A lot to read between the lines

Jasmine Singh

Now, this is one book which is packed with just the right ratio of everything — love, longing, mystery, action. This can be termed as a perfect script in the making for any Bollywood director! The Honest Season by Kota Neelima borders on magic realism and mystery, which it is ‘generously’ dipped into. 

While most journalists and here we mean the ones who paint the newspaper black and blue (the print journalists) will relate to the narrative about newsroom reporting, on the other hand, the non-journalist clan will get to know it all about the challenges of this profession. 

Neelima coins a surreal term in the book — ‘know-journalists’ — and hands it over to one of the characters of her novel, Bidur Munshi. 

Munshi is the owner of a newspaper in Delhi, who decides to advertise in the paper for the post of know-journalists. He sets the qualification criteria for the post, which is — ‘Language would not be a hurdle, qualifications did not matter and age was immaterial. All they required were powers of the mind they were either born with or developed mysteriously, which could range from predicting future to guessing cards. Applicants would be required to do political reportage by knowing events and decisions before it happened.’ 

This is where the author of The Honest Season introduces her protagonist, Mira Mouli. She is selected for the post because she has powers to read people’s mind. Once Mira has been placed in the newsroom, the author quickly dishes out the mystery element, placing it with a thud on the newsroom table from where the entire action of the book unfurls. 

What follows is some action and drama and some honest confessions — a battery of politicians, mostly tainted, holding influential portfolios, an opposition party and a sting operation by a leading politician’s son! 

Neelima, who herself has been a journalist for over 20 years, covering politics in Delhi, knows that the real masala lies not in reporting the daily-corrupt affairs of these politicians, but in confessions that dishonest members of this ‘breed’ make when their conscience wakes up. Neelima makes the whole presentation spicier by throwing in a fairly good-looking, very unlike a politician, Sikander Bansi and yet another, ‘kind-of-charming politician’, Nalan Malik. 

What the author does next is something that Bollywood film director Karan Johar would fall for — she draws these two politicians and her protagonist Mira Mouli into a love triangle in the backdrop of some controversial Parliament tapes. It is the mystery of this love triangle that keeps the story afloat. The same mystery gives rise to many more mysteries, which are hidden from the reader till the end. 

There are moments when you feel that you have cracked the puzzle but Neelima is in no mood to hand it over to you so easily. The Honest Season comes with many honest confessions, some of which are picked from real political happenings in our country, and some that we wish could see the light of the day. 

Neelima gives her characters —whether they are editors, cub reporters, or seasoned politicians a real feel — something that probably comes naturally to an ex-political journalist. Leaving her love triangle open–ended is the best thing that happens to the book for you might be left wondering — whom did Mira actually go with, Sikander or Nalan? The answer however lies in the honest read of The Honest Season!