Five thousand years ago, there came to earth a magical being called Krishna, who brought about innumerable miracles for the good of mankind. Humanity despaired of its fate if the Blue God were to die but was reassured that he would return in a fresh avatar when needed in the eventual Dark Age—the Kaliyug.
In modern times, a poor little rich boy grows up believing that he is that final avatar.
Only, he is a serial killer.
Do you know what is Lord Krishna’s best kept
secret? Well, there are 4 seals which once put together will point you towards
that secret. Professor Varshney is one of the few who knows about this secret
and he has a safety net. He had sent the clues to the secret to four of his
most trusted friends. When he is murdered, the safety of this secret lies in
the hands of those four people, but even they are turning up dead.
When bodies start dropping around him,
Professor Saini is one of the main suspects, while little do authorities
realise that Professor Saini is one of the targets too. In order to save
himself from the actual murderer and the police, he has no other choice than to
solve the puzzle. The only people he can rely on are a doctoral student and a
criminal lawyer. The chase and the hunt begin as Professor Saini tries to bring
together all the four parts and put together the Krishna key.
Does the plot sound familiar to you? Yes, the
plot is similar to that of Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown and Professor Saini’s
character similar to Robert Langdon. Since I have also watched the movie – Tom Hanks
kept popping up in my mind while reading this book. If I had not known about Da
Vinci Code, I would probably be going all gaga over this book. But the fact
remains that I do know and so this book feels like nothing but an Indian
adaption of the original. Even if I look at it that way, there’s still a
problem with it since it is very clear that the author has written the book in
a way so as to cater to the International market. Some of the common terms in
India have been replaced by the common American terms for the same thing. I mean
really? It’s like getting a plate of authentic Chinese Fried Rice, adding a bit
of ghee and black pepper; stir frying it and then selling it back to the Chinese
under the name of ‘Pulayo’. Granted that the author has tried to take a
different approach, but with the similar outline and protagonist, it is
difficult to be different.
However, I have to acknowledge the hard work
that the Author must have put into the book. From Mahabharata to the Vedas to
the different Indian civilizations, he has thoroughly researched everything. I
had no idea about a lot of things that were mentioned in the book and I was
intrigued enough to actually look them up. Also, to actually build that
information up and providing them in a package of thriller must have been
difficult. Ashwin Sanghi command over the language is extremely good. With a
few exceptions of very clichéd dialogues and intentional use of American terms,
his language is definitely a plus point of the book.
So overall, I would say that this book excels
in aspects of research that has gone into it and also its presentation. It
would serve as a good and healthy dose of Indian history, but end of the day,
it still reminds me too much of Da Vinci Code and since that was published first;
the credit of originality definitely goes to Dan Brown.
Would I recommend this book to anyone?
Perhaps I would recommend this book those who are more interested in reading
about Indian mythology & history and also to those who haven’t read Dan
Brown.
As you said I am the one looking forward to read this for the Indian mythological rich facts it has to offer.
ReplyDeleteA crisp review there :) congrats