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Book Review
Of times gone by
V. R. LAKSHMINARAYANAN
DEFINING MOMENTS — A Memoir: Rajendra Shekhar; Rupa & Co., 7/16, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002. Rs. 395.
Rajendra Shekar slowly unveils a glorious panorama of Rajputana in a kind of fugitive approach. The guns almost start blazing and the expectations are aroused. He inveigles you into a quiet fireside chat in the pleasant rural surroundings of sylvan Bharatpur, the beautiful palace outhouse (an anachronism in modern age) but a nostalgic background. It is a narrative that reveals an age of vanished romance and Rajput chivalry that overflows into modern Bharat. Defining moment
s in the author’s life are also historical tales of tiger-hunts, palace intrigues, the stilted life in Mayo College – a curious cocktail of Indian princely feudalism and colonial aristocracy (wholly artificial). The influence of women in family decision making is disarmingly deceptive. Rajput women, like their sisters now in educated society in India, did wield the ‘sceptre’ though the husbands were formally wearing the crown.
I should stop here for the snapshots into the historical past told in chaste limpid language visualising the caravans, the tigers chasing the bait, the prince missing the “shot”, and the ADC making up for it and so the “king can never fail.” Delightful tales but as he goes on, with one’s appetite whetted a bamboo curtain falls and his “history” of “ancient tales and battles” long ago falls under a fog. The spark is missing from now on.
Turbulent times
The author had a brilliant career in the police, both in Rajasthan and later in the CBI during the turbulent days of our modern history. We were looking forward to the final denouement. As Carlyle said, “War makes rattling good history. Peace is poor reading. So I back Bonaparte for he will give pleasure to posterity.” During the 1965 war how the young DM Ramanan and he dealt with the warfront within is too short. In the CBI, the author describes the Jind incident in muted tones. His silence is eerie. Is he holding back events deliberately?
Many defining moments in his police career including the long stint in the CBI are missing and we feel cheated. Shekhar should make it up in another companion volume, telling us not only of the battles he and the CBI fought, but also the anachronistic chain on the wrists of the police, the vexed relation between the DM and SP. Political control and the secretariat breathing down the neck of the DGP, things from which the CBI was fortunately spared, need an experienced policeman to throw penetrating light. At a time, when the criminal law enforcement system is cracking up with each passing day, Shekhar will have to take his pen forthwith. The book is incomplete in its present form. I should say it is a book worth buying and hope the next one will complete the story. The author’s facile pen holds attention. He is a well-read man and Mayo would have added to it.
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