11 April 2018

Review #703: Keepers of the Kalachakra by Ashwin Sanghi



My rating: 3 of 5 stars


“Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality.”

----Carl Sagan



Ashwin Sanghi, the country's bestselling mythological author, has penned a compelling part sci-fi and part mythological thriller called, Keepers of the Kalachakra that revolves around the murder mystery of the world's prominent leaders under strange circumstances while an Indian scientist along side with his colleague is trying to figure out the real purpose behind his research at his new employer's lab, located somewhere deep within the forests.





Synopsis:

A seemingly random selection of heads of state are struck down like flies by unnamed killers who work with the clinical efficiency of butchers. Except that they leave no trace of their methods. Welcome back to the shadowy and addictive world of Ashwin Sanghi. After The Rozabal Line, Chanakya’s Chant, The Krishna Key and The Sialkot Saga, Ashwin Sanghi returns at last with another quietly fearsome tale—this time of men who guard the ‘Kalachakra’ or The Wheel of Time.

Sanghi describes a world of people at war with one another—a boomeranging conflict of faiths that results in acts of such slow and planned human cruelty that they defy human imagination. Caught in the midst of this madness is Vijay Sundaram, a geek scientist who is only dimly aware that the wider sky outside his laboratory is stretched taut and close to being torn apart by forces that he wants simply to have nothing to do with.

But events conspire to propel Vijay into the labyrinth of Milesian Labs, a centre of research deep in the forested hills of Uttarakhand. What he stumbles upon is a primordial clue to a galactic secret that could accelerate the downward spiral of humankind. Trapped and wholly unaware of his actual foe, Vijay races against time to save humanity—and himself.

Zigzagging from Rama’s crossing to Lanka to the birth of Buddhism; from the origin of Wahhabism to the Einsteinian gravitational wave-detectors of LIGO; from the charnel-grounds of naked tantric practitioners to the bespoke suits of the Oval Office; and from the rites of Minerva, shrouded in frankincense, to the smoke-darkened ruins of Nalanda, Keepers of the Kalachakra is a journey that will have you gasping for breath—but one that you cannot abandon till all the pieces of the jigsaw come together.

Till you come up gobsmack against an end that you simply did not see coming.



Vijay has been hired by the shady and secretive Milesian Labs to research the quantum and metaphysical behavior of the Earth. But with the guidance of his new Russian colleague, together they discover the dark side and the real agenda behind this lab that is located somewhere deep within the woods. And their discovery leaves Vijay stupefied as the discovery might eventually affect the existence of and the fate of mankind of this world. And when the murder count is increasing and so is terrorist attack's death toll count, Vijay's nosiness along with his colleague puts them in grave danger. Can they save the world by unraveling the ancient spiritual studies and by exposing that lab?

Wow, this book is really something. Hats off to the author for his incredible research and for enlightening the readers about so many diverse topics from spiritualism to quantum physics to religious anomalies to history to mythology to geography and topography to mathematics. This man has covered almost every other subject under the sun in this book. And thus the story is bound to be a vast one with lots of detailed explanations about myriad of topics. And yes, there's no doubt about the fact that the book is highly engrossing to read as any common human mind would find the book and its story line to be extremely intriguing enough to keep them engaged.

Sadly, too much explanations and the usage of too much technical jargon has marred the charm of this book. If the topics were explained in gentle nuances, then it could have been fantastic. But the book is equally boring and left me yawning and sometimes even googling about those topics or terms that I came across the story with zero explanation.

The outlines of the characters are really brilliant and realistic, sadly, they all lacked depth. The protagonist, Vijay could have been an excellent character, sadly his character graph speaks otherwise about him. Even the supporting characters needed a bit of edge and backstory to make them look convincing and interesting in the eyes of the readers. Nevertheless, their voices have been captured in a striking manner by the author.

The story opens with a bang, when one of the world leader has dropped dead, from them on, the story is bound to peak the readers' interest, but right in the middle, the story drags too much, as it goes on and on about same topics. And in the end, the story is rushed and felt like the dots and the conclusion was drawn forcibly by the author.

The author's writing style is pretty good, and is laced with so many elements from suspense to drama to unpredictable twists to the hand-drawn diagrams and pictures. The narrative along with the plot, both were subdued by the facades of the spiritual, scientific, religious, historical and mathematical theories.

Honestly, most of the theories went above my head, even though I'm an engineer.

In a nutshell, I would recommend this book to the highly intellect and intelligent readers only. Others, kindly skip it.

Verdict: A great plot indeed but it was too heavy on my grey matter!

Courtesy: Thanks to the publishers for giving me an opportunity to read and review this book.
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Author Info:
Ashwin Sanghi—entrepreneur by day, novelist by night—has all the usual qualifications of an Indian businessman. Schooling at the Cathedral & John Connon School, a B.A. (Economics) from St. Xavier’s College, and an M.B.A. (Finance) from the Yale School of Management. Besides being a businessman, Ashwin manages a parallel career as writer of fiction. Ashwin’s first novel, ‘The Rozabal Line’ was originally self-published in 2007 under his anagram-pseudonym—Shawn Haigins. The book was subsequently published by Westland in 2008 and 2010 in India under his own name and went on to become a national bestseller. ‘Chanakya’s Chant’ is his second novel in the historical-fiction genre. The book has remained on AC Nielsen’s India Bookscan Top-10 for all of 2011. It won the ‘2010 Crossword-Vodafone Popular Choice Award’ in September 2011. UTV has purchased the movie rights to the book and a film based upon the story is expected soon. Dr. Shashi Tharoor released the novel in Mumbai calling it an “enthralling, delightfully-interesting and gripping read with historical research that is impressive.” The Hindustan Times has called it “a cracker of a page-turner.” Ashwin is currently working on his third novel, as yet untitled, that explores business strategies in ancient India. Ashwin is also working towards a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from Bangor University in Wales. Ashwin lives in Mumbai with his wife, Anushika, and his eight-year old son, Raghuvir.
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