Book Title: The Cord
Author: Sredhanea Ramakrishnan
Format:  Paperback
Published By: Zero Degree Publishing
ISBN & Edition: 8194973465 & 1st
Genre: Fiction
No.of pages: 244
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

About the book
The Cord is a personification of wars waging inside each individual in the turbulent background of 1947, with the imminent partition and the strife-torn Indian nation. As European colonists raided the world and 'civilized' the indigenous inhabitants, their left mark didn't just stop with the unruly borders and westernized organizations. As India woke up to her independence on 15th August 1947, unfortunately, her sons and daughters watched the dawn, hazed by Indo-Pak partition, communal riots, mass killings and much more. But these gores are no match to the souvenirs left in personal lives and families of the common public of the twin nations. The ones that their subconscious holds on to, till date. 'The Cord' follows Jamedar Ashraf Ullah, of the British Indian Army, whose family moves to Rawalpindi, leaving behind more than just traces of his lineage and Major Azad, 11th Kumaon Infantry, who gets a chance to right a wrong he had committed almost two decades ago. What would Major Azad choose? Guilt over duty? Kinship over comradery? Or Love over all else? Is everything really fair in love and war?

About the author
Sredhanea Ramakrishnan is a professional food technologist and an aspiring author by passion. She wrote more than 20 blogs in the Coffelicious publications of Medium. There are also 7 Self-help articles published in magazines like The Infinithought. Sredhanea is a Freelance content writer for Carty studios. Her Debut historical fiction, THE CORD, Won the best aspiring author award from ' The cherry book awards.' She also dons the role of the co-host of a podcast for aspiring authors titled LOL (Love of Literature)

Review Headline
The pain of the partition, personified!

What to expect
- Expect a story that drives through each blood cell to recount the amount of pain felt during the partition in 1947 on either side.
- Expect a story that peaks into the core of a person's conscience to define what matters the most.
- Expect a story where herd emotions have the upper hand over personal feelings.
- Expect a story that humanely defines the conflict between a father and a son due to unexpected events.
- Expect a story that will surely rekindle the forgotten sacrifices done by our ancestors irrespective of everything.

Who can read
This book is for everyone. Any book on the India Partition is not just about history but about our existence today here. There are man unsung heroes, victims, unknown stories and man more that we are not aware of. The more we dig, the more we unearth. This holds true when we try to understand more about the ghastly event of the partition. Before I drift more on this topic on an emotional side, I recommend this book to every reader who appreciates historical fiction based on facts and events. This is a perfect travel time book that will give the reader a sense of satisfaction. 

My thoughts
There is a war going on in Ukraine now. Watching the news is giving unsolvable questions. Why do people fight? Why do countries wage wars? While these were running in mind, my focus shifted to this book. For many reasons though I have finished reading a week ago, I could not pen the review. I thought this would be the perfect time to pour out my feelings with words.

Talking about this, I initially want to congratulate and applaud Sredhanea for picking up this subject. It is an evasive topic, and it is brought into a book. Sometimes, I feel, the writers want to show to the world their thoughts in some art form. Art is a form of expression. Art is a laborious work to tell the world about one's mind. It is not easy to convince man people with one's expression, and here any form o art acts as a catalyst. Sredhanea has done the same, and outputs is her book.

There are books that become an instant hit because of the author, title, cover, or even publications. The Cord by Sredhanea is published by Zero Degree Publication based out of Chennai. I have read books from them and especially cannot resist mentioning the prolific and great Tamil writer Sri. Charu Nivedita. The point in mentioning these names is to tell the world that this book has quality content to publish, and hence Zero Degree team accepted it. This statement might sound exaggerating, but everything will be answered if one checks the publishing team's history. 

Finally, reading this book is one of its kind of experiencing extensive emotions. Not every family story is as easy as drinking water. This story between the father-son duo is complex, hard-hitting and brutal. As the blurb says, while one waves his path into the lands of Pakistan, the other remains in India. The novel talks about their lives after, life in the army, the external factors that affect families and many more. But, the puzzling thing is the author has achieved explaining all these in lesser words! 

How is the narration
As always, I quote, the narration in any story is the heart of a book. As long as the reader delves himself\herself into the book, the more interesting the reading will be. But, all this is possible only if there is an engaging narration. This book, The Cord, right from the first page, is narrated wonderfully. 

To be very precise, the first few lines from the Prologue of the book captured my attention.

Azad froze.

He felt an extensive black hole drilling inside him, growing, expanding into darkness, a vacuum, sucking all his strength.

The wheels of the Mazda came to a jerking halt.

Indian Army Camp, Chandpur, Bangladesh.

The word Mazda gave so many memories of reading & watching war front books and movies. Indeed, it was chilly to read. Here is where the author has set a tone for the story. Thus, I was hooked!

About the characters
In fiction books, generally, the characters live for the span of the book or sometimes for a longer time. There are also chances a better character might replace that fondness in the reader's mind after a while. But, in books where the characters were living examples of real incidents and assumed characters in those incidents, such characters will grow inside as long as the reader reads similar subject books. 

The character of Iqbal from Mukul Deva's Lashkar has remained long in my mind until I met another similar character in a Telugu fiction book based on army camps in Afghanistan. Likewise, I would like to quote that the central characters - Azad and Ashraf, represent many people who we all have met somewhere at some time. If you read between the lines of this sentence, you will definitely understand what I mean.

With their strength in dialogues, conversations, and the emotional quotient displayed, these characters of Azad and Ashraf are absolutely entertaining. The other characters are drafted with enough scope and precision.

Writing Style
Suppose there is one word that describes the writing style in this book, its - Overwhelming! This is not a regular fiction that is written with the facts available all over but is a work of fiction where lots of emotional turmoil is captured in words. The writing also shows author Sredhanea's skills, the amount of research she has done on bringing together everything and finally, the impeccable story-telling. The setting of the story is larger than the imagination. But what surprised me is that she has used a lesser number of words to display the complex and hard to digest situations. Her writing in some chapters reminded me of my favourite movie director, Mr. Mani Ratnam, who uses more actors' expressions than dialogues. No doubt, this book will stay for a long time in my mind!

Grammar & Vocabulary
Simple and easy language with the required amount of vocabulary is used in the book. This will help the beginner readers or the young readers to flow through the story hassle-free.

What did I like
1. The plot
2. The indentation of the paragraphs
3. The letters and the stamps, it was an absolute treat to look at!
4. The story ended where it started!
5. The emotions and the vividness without any discrepancy.
6. The mention of Radcliffe reminded me of many articles and books that I read about the partition
7. The honest writing and the simplicity in it.

What could have been better
Nothing!
Grab the book, simple!

Entertainment quotient
A debut book is an unbelievable phrase! It is entertaining in every aspect. It has action, drama and emotion. What more does a fine book needs? 

Pick it if
you like stories based on partition and war
you want to read books that have engaging narration 

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