The Gunshots in Lodhi Garden

Set in the backdrop of 1984 Riots in Delhi, The Gunshots in Lodhi Garden is a thriller full of suspense, love, romance and violence. Once you enter this novel's world of characters and its racy sequence of events you do not rest content till you reach its very end. This is the second work of fiction by the Delhi based Chartered Accountant and Educationist turned writer, Pramod Grover. His first novel, The Wedding Gift, was published some twenty years back, in 1992.

The main plot of the story is woven around the novel's chief protagonist, Sonali Chand, and the events related to her marriage, love and her close encounters with Death. The conflict between the other two characters, Shaukat Ram; a powerful Delhi based politician and Jaggu, a riot victim turned terrorist forms an important sub-plot that runs parallel to the main plot. The 1984 anti Sikh Riots loom large over the canvas of the novel.

Like any other novelist Pramod Grover also uses story, plot, character and technique as the building blocks for The Gunshots in Lodhi Garden. However his strong preference for the element of character in the novel seems quite apparent. He creates his characters with such sensitivity and detail that they remain etched in the memory of the reader. One cannot forget the names of Sonali, Shaukat Ram, Andy, Jaggu so easily.

The Da Vinci Code : A Review

The Da Vinci Code is one of the best known novels of the contemporary literature.The author of the novel, Dan Brown, has deftly woven a plot that integrates some of the conflicts that exist between religion and spirituality, tradition and modernity in the society today.

The story of the novel begins with the assassination of the curator of Louvre museum, Jacques Sauniere who leaves several clues to reveal the enigma that the genius of Leonardo Da Vinci stands for in the west. Leonado Da Vinci may be called the hero of the novel as he is the pivot around which the story is centered. However the main characters are Robert Langdon, Professor of symbolism at Harvard and Sophie Neveu, a French cryptographer.

On the basis of the clues left by Sauniere these two characters try to decipher such mysteries in the novel that have stirred the whole western world today. Ironically professor Langdon is not only chasing these mysteries along with Sophie, he is also being chased by the police as a suspect of the murder.

Through the unfolding of these clues Dan Brown has tried to relate the great works of Da Vinci to the life and times of the society in which he lived. The author must have done an exhaustive research in this regard as the facts given in the novel seem to be very accurate. Moreover the list of these facts is long.

The great paintings of Da Vinci, Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, are the two of the many cases in point. The background of Mona Lisa's painting and the presence of a lady in The Last Supper reveal the perception of the great artist on the equality of sex. By portraying this perception of Da Vinci Dan Brown has tried to indicate how a particular section of religion has tried to lower the status of women in the society over the ages.

Dan Brown is a great artist who has integrated all these elements of plot, character, facts and techniques in such a way that the world of the novel seems more a reality than fiction. In fact at several points the boundary between the facts and fiction gets blurred.

- Arun Jee