Twilight in a Knotted World-Siddhartha Sarma

Book: Twilight in a Knotted World
Author: Siddhartha Sarma
Publisher: Simon and Schuster India

What is the most interesting account of the thugs during the British period have you come across?

Twilight in a Knotted World by Siddhartha Sarma is set in the years when the British East India Company had just come to India and was just making its mark in the subcontinent. Captain William Sleeman was posted in Jabalpur and was looking for the long-buried remains of a long-dead giant, along with his wife Amelie, when he is given an additional task of investigating a class of criminals who strangle their victims called as Phasigars. Together with Lieutenant Reynolds, he embarks on a discovery that surprises him with a completely different set of beliefs, language and a very unique style of criminals. As they move further, they realise the key to their answers is a legend among the Phasigars. This is a story that presents a completely new dimension of a country to our protagonists, as it intertwines caste, religion and the basic will to survive.

The plot of the book is extremely interesting in the manner it is constructed. The author took up the main plotline of the idea of the problem of the Phasigars to talk about our society as a whole. Through the eyes of the characters, we journey through a transitional time in the Indian Modern History. While the plot is fictional, the contexts seem oddly real with the social commentary on the practice of Sati, the Indian Caste system and the idea of creating a penal code for the country. The book opens with an interesting scene that sets the context of the entire book in a very wonderful manner, and specially the callback to the first chapter of the book in the later parts is quite interesting. Siddhartha’s storytelling is not pacy, rather it lets the reader soak in the events that have passed, making sure that one does not miss out on the nitty gritties of the book. I loved the manner in which the central plot of the book unfolded slowly, after setting up the scenes around it. Personally, I loved the part of the book where the salt traders are stopped at the check post and the manner in which things unfold post that. Another aspect of the book that I liked was that of Captain Sleeman’s summary of the events in the climax and how that ties up the entire plot. The story has infact now motivated me to go and read up a bit more about the Thugs of India and the legends that surround them.

Coming to the characters, I admired the manner in which the characters have been sketched through the course of the story and how each scene is important to each character that lives through it. Captain Sleeman is an interesting character study as we see him graduate from looking for bones of animals to searching for the victims of the Phasigars. His eye for detail, and following the letter of the law, and yet choose the right thing on a crossroad is extremely commendable. Another character that I liked was that of his wife, Amelie, who supported Sleeman in all his endeavors, and acted as his moral compass during testing times as well. I liked the fact that she added the much-required human touch to the entire plot. Lastly, the Phasigars as a group add to my list of favorites in the book because of the dedication they had towards their craft, as well as the sheer brilliance of the planning and execution they exhibited in the crimes they committed.

Overall, an excellent book that scores a 4.63/5 for me.

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