‘Twisted Threads: A satire on Power Politics and pollution’ is the first book by author Bhavesh Kansara. Popular on Twitter for his brilliantly sarcastic Tweet threads on Indian politics and current affairs, Kansara has turned some of his most popular threads, characters and narratives into a book that is not only sharp on wit and narration but also manages to bring out some really uncomfortable realities of our times.
The book’s characters come in all shades. Some of them are inspired by real political figures, like ‘She Who Shall Not Be Named,’ Vivekanand Modi, Amulya Gandhi and his pseudo-RW namesake, Amulya Easwar, among others and some remarkable characters that the reader eventually realises are not actual persons but the embodiment of some particular phenomena, or narratives that have been in play in post-independence India.
The most hilarious characteristics in the book are the acronyms, brilliantly crafted and fitted to such perfection that would put even the master acronymist Mr. Vice President to shame, these acronyms range from the names of associations formed by MRI machines and EVMs that have been mysteriously awakened into sentient consciousness by some strange happenstance, and also include vicious attack strategies mastered by the mushroom maker Peter Subramani to defeat Vivekanand Modi.
Here are some examples:
SPAMMING: Spread And Publish Anti Modi Messages Influencing Narrative on the Ground
MEMRI: Ministry for Establishing MRIs
DIX: Democratic Idea of X-Rays
The sheer wit and sarcastic narration of the events are bound to leave the reader ‘LLRC’.
Another aspect of the book that causes hearty laughs and also forces a reader to marvel over the sharp wit of the author is the names and descriptions of some of the characters.
Sitasurya Chammach, for example, is an eminent historian while Vijay Singh competes with Shankar Fai and others for grabbing the attention of ‘She Who Shall Not Be Named’ and her son, Amulya Gandhi.
In one instance, when Amulya Gandhi asks his darbaris about information on Gita, to win over Hindu votes, Vijay Singh’s first reaction is that Gita is a “Sau Taka Tunch Maal”.
Reprimanded for his ‘Neech’ remarks by Shankar Fai, Vijay Singh soon corrects course and suggests, “Why do you want to know about Gita, Amulya Ji? Let us release a book titled ‘Gita Ki Saazish’ and I will invite my friends Mahesh and Zakir too, it will be a blockbuster before anyone finds out.”
We also get a glimpse of the inside of Amulya Gandhi’s mind:
Strewn across the mental landscape were thoughts on velocities to escape from planets,politics inside torn apparels,wrong sizes of countries and continents, malapropisms and spoonerisms,sources of milk, dog tricks, interconnected imaging devices, designs of modern alchemical machineries that can turn vegetables into golden ingots, ideas about how to provide pleasure to every person in india, and seven out of five thoughts were just variations of the rss and the bjp.
The character of Abdul Malik, very popular among the followers of Kansara’s threads, displays the sheer brilliance of the author in representing how a vague idea of victimhood and entitlement has been used by many of the ‘Idea of India’ believers for not only creating fortified fake narratives but also enables the transfer and propagation of ideological attack methods on the ‘landmass that had no name before 1947’, because, the author reminds us, ‘it was yet to be discovered by Nehru’.
The book is remarkable for not only for its sheer brilliance but also for the classy and clean narrative style. The author not only manages to make readers ‘LLRC,’ but he also compels to think about the weaknesses, the lags and the fault lines of our current political system that is allowing the Peter Subramanis and Sankhya Sifars to get what they want.
Kansara does not limit his book into mere satirical pot shots at political figures, in his unique style, he also brings to the fore the issues of education, development and cultural degradation that have managed to bring the civilisational rot we find ourselves in. He provokes thoughts, pokes the conscious mind and highlights why ‘Vikas’ remained stunted and starved while ‘Tina’ has grown into a plump, happy child.
From Tamil movies to statues of Lenin in God’s own forsaken country, from Delhi fog and the Supreme Court to the green ghost roaming in Kashmir, the TRP hungry media wallahs, and their driver cum opinion makers to the minister of apology demands, Kansara does not spare anyone. A sharp, witty and brilliant satire on today’s politics in India, Kansara’s book is a must-read.
Bhavesh Kansara’s book ‘Twisted Threads: A satire on Power Politics and pollution’ is available on Amazon.in in both paperback and Kindle versions. It is also available on Google Playstore books.
