Tandoor Cinders

Vilas Sarang was educated in Mumbai and at Indian University. He has taught English literature in Mumbai, Kuwait and Iraq.
One of the finest Indian writers of his time. -Dom Moraes

       "Tandoor Cinders" which is both fantasy and reality.The main character is Chandrakant Nayak and his wife Suchitra. The story begins with Nayak picking up the day's newspaper looking for the "Punishment News columns". He was looking for the day's quota for Punishment and News. He joked with his wife in the morning and said, "What is the opposite of Crime News?" She thought for a while and said it is Punishment News.
       

         That morning When Chandra, was glancing through the crime news column he sees the story of Jaidev  jakhad at the top of the page, but he did not want to tell his wife. He did not want to make her unhappy with the overhyped news from the newspapers, for it was their twenty fifth anniversary.

       “He felt it was a quarter of a century of standing together on the dais.” He wanted to take his wife to the best restaurant for a treat. So he chooses the Golden Goa.  After the treat he wanted to buy her a saree. She did not care much for the Goan food but could not spoil their anniversary celebration. She was ready to go for the celebration dressed in a shimmering mustard-yellow saree. As she was dressing she got reminded of her son who was killed on the Aksa beach when he went for a picnic. This filled her heart with remorse.

         Chandrakant  Nayak was a lecturer in Psychology in one of the colleges in the city. Of recent he had started lecturing in Philosophy also, on the day he went to his college for a lecture that same day Jakhad  was to be produced before the judge for an initial hearing at the high court his  picture had appeared in the newspaper.

        Jakhad’s hearing was a juicy piece of news to Chandra, so that day he changes his route to college and goes to the court. Suchitra does not know this. She finds some change in Nayak but she cannot locate why the change has come about.

      In order to be present in the court he takes the help of a lawyer friend Mr. Dipak Mahimkar. Dipak tells Nayak that if he wants to be present   for the hearing he has to get the permission of a defense lawyer. So he gets in touch with his friend Cyrus Poonawalla who is a defense lawyer and appears in the court for the session.The courtroom experience was suffocating for Nayak but he was determined to be present for the hearing “There was commotion in the court and then a loud cry announcing the judge’s arrival.” Nayak fainted when the trial was going on he could not tolerate the atmosphere in the courtroom. With result he had to be taken home escorted by two men. He did not want his wife to know about his adventure. Two days later Nayak hears about Jakhad’s escape from custody it was a shock to him and he decides to search for the criminal who goes underground.

        Nayak was determined to go in search of Jaidev Jakhad who recently escaped “I have never heard of such a macabre horrifying act” was the opinion of Suchitra and Nayak. So along with his daughter Leena he went in search of the criminal who according to the finding outs of Leena’s student, he was hiding. This student was the son of a five star hotelier. According to Leena’s student Sukumar, Jakhad was hiding in the basement of the Land’s end hotel which was financed by Jakhad himself so Nayak’s daughter set out on a motorbike so that they can track down Jakhad. Jakhad killed is girlfriend and burned her in a Tandoor Cinder, after a fight they both had.

      After the sixth chapter the Author starts Fantasy. The author tells how Leena and Nayak find Jakad and they cross examine Jakhad and threaten to burn him alive in the hot tandoor, to which Jakhad  jumps into the tandoor before it is fully lit and escapes underground  through a hole in the side of the tandoor. Leena and her father jump into the hole at the side of the tandoor and land in the place which Vilas calls as Patala. There the author shifts from reality to Fantasy. In Patala, Nayak and his daughter meet the dead like Jaishree jakhad’s girlfriend who is called Jayanti in Patala. In Patala they come across King Bali’s court and the sage Agasthya who tells them the fundas of Patala

        When they meet Jakhad they prepare the tandoor to burn him alive but he confesses and they bring him out to the Hotel from the same hole at the side of the tandoor. He is tried in the King Bali’s court and prevented from being burnt alive. He is then handed over to the police. And the author ends fantasy and comes back to reality. This is the style which Sarang uses, it is a complete an enjoyable read.

                                                                                             © By  Anjana.V.Pai