Monday, January 16, 2023

#BookReview : The Powerful, The Powerless by Shiva Dhuli

 


The Book -  “The Powerful, The Powerless”  indicates the larger divide in the society between haves and have-nots.   This fictional novel contains characters which are seen around us in daily lives.   The characters those represent the top layer of politicians and corrupted system  and the downtrodden who are suppressed and kept suppressed always by the society for no fault of theirs.  

The Poor remains Poorer, and The Rich becomes Richer.     The darker side of our thinking is clearly brought out in the novel, which is for serious readers and deep thinkers.  The power struggle politicians who use powerless underprivileged lot for their own benefits is clearly brought out in the novel.  

Not many writers can weave this story brining in the harsh realities of life.   This fiction is not for fun reading but for people who have thinking about the hard lives around us, show empathy and try to be good at least within our levels of control.

Summary of the Story.

The story starts in the hospital beds of two people waiting for their time to get the organs for transplantation and ending up talking about the story of the person who seems to be powerful at beginning but of the most powerless background.  They pray for miracles in life.   The main characters Bharat and the Government man Kanskumars is introduced to us from here.  Bharat starts narrating his story to Pasupathi in the hospital ward, about his story, struggle, losses, and everything that can be sad in one’s life. 

The transition of a destitute boy, abused in childhood, traumatised as a teen, and transforms into a well-educated professor is the picture we get from the story of Bharat.   How a politician can destroy the world of a commoner for his greed and political upliftment, how the love world of this young man shatters with murders, kidnaps, and killings.   Eventually how he gets framed for a  murder someone else does and murder is made to look like a suicide.    The repeated scenarios that show the pathetic circumstances that evolve around the protagonist, and despite of all the odds, spends time with hope and revival  in life.   Shiva Dhuli weaves this tragic situation around us, and we can find many Kanskumars and Bharaths around us!!

Circle of connecting dots

1.      Political incorrectness with all its corruption, greed, and heartlessness

2.     The great divide between the working class, labourers and politically and financially rich is portrayed in dept.

3.     The story strongly supports the title of the book

4.     Journalist tragedies, erasing of judicial evidence and portrayal of the characters wrongdoing is clearly brought out.

5.     How government and opposition, always try to rub on the mud slings on each other and trying to dispose of each other convenient for their political vendetta.  

6.     It is not just the powerless, but also the struggle of the powerful to remain at power.    They represent lack of justice, spreading of hatred and evil around us

7.     To me, personally, the story has a gripping view of the society and some chapters felt dragging and the reader would love to have a speed in the story.  However, for this kind of a serious subject, you can introduce all characters at once and rush into the sequential events.

8.     Shiva Dhuli, clearly brings out the uncertainty and continuous suffering of the downtrodden and how society in general, ensure that the poor remain poorer.    There is no known mystery but an unending misery that is deeply conveyed

9.     This novel showcases the realities in life, which we fail to acknowledge around us

10.  Final say:   good novel to read.  To think.  To redeem few things around us if we can.     Fortunately, to a reader who is sensitive it will hit straight in their head for some deep thinking.   Unfortunately for readers who do not like serious stuff, this book can be lengthy and not to the speed.   But be prepared to unwind with the unfortunate power struggle, powerlessness, and nothing in our power to control anything powerful around us. 

I brought the novel from Amazon India .   Good work Shiva Dhuli.  More power to your pen!!!

2 comments:

Shiva Dhuli said...

Great review!

Shiva Dhuli said...
This comment has been removed by the author.