Baramulla Bomber

Baramulla Bomber is a science fiction espionage thriller and India's first mythological thriller written by Clark Prasad.^[1] Baramulla Bomber is touted as the planet's first "Techno Mythology Thriller",^[2] a techno-thriller with mythological elements. It was published in July 2012 and then republished by Niyogi Books^[3] in August, 2013. It was launched by Javagal Srinath on October 5, 2013 in Bangalore, India^[4] and is Clark Prasad's debut novel.

Plot

The story unfolds with the occurrence of a mysterious earthquake that strikes Shaksgam Valley in Kashmir. All hell breaks loose within intelligence agencies across the world, as they suspect that a new weapons system has been tested by China and Pakistan. This new sonic weapon is based on ancient science from the Vedas, the Bible and quantum mechanics.

While investigating the case, atheist Swedish covert operative Adolf Silfverskiöld is led into Kashmir to keep an eye on a suspect, Mansur Haider. Mansur is an aspiring cricketer. He is absolutely unaware of the happenings transpiring around him. He faces the immense challenges that confront him with the support of his girlfriend Aahana Yajurvedi. He starts to play for the Indian national cricket team. Adolf and Aahana investigate the Shaksgam Valley incident for their own reasons. The Indian Home Minister, Agastya Rathore faces two battlefront scenarios, with both China and Pakistan, and the danger of the new weapon system which the world only witnessed and experienced in the ancient past.

Background

Baramulla Bomber is the first book (eka) from the Svastik trilogy. Regarded as the world’s first techno-mythology thriller, it has been tagged as a ‘Science Fiction Espionage Thriller’ book. The ideation of Baramulla Bomber was done before 2009. However Clark Prasad began to write it in September 2009. The first words were penned in Kashmir on September 29, 2009. After he completed the story, he submitted it to a few literary agents; however, he did not meet any success. Despite the setbacks he approached some more publishers. About 20-25 publishers rejected him before he went ahead to self-publish the book. The author has acknowledged the Indian armed forces. One of the reasons being that both his parents were part of the Indian Army (Army Medical Core). Each chapter of the book starts with a map. The location where the story takes place is highlighted in a sniper scope. Use of Intelligence Cables between the U.S. Embassies (similar to the Wikileaks format)

Allusions and references to real-world events and characters

Events portrayed or mentioned in the book include the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, the first atomic bomb testing and the Walls of Jericho. A speculative thriller with a line between reality and fiction, some of the characters are historical; however, many of the characters are fictitious and were created by the author. The historical characters mentioned in the book are Albert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel and Indira Gandhi.

Suraj Clark Prasad

About Clark Prasad

Suraj Prasad, writes under the pen name of Clark Prasad. Born to doctor parents in Lagos, Nigeria, Suraj has lived in Delhi. He studied in Mangalore and Lagos. He has a bachelor's degree in Pharmacy from Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode and is a post graduate from IIM Kozhikode (IIM-K). As a child, he wanted to be an archaeologist or an astronaut, but he eventually became involved with Mr Carbon aka Chemistry. It was when he first watched the iconic movie Shawshank Redemption that he felt it was now time to begin writing.

He says, "I was initiated into the mysteries of the universe with Carl Sagan's Cosmos when I was young. That gripped my mind and held my imagination." Hence, he chose Sci Fi as his genre of writing. The author says, “I wrote it to help understand how ancient India played a part in global science advancement, which we have forgotten. While the first book is science fiction, with Kashmir providing the politics and physics the science, the second will have a paranormal touch, black money and new world order (secret world government) as the political theme. Instead of physics, the science will be centered on chemistry. As to the third part, I am not revealing the details now.”

Baramulla Bomber book launch

Literary criticism

Baramulla Bomber has received mostly positive criticism. As Deepa Padmanaban of The Hindu puts it, "Clark Prasad’s debut novel features an intriguing mix of religion, cricket, destiny and quantum physics".^[5] The Lucknow Tribune state that The Baramulla Bomber "takes Indian sci-fi to another level."^[6] The book deals with several complex characters with ease and gives ample opportunity to each character. The most common review from critics is that, a book like Baramulla Bomber could have been written only as a result extensive and thorough research.

"He is the promise of the emergence of a new writer who is steeped in mythology and science," says Nuven Rajendran from Deccan Chronicle.^[7] Few of the critical reviews point out that Clark Prasad's thriller loses its pace somewhere in the middle of the book. Nevertheless, it picks up towards the climax. Although, few incidents are left unexplained, the reviewers hope to find answers through the course of the two remaining books in the trilogy. The book has also been reviewed by several bloggers,^[8] online magazines and other readers.

Print media reviews

• The Hindu - October 3, 2013: "Clark Prasad’s debut novel features an intriguing mix of religion, cricket, destiny and quantum physics"^[5]
• The Times of India - "Tale of the six-fingered Haider"^[9]
• Deccan Chronicle - November 21, 2013 "Writer by chance!"^[7]

References