Firangi Proseurs

With Brother Anthony's thoughts turning to writings, Amar too must follow. He has been reading Kevin Rushby’s Children of Kali. He loses interest though, when the author meets Gulshan Grover and tries to pass it off as a meeting with Bollywood's greatest villain.

The author's diligence is matched by that of the critics whose praise is printed on the front and back covers of the book.

The Literary Review says: “Children of Kali stands out because of the author’s remarkable perceptiveness and genuine effort to explore the city’s slimy underbelly...”

Unless Amar is misreading a metaphor, Literary Review have misread the book. The book isn’t about any city at all – the author travels through a dozen towns and villages while tracing various historic and current events, none of which particularly focus around any city.

Oh there is some slimy underbelly action in Kolkata alright, where the author plays gin rummy in a dark room with ganjah-smuggling gangsters. This lasts a grand 3 pages out of 277. Maybe that's all the reviewers read. Lucky for some.

Another bit of meaningless praise, History Today. “A fascinating description of parts of India where most people will never set foot.”

Just wonderful, why don’t we name those parts after him. Meanwhile, the critic could explain what parts of the world exactly most people do set foot in. Surely it couldn't be that when talking of "people" the critic overlooked all the natives living there. Of course not!