GREENLIGHT by Kalpana Swaminathan

It began when a six-year-old girl from Kandewadi, a small slum near Andheri in Mumbai goes missing. Pinky was the first to go, then Jamila followed by Mary, Sindhu and Tara.

Panic grips the slum when these children are returned as mutilated and raped corpses. Lalli takes charge of the investigation with police officers Savio and Shukla and her niece Sita who is also her accomplice. Written from Sita's point of view, Kalpana Swaminathan's latest book slowly opens to an unimaginable cruel world of crime and put forth several questions to ponder upon.

The book has dealt with issues like brutal child abuse, politics that can sell and buy anything, the helplessness of the officials who are not corrupt, pseudo feminism, etc. Though crime fiction written especially by Indian authors highlight several issues and makes the reader ask pertinent questions, there’s often a tendency to dismiss fiction noir as mere 'pulp fiction'. It is unfortunate.


If you put down a list of serious crime novels, Kalpana Swaminathan's ' Greenlight' will be the first in the category. It is her sixth book in the Lalli series.

Let's see who Lalli is? She is a retired police detective who has ace shooting skills. She is in her sixties and is ruling the roost in a world dominated by men. If there is a murder, Lalli is the last resort even for the police.

The book is unputdownable and a great relief that Indian writers can create novels in this genre that can compete with the west.

To speak further on the book, it throws light on the bizarre mindset of the people. On one side when the rich believes in committing horrendous crimes just for the sake having a thrill and also inflicting cruelties on children from slum purely, because they do not consider them worthy of living in this world, there are slum dwellers, on the other side,  who refuse to show any empathy to Tara's mother who is a sex worker even after Tara is abducted and killed. They even pray to take the life of Tara in exchange for their daughters' lives just because her mother is a sex- worker and they think she deserves it.

What I also like about the book is the innuendoes on pseudo- feminism. In a meeting called by Seema, the journalist who is following the Kandewadi story, women easily forget the atrocities and rape and easily shift their attention to take it as a platform to indulge in their own selfish interests – some writes articles, poem, etc. One has killed her feotus and has written a poem on it justifying her actions that she aborted it to save the fetus from the world. She has taken the decision after reading the Kandewadi incidents.

Sita who could not bear this hypocrisy comes out of the meeting and thinks to herself that “ I had lacked the courage I might have had five years ago to tell those women what a misogynystic bunch of voyeurs, they were, what pathetic human beings they were, if their only response to the pain of others was to trot out sorry tales of their own. I wondered what they would have said, or done, if they had seen Tara in her empty hut.”

Calling ' Lalli', a ' Desi Miss Marple' will not do any justification to the round character Kalpana Swaminathan has created. Even the author has clarified once that Lalli is not like Miss Marple. There are no similarities barring the fact that they love sleuthing. Like Miss Marple of Agatha Christie, Lalli has her own identity.

One thing that could have been avoided is the gory description of the brutalities committed to the children. It's horrendous. This reminds me of books written by a renowned Crime writer from the West, Tess Gerritsen. Perhaps it might be their background as medical doctors which enable them to write precise description though a bit gross.

When the story ends Swaminathan also puts across a question to ponder “ The Cry, How can I bear that someone should use my body like this? Is usually read as a woman's outrage. But isn't it equally a man's? It is men who should protest against rape, and not women.”

- Shalet Jimmy

Private India ( Private #8) - Ashwin Sanghi & James Patterson

Despite being an Indian, I have always been wary of reading thrillers, or murder mysteries written by Indian English writers. Some of the books which I tried reading were a complete turn off just because they were trying to emulate the western thriller writers. The common knowledge that the sensibilities of India are different from the West was shockingly lacking in many of them.

Nevertheless to say, Pakistani Writer Sabyn Jhaveri’s thriller‘Nobody killed her’ changed my perception. She has written a beautiful thriller with her country Pakistan as its backdrop. It’s not difficult for an Indian to understand that backdrop and stories with a South Asian background.
For years, I have been longing to read a book with Indian backdrop and a story just like ‘ Samay - When the time strikes’, one of the best crime thriller movies, I have seen starring ex- Miss Universe Sushmita Sen.

The starting chapters of this book reminded me of Samay, though both are entirely different and unique in their own way.

I chose ‘Private India’ book for two particular reasons - firstly, no doubt, the name James Patterson and secondly the backdrop of the book - Mumbai. The book was co-written by Indian thriller author Ashwin Sanghi and it was one of the books in Private India series. Honestly speaking, I have never read a book by Sanghi before, though I have seen him interviewed thriller writers like Dan Brown- yes! I acknowledge that it’s a huge mistake from my side. That’s why I started reading his
“ Chanakya Chant”.

To my surprise, the book was unputdownable. I knew Patterson’s style of writing. But the writing style of the author of this book was not similar to his previous books. Perhaps, that made me read the whole book as an Ashwin Sanghi book. I was not wrong in my assumption as I learnt that the plot belonged to Sanghi when I went through the articles about the duo signing a deal.

It all began when a plastic surgeon from Thailand was murdered in a hotel and the Private India - the Indian branch of an investigative agency started by ex-CIA Jack Morgan had to plunge into the investigation as the organization was also in charge of the hotel’s security. Within a matter of hours, the dead bodies of women started piling up in different parts of Mumbai. The yellow scarves using which the victims were strangled were enough proof that the murders were being committed by a single person.
The Indian touch was added to the story when each of the victims was found with certain props which indicated the nine avatars of Goddess Durga.

Sanghi says the story was a response to the misogyny which has become so prominent after the gruesome Delhi Gangrape. But when you delve into the story, there’s much more. Who is responsible for misogyny? Is it just the repercussion of a patriarchal society? Are Men alone responsible for that? 

I have read somewhere that even crime thrillers can highlight certain issues plaguing the society and ‘How’ was my question. I think this book was an answer to that.

Ashwin Sanghi, who has never written a contemporary thriller prior to this, but thrillers based on mythological and historical settings have efficiently made use of his knowledge here and has not gone overboard. The props placed around every victim and a reference to the Thugee cult existed in India were an example for that. Santhosh Wagh, the man in charge of Private India knew that there will be eight more killings. Cain the murderer, complete that circle? Will the Private India be able to prevent the murderer? There’s a tempo all throughout the book. But somewhere while reaching the end of the story that the tempo was found slackening. That could have been avoided.

I also like the character ‘Nisha’ who is an agent in Private India. Her character consoled the reader in me who always wanted the main protagonist to be a woman (though I am trying to come out of that self -made rule).

As I already said, the book was set in Mumbai, the commercial capital of India and one of the most happening cities in the world.
When the collaboration was announced, Patterson said, "With its vibrant and chaotic cities, and rich history and heritage there could be no better place to set Private’s next adventure than India. And in Ashwin Sanghi, with his wide historical knowledge and his love of a fast-paced plot, there could be no better writing partner."

Though I have a high opinion of the book, I have certain questions. There’s is a tendency in many of the novels to portray the main detective as depressed owing to his personal grief.  Don't you think there should be more Holmes or a Poirot unlike Suresh Wagh of Private India? Besides, why the detectives are not married or in a relationship?  Is it because the author/authors want to alienate them from the mundane thing so that, they could give more importance to the investigation.

The book is a turning point as it has made me explore the crime thriller novels from South Asia.

Ashwin Sanghi ranks among India’s highest selling English fiction authors. He has written several bestsellers (The Rozabal Line, Chanakya’s Chant, The Krishna Key and The Sialkot Saga). In addition, he has co-authored a New York Times bestselling crime thriller with James Patterson called Private India (followed by another in the series called Private Delhi). Included by Forbes India in their Celebrity 100 and winner of the Crossword Popular Choice, Ashwin also co-writes the 13 Steps series of self-help books (13 Steps to Bloody Good Luck and 13 Steps to Bloody Good Wealth) to be followed by several other titles in the series. Scroll down to see Ashwin’s journey from an avid reader to a New York Times Best Selling Author. ( Source: http://www.sanghi.in/)