Love is the answer

Through his novel, he indicates that young people are willing to break free of this horrid past for a greater understanding of each other.

Call it a desperate attempt to challenge bigotry or a helpless plea to end the conflict, Major Vijai Singh Mankotia, 79, who has served in the army for 16 years, and has seen turmoil microscopically, is assured of its futility. But the only means for ending war, both outside and within is love, feels Major Mankotia as he launches his new book, Upheaval. 

Through his novel, he indicates that young people are willing to break free of this horrid past for a greater understanding of each other. “Let’s not be impediments for them,” he says. Major Mankotia also challenges the primitive idea of religion used as an instrument to control people. “The only way to overcome this barrier is love, not AISI kind of fundamentalism that distracts us from the goal of egalitarianism,” says Mankotia. He achieves these intents through the protagonists in his book, who despite coming from different backgrounds, are able to love each other without letting their differences get the better of them. 

Major Vijai Singh Mankotia
Major Vijai Singh Mankotia

Upheaval narrates the nauseous conflict for dominance through protagonists Himanshu Mishra from India and Rubyana Sherzai from Pakistan, two people madly in love. But Mishra is the son of the former Prime Minister who is expected to succeed in his father’s position, and Sherzai is sent to foster care once her parents die. 

The two meet at Harvard University where Mishra has gone to give a speech on the issues of law, injustice and imbalanced state of affairs, while Sherzai has come there as a student attend this discussion. She falls in love with him upon hearing his thoughts as she wholeheartedly identifies with these. Thereon mulls a love story, the future of which is questionable given their political circumstances. 

A constant factor in his previous books, Patterns of Destiny and Turmoil, and now in Upheaval, is turbulence. “Anyone who has been to battle will tell you that clashes of any kind rip you of your peace and sanity.

And in this book I highlight how two young people in love are tangled in the most politically tempestuous drama exacerbated by the world around them,” reveals Major Mankotia, who feels that while the Britishers divided India and Pakistan, we are equally to blame for aggravating the situation. “There’s such a formidable split between them  [Pakistan] and us. We’re ready to destroy each other through nuclear warfare,” says the dejected author, hoping initiatives like his book will change mindsets.

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The New Indian Express
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