Mango people in Banana Republic by Vishak Shakti
Mango people in Banana Republic by Vishak Shakti is political and spiritual combination novel, but somehow I didn’t enjoy reading the book as much as expected.
The novel has an eye catching title and I was wondering how India is a banana republic. I read the entire novel and never quite understood why the book was titled so.
Blurb
The story is about Ravi, who had become berserk when denied his rightful promotion and embarks on an unknown journey of self realization which was through witnessing many political dramas which includes cold blooded murder, spending time with rebels, even planning for blowing up Ram temple etc. All this leads him to spiritualism.
Political Issues
The author has raised political issues like Naxalite problems and farmer starvation and suicide. In fact, in one of the scene a farmer commits suicide in an election rally. The scene seems to be inspired from the real incident happened in Arvind Kejriwal’s rally. Vishak Shakti had tried to address their problems.
The political part was heavily inspired from the Arundhati Roy’s latest book The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. But Arundhati has her own distinctive style. Her characters are strong and through them she tells the tale of downtrodden wronged by the government.
My Thoughts
In case of this book, I just couldn’t relate to the protagonist Ravi. He had sold off all his belongings just like The Monk from the book The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma. But Ravi goes one step ahead and burns wads of paper currency. He embarks on the self realization journey and helping poor farmers with empty stomach and empty pocket.
The spiritual part of the book was also heavy to read and I was not able to follow most of it.
The only reason I actually managed to complete the book was because it was well written. The author’s writing was great. Something or other was happening all the time which will keep grabbing your attention.
The Verdict
Not liking the book was completely due to my personal taste. You might
absolutely love it. So follow your heart.
