We'll take the navy any day

Writing is a braver act than many would imagine, and a work of fiction requires courage more than mere imagination to execute. That Harinder S Sikka's blood courses with fortitude is evident in his maiden book, Calling Sehmat, which is not just one book but a power-packed three-in-one as marketers loved to call such products in the age before mobile phones made such differences redundant.

To paraphrase then, the first story is a double whammy love story. Delhi-based Tejashwari Singh falls in love with Kashmiri Hidayat Khan, and despite some parental opposition, marry and make a happy life in Srinagar with their daughter Sehmat. Hidayat is a patriot and does espionage work for Indian intelligence agencies in the guise of a thriving handicrafts business, its tentacles (and illicit liquor) biz spread throughout Pakistan. Diagnosed with cancer, he must now pass the baton to someone who will continue to work in his footsteps.

This someone is his daughter (alas, in love with the handsome tycoon Abhinav), who is made to marry into an army family in Pakistan (and through shrewd manoeuvring even betters its prospects, and therefore access to secret papers targeting India...) and sends back secret coded material for the Indian forces to act upon. Short of the 1971 war, when she is caught in the act, she foils attempts to capture her, and with blood on her hands, returns to a life...with Abhinav? Alas, no: Sikka has other plans for her, such as a pregnancy, and retirement to Maler Kotla, which is book three, where she brings about social progress and there is a good deal of philosophy to imbibe, to boot.

Book two is probably what Sikka wanted to write in the first place. A former officer of the Indian Navy, he probably wants to set the record straight on the role of the Navy in the theatre of war, particularly with regard to the 1971 war "" which is the only time it saw some action and, for all intents and purposes, conducted itself with meritocracy. With both the Army and the Air Force claiming the 1971 victory on their account, Sikka's attempt to set the record straight is praiseworthy. The Indian Navy neither won the war nor could have swayed it in any major way, but its role, nevertheless, deserves mention, if not credit.

It is this segment of the book that comes across with some authority "" clearly Sikka knows the subject, and if his book had been woven around the Navy, he might have added considerably not only to knowledge in the public domain but also contributed an interesting background to the theatre of fiction. As such, the bulk of the book is about Sehmat Khan and a cast of unidimensional characters, the skeins are poorly woven, and this affects the narrative to a very large extent. Thus, while Sehmat is "descended from the heavens", "a mesmerising work of art" with "wit, intelligence and occasional mischief", Abhinav is "tall and athletically built" with "drop-dead looks" and a "hefty bank balance", and so on. The editor(s) of the book have done it no credit either. Yet, don't be surprised if you see it being turned into a Bollywood potboiler, which looks for such suspension of belief in its unsubtle, over-the-top scripts.

CALLING SEHMAT

Harinder S Sikka
Konark
233 pages; Rs 400