Books

Well-researched fiction

The Afghan by Frederick Forsyth; Transworld Publishers; Price: Rs.270; 349 pp

There’s great substance in the observation that life imitates art. Within a few months of the latest thriller of best-selling novelist Frederick Forsyth (Day of the Jackal, Fist of God, Devil’s Alternative, Odessa File etc) hitting the newsstands, on August 10, the British security forces unearthed an outrageous terrorist conspiracy to blow up ten airliners in mid-air as they flew across the Atlantic from London to New York and several points west. Eerily the weapon of choice of the foiled August 10 terrorists was reportedly liquified gas/ nitro-glycerine, the same deadly concoction AQ (Al Qaeda) terrorists employ in a unsuccessful bid to blow away the entire leadership of the G-8 countries in this chillingly realistic work of fiction.

Following the ignominious collapse of the Soviet Union, the Berlin Wall and the end of the cold war, Islamic terrorists hell-bent upon the destruction of the West have emerged as heaven-sent villains for thriller writers in the western world, who are doing an excellent job of demonising them. And it’s mete and right that demented terror groups who have substantially succeeded in ruining the traditional reputation of Islam — which has an estimated 2 billion adherents worldwide — for courtesy, liberal arts, scholarship, music and architecture, should be isolated, demonised and their indiscriminate cruelty exposed, so they lose the overt and covert support and sympathy of all Muslims around the world.

From this perspective, in his latest magnum opus which is keeping cash registers ringing in bookshops and supermarkets around the world, Forsyth has done an excellent hatchet job. The followers of the brand of Islam propagated by Muhammed-al-Wahab, an 18th century preacher from the bleakest and harshest desert environments of ancient Saudi Arabia, are for complex reasons rooted in poverty of secular learning, driven by implacable hatred for democratic non-Muslim societies.

Ill-advisedly supported by the royal house of Saud which with its humungous annual crude oil revenues has exported it worldwide, and particularly to the developing countries of the third world, Wahabi Islam proselytisers have indoctrinated millions of illiterate peasants and youth with hate-filled interpretations of the holy Koran. Consequently numerous terrorist groups in South Asia, the Philippines, Indonesia and the Middle East constitute a battle-ready army of brain-washed youths ready to do and die at the behest of cynical religious leaders with a pathological hatred of liberal democracies (in which they would count for nothing) and the forces of modernisation.

With its villains clearly identified, the storyline of this thriller is edgy and suspenseful. Way up north in the tribal badlands of the north-west frontier, Pakistani intelligence stumbles upon Tewfiq-al-Qur, a top-level AQ official whose laptop yields the secret that Operation Al-Isra which will dwarf the 9/11 twin tower strikes of 2001, is being planned in the highest councils of AQ. Inevitably Tewfiq-al-Qur finishes himself off rather than yield further and better particulars of the plot. Western intelligence has to learn about it to avoid an unprecedented global catastrophe.

The action switches to the notorious prison maintained by the US in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba where reportedly hardcore Islamic and other terrorists arrested by the American forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and other terrorist beehives are lodged for continuous interrogation. Izmat Khan, an Afghan prisoner who has obstinately refused to crack for five years has acquired a legendary reputation for commitment to the terrorist cause and his insatiable hatred for the Great Satan (the US). A fake ‘escape’ of Izmat Khan who is actually held in strict confinement deep in a forest on the US-Canadian border is stage-managed by Western intelligence. Meanwhile his identity is assumed by Iraq-born, Pashto-fluent Mike Martin, a veteran of British intelligence. For patriotic and box-office reasons, Forsyth is obliged to infiltrate Al Isra with an Englishman born and bred. The improbability of a goofy Brit fooling hardcore AQ fundamentalists is got around by subjecting him to intensive short-term schooling of the Koran and endowing him with an Indian grandmother which transforms him into a passable swarthy oriental.

Be that as it may, in deep disguise as the eponymous Afghan, Martin ‘escapes’ to Afghanistan and by spreading the word that he is unrelenting in his hatred for the Great Satan, is taken aboard by the AQ high command for Al-Isra, the mother of all terror missions. Martin is deployed to serve on a merchant marine freighter in the Philippines. The freighter containing liquid explosives equivalent to the power of several atom bombs which devastated Hiroshima in the Second World War, is heading towards the Queen Mary II which is hosting a G-8 leadership summit on the high seas. Meanwhile, helped by a freak accident, the real Izmat Khan escapes from his solitary confinement and another freighter also manned by terrorists sets sail from Trinidad towards the Queen Mary II. These sub-plots provide the twists and turns in this compelling thriller.

In academic and highbrow circles, it is fashionable to express intellectual disdain for literary fiction. Yet it is arguable that public opinion is shaped to a great extent by best-selling fiction. Moreover the best of latter day fiction tends to incorporate a plethora of useful information based on extensive research. In this novel, Forsyth painstakingly details the amazing hi-tech intelligence gathering and tracking technology that western countries have developed to fight global terrorism, which makes it plain that low-tech terrorists are fighting a losing war. Yet while eulogising modern western technology, Forsyth’s blind spot is America’s flourishing military-industrial complex which is churning out the very weapons of mass destruction which hate-crazed terror groups around the world are turning upon western and democratic societies.

Although he has written another engrossing page turner, one despairs that Forsyth isn’t aware that human ingenuity and inventiveness canalised into the development of lethal weapons of mass or instant destruction doesn’t merit breathless eulogies.

Early money wisery

Adventures in Moneypur by Swapna Mirashi; Navneet Publications Ltd; Price: Rs.90; 272 pp

Conventional wisdom that teaching children about filthy lucre is bad for them, is fast being consigned to institutional and household dustbins. Liberalisation, globalisation and a belligerent advertising industry have transformed children into discerning consumers in their pre-teen years. According to a recent survey by Walt Disney India and GroupM, almost 66 percent of middle class children in the country have clear-cut brand preferences when it comes to buying high involvement products such as automotive transport, mobile phones and television sets, with 40 percent of them strongly influencing parental purchase decisions.

Against this backdrop parents are increasingly becoming aware of the need to educate children about money management, budgeting and personal finance at early ages. Adventures in Moneypur by Swapna Mirashi, a Mumbai-based creativity trainer, offers parents a road map to initiate children into the world of personal finance.

Written simply and succinctly, the book explains concepts of personal money management to children through the story of a 12-year-old- boy Honey. Written for children in the ten-15 age group, Adventures in Moneypur takes the reader on a merry romp across the imaginary island of Moneypur inhabited by Honey, his partner Money, Guru Future Rishi and sundry other characters named Mogli, Moolah, Baccha Rupee, Yen and Rouble. And what do they teach at Moneypur? Money wisery of course!

"Through the story of Honey and Money, I’ve tried to look at the world of personal finance, mostly believed to be drab and technical, with a child-like imagination," writes Mirashi in the foreword. A postgraduate of Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Mirashi conducts workshops for children and is also author of Money Wise, an activity book on pocket money management for children.

The author ensures that the plot of the story is at a child’s level and simple. Honey, the protagonist, is a pre-teen maverick cartoonist with an incisive mind and good intentions. His parents send him off to Moneypur to learn the five mantras of life — security, fitness, nutrition, education and freedom — from Guru Future Rishi. It is through Honey’s educational process that the reader gets an introduction to the principles of investment and asset building.

As Honey makes his journey through Moneypur to Rupee Planet (i.e the real financial world) and finally to Prosper E.T., he encounters numerous adversaries including Conzoomerism, Infley Shun (inflation), Buyingitis (the bug which compels you to buy more) and Want-A-More who give him a hard time. As the story progresses he gets past the temptations of Money, Mall and Drugs, though with an enfeebled Money, and with help from his SavSave Coffer.

Guru Future Rishi, the seer of the school of money wisery, dispenses wisdom by introducing his students to the realities of the marketplace. So Honey experiences the consumerist seductions of his pre-teen market-world, first hand. Initially he succumbs to GiantGreed, Egrow (ego) and Conformus (peer pressure), but he learns to resist and thus passes the school’s tests. Certainly his sojourn in Moneypur proves beneficial, because he begins to understand useful concepts like "work is money" and the need to "make money work for you".

He also learns to appreciate a ‘portfolio meal’, i.e a balanced diet of all rupee nutrients — bond fruits, stock flowers and property. He has "to walk a tightrope called budget, balancing a set of tiny weights in his two hands — Risk and Returns." Disappointingly, Mirashi has not provided an explanation on the crucial relationship between the two. As for expenditure, Honey is advised to allocate his income so he spends about 50 percent on needs and wants, 30 percent to fulfill wishes, 10 percent to help others and 10 percent for investment.

Parents and children will be suitably enlightened about money management from this book, which is essentially for young audiences. To make it attractive to children, Mirashi has cleverly weaved into the story numerous allusions and references to the Jungle Book, Pokemon, ET, snakes and ladders, chess, magic, among other fictional characters.

This is a well produced book with illustrations, caricatures and sketches. On the downside some of the finance terminology is inadequately explained and the editing is poor. Like many Indian writers, the author seems to have a problem with the definite article ‘the’. It’s often in the wrong place, or missing. A good editor could have made this a superior fun-while-you-learn book for children.