Understanding The Alchemy of Violence. Review on Husband of a Fanatic - Amitava Kumar

Lyrical quality of his proses  has always  amazed me. From Passport Photos where he embarks on a journey to describe trials and tribulations of  the third world immigrants in US of A  to Bombay London New york which is an ethnically insightful attempt to understand the life in a small Indian Town, while reading his books the readers always seem to forget that they are reading a book of non-fiction. The supreme story telling style laced with elegant peotic prose  has always left his readers asking for more.

Husband of Fanatic, like his earlier books is based on his own experiences and personal journeys . Here he tries to understand the alchemy of violence in India and Pakistan and the legacy of Hatred , both countries still preserve like prized possessions. The'communalism and fundamentalism'  is like a disease and can infect anybody irrespective of cast, creed or religion. And main carriers of this disease are, yes your guess is correct, politicians. And one if gets chance to interact with hoi polloi it is observed that more or less no acrimony exists at common man level . It is only politician who incites people by telling them false stories and half truths.

In this masterly woven book( Yes, not written but woven because he collects the different strands of stories from different places and weave them with his poetic prose or prosaic poetry into a  full fledged story which appears more of a fiction than non-fiction), the author  travels across India and Pakistan to understand the intricate maize of hate, violence, religion and politics.

He works as Sutradhar or narrator in this book but he never allows his personal biases or predilections get in to this story .

It is a fabulous book, well written and a must for anybody who wants to understand the alchemy of violence in South Asia.