A child bride Shapna was taken by Nikhil, 40 years her senior.”Dipika Mukherjee, who is currently Professor of linguistics at Shanghai International Studies University, is a gifted story-teller. You also miss the picturesque life of Malaysia which gets nudged out in bid to make room for a complex story. Conceived on these lines, Dipika Mukherjee gives us a perfect Asian tale in her novel Thunder Demons.Agni, recently back from a long affair in the US, knows Shapna hadn’t told her the real story of her birth. As the soup comes to a boil, add a piece of tragedy and let the broth sizzle. Why Shapna refuses to let Shanti become Zanial’s second wife. The novel was long-listed for Man Asian Literary Prize (2009).What goes into the bitter-sweet broth of an Asian tale Fry a pinch of radical politics with a subversive plot. A large number of Indian men have gathered to protest the “growing arrogance of a Master Race of Malays. As the book opens we find a sinister Colonel S tying explosives onto a Tibetan model who is thereafter executed. Incidents like the Malay authorities seizing 20,000 Bibles for referring to God as Allah, find an echo in the story.” Jay’s visit rattles Agni’s bedridden grandmother Shapna and so a trail of secrets begins to spill out. Siti evokes charms for a child to come to Shapna and soon the duo “find” Shanti.However, what Agni does not know is why years later Siti is shocked to see her vagrant husband Zanial’s shadow merge with that of young Shanti.
Agni and Abhik are in love. Such was the idiom of acceptance for other women, never for me. For Jay, Malaysia is a bank full of memories. Brought to Malaysia, young Shapna finds little comfort in her marriage. Whip the beans of mystery with past till they are a smooth cream.Abhik, the son of Mridula and Ranjan, is a lawyer and is the voice of minorities in the country. Colonel S, on the other hand, is embroiled in a political plot and driven by the idea of Malay supremacy. Though the story has a distinct cultural flavour one can’t help asking for more.Still burdened by the death of Shanti, Jay now falls in love with her daughter Agni and watches as death strikes Agni’s life. The sensitive ethnic equation of the country and a constant political simmering are the backbone of the novel. The most powerful of the three is the voice of Shapna: “I was brought up hearing that a woman’s life is like that of a Koi fish, hanging on to life despite all odds. As she loses her first child during the years of First World War her best friend Siti (a Malay) nurses her with Malaysian magic.On his arrival Jay finds himself in the midst of a mass protest. He writes to his dead friend Shanti’s daughter Agnibina. Though back in Malaysia, Agni isn’t sure of her relationship with the land where her mother lost her life for love.The shifting point-of-views of Shapna, Colonel S and Jay reveal the complex story of three Indian and one Malay family. Why do Zanial and Siti vanish from the scene Shanti drowns to her death after Jay, spurned in love by her, reveals the Oedipal truth of her birth. Garnish with desi flavour and serve. A stent filled with super-explosives in place of drugs, is the project for which he needs Jay’s help.
