Book Review 11: Men And Dreams In The Dhauladhar by Kochery C. Shibu.




'Men and Dreams In the Dhauladhar' is Kochery C. Shibu's debut novel. The story revolves around the lives of three people, each with a different background, brought together by a hydel  power project in the Dhauladhar.
Nanda is an engineer from Kerala and an expert in Kalari (martial art). He has a dreadful past and is fleeing a feud. He is separated from his loved ones. Nanda evades to the dam construction site in Dhauladhar as an engineer.
Khusru is a Kashmiri youth, who is used by the terrorists in their plan to blow up the dam, ends up at the construction site as a labourer.
Rekha, a doctor by profession and a Kathak dancer by passion, falls in love with Khusru and arrives at the campsite as his consort .

The author has given detailed information about subjects in the plot which shows his profound knowledge and personal experience of the technical content of the novel. This fact makes the plot seem very real. The life of the people living in the mountains are depicted very well. The author has tried to include suspense, thrill, drama, action and romance to make the plot interesting.

However, there are a few things which I did not quite like about the book. There is excessive usage of words in Hindi and Malayalam and other Indian languages which makes it very difficult for a reader who does not understand these languages to read and comprehend the book. Also, the technical aspects of constructing a dam was so elaborately discussed in the book that it sometimes made me  feel bored. Another problem is there are too many characters in the story. These factors resulted in the  deviation of the story-line.

Overall, this was a satisfactory read. Indian Fiction lovers, if interested in the plot, can go for this book.

About the author : Kochery C Shibu graduated from the prestigious National Defence Academy in 1981. He has served in the INdian Navy and commanded two warships. 

 Post his retirement he has executed hydroelectric projects in the Cauvery river basin in Karnataka, Beas river basin in Himachal and Teesta river basin in Sikkim.He holds a postgraduate degree in Defence Studies from Chennai University, and MA in English literature from Pune University.Men and Dreams in the Dhauladhar is his debut novel. The technical content of the novel, namely the setting up of a hydro-project is drawn from his experience in these projects since 2005, as are many of the characters inspired from those whom he encountered on site.Kochery C Shibu was born in Kochi and now lives in Bangalore with his wife and daughter.


My rating : 3 of 5 stars. 
Publisher : Niyogi Books.
First Published : August 2015
Pages : 284
Price : ₹395/-

Thanks to the author for providing me with a review copy of the book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. 

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