creative imagination and make you a part of it. His description of situations are so realistic that you can almost feel everything as if it is happening to you. His story building sensibilities in this particular book reminded me of Chetan Bhagat’s Three Mistakes of My Life. The heroic pursuits of Aadi reminded me of Ishaan (Ish).
I think 3.02 is a great choice for a cosy sunday afternoon when you have enough time to contemplate life beyond your comfort zone. Because, this fiction from Mainak Dhar’s stable can really scare you out of your wits and the couch in which you are comfortably cocooned in can suddenly seem unreal. Beware!
I
don’t like rating books because dragging literature to the number scale
is crime according to me. I would rather give all my heart to Mainak’s
thought behind the story that he nicely puts in between the awesomely
designed covers of 3.02.
