Finally, it happens not only in India!!!!! With ‘In High Places’, Arthur Hailey describes the power struggle that takes place between warring political parties of Canada with each day bringing in new skirmishes and political maneuvers to haggle over.
Though the Indian Lok Sabha maybe the epitome of ruckus with verbal blusters, sher-o-shayeris to woo the opposition, high theatrics when a point is not agreed to, the walkovers, the marshalling out, the general pandemonium in the house leaving an utterly helpless Speaker who hardly manages to bring the rowdy, boisterous politicians under control- it by no means is the only country in doing so. Though we are the ‘Argumentative Indians’, in this book we come across the ‘Cajoling Canadians’. A finely written book, I kept on drawing parallels between our Lok Sabha and their House of Commons while reading, and why shouldn’t it be? The constitution of both the countries has been drawn from a common source- England! Of course, ours is a pot-pourri of the best practices of various countries, theirs had been predominantly taken from the British.
This book is way different from the others I have read by Arthur Hailey. Here characters, including the protagonists do not lose much sleep over wrong practices. The reason being- Politics is murky. You had to get your hands dirty to get things done. The end happens to be extremely innovative; the author had left it upon the audience to decide what end they preferred.
This book, of course, was written way before my time. And the World Wars and the Cold War don’t arouse the same passion in me as the Indo-Pak or Sino-Indian wars do. So it comes rather as a surprise, though of course it was mentioned in the bland school history books, that during the cold war the situation was rather grave between the two superpowers. People all over the world considered Nuclear War imminent. Now we know that the war never happened due to a chat over hotline between the heads of the two countries (Of course disintegration of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall helped!). But in this book, a reader vicariously shares the apprehensions of the author of a very possible war which may change the face of the earth. And so that’s why I think- the uncertain end.
We come across strong characters in the form of James Howden, Alan Maitland, Brian Richardson, Edgar Kramer, Milly Freedeman and many more. Oops! I forget the most important character of them all- Henri Duval! The book revolves around him- a poor stowaway on a ship whom no country would take in. By a quirk of fate, he finds multitude of people fighting for his cause, some of them for their own selfish ends but nevertheless giving a tough time to the ruling party which had taken an obstinate stand of not giving in to the opposition.
Soon this petty case overshadows the very important hush-hush act that would change the lives of millions. ‘The Act of Union’- as it is called, calls for the annulment of the boundary between Canada and U.S.A. in the face of a very possible war at hand with Russia.
Overall, it’s quite a good reading and racier than the others. But I want to complain!! Why does the back cover of any book indulge in lying and painting a putrid portrait when nothing of that sort actually happens in the book? The jacket proclaims- ‘In this, one of his greatest achievements, he (Arthur Hailey) exposes the passions that seethe behind the blank facades of government offices as politicians in power fight to stay there- bartering, back-stabbing, browbeating, bribing with honours, money and women.’
I can understand the ‘bribing with honours, money’ part because it actually took place in the book, but what I cannot understand is why they had to add ‘women’ when nothing of that sort actually happened!! The publishers assume that a normal male reader is a pervert who enjoys a voyeuristic ride of a sadistic sort. Maybe they were speaking in general terms, but they should not believe for a single moment that by inserting this sort of gig on every book cover, they would have windfall gains due to libidinous readers lining up to buy the book…
- Hotel- Arthur Hailey (iamalienman.wordpress.com)
- The Money-Changers (shitandfarts.wordpress.com)
Alienman 