Anatomy of an abduction/V.Sudarshan
Many years ago, when Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ ‘News of a Kidnapping’, was first published in English, I remember enjoying it immensely and wondering why not too many books of this kind were written in India. That was 10 years ago, when Indian writing in English was still all about Rushdie and Seth, and non-fiction was largely restricted to biographies or academics writing.
Now, Indian writing is beginning to be so much more than only the ‘literary’ novels, and non-fiction too, is covering a wider range of subjects. When I picked up V. Sudarshan’s ‘Anatomy of an Abduction’, the incident around which it revolves, the abduction of 3 Indian truck drivers in Iraq, had almost faded from my mind.
2004 is not that long ago, but one disaster eclipses another, and I had to really think, to remember the kidnapping, and the subsequent media coverage and public frenzy that had then erupted in India. Probably one of the strengths of Sudarshan’s book is that he has managed to interview all the key participants in the drama, the victims as well the team from the Indian government/embassy which managed the situation, 2 to 3 years after the incident, before memories are dulled.
That gives the book its sense of really being on the ground; indeed, many of the narratives almost sound as if they are following the protagonists around as they go about influencing negotiations. The other area this book excels at is in giving the reader a very clear sense of all the members of the investigating team. Frankly, one would expect Indian sarkari babus to be boring, but Sudarshan depicts them very humanly, with all their idiosyncrasies and anxieties.Â
One of the issues that the team has to contend with is that they have strict orders from the Indian government not to negotiate directly in any manner; the negotiations are actually happening between the kidnappers and the Kuwaiti logistics company that the truckers worked for. The team is charged with the responsibility of ensuring their safe return, but they do not have the authority to take any direct action. They can only “influence” the negotiation. Their task is complicated, because, there is no clarity on who the negotiators for the kidnappers are; further they also have to contend with the Egyptian embassy, which is playing its own game (some Egyptian drivers have also been kidnapped). How the team manages all this and ensures the safe return of the drivers is something the book throws light on, in the process revealing the workings of the government and diplomatic circles.
The only grouse I had was that perhaps the book was a little too complimentary to all the government members involved, and did not really present much of the politics or acrimonies that would necessarily have been there. Otherwise, it comes across as a very well-researched book that almost reads like a fiction thriller, though you know that it isn’t!

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