It happened for a first time indeed that I read a book again that I had left half way through in my tumultuous teens.
‘First Among Equals’ by Jeffrey Archer is not an easy book to read, at least for me. Revolving solely around British politics, I found it a wee bit hard to comprehend and know the exact difference between the Conservative (They are also known as Tories, they sometimes can act like snobs!!) and the Labour party (They are the socialists and support the trade unionists!!), though of course you may think that I am a buffoon for not knowing such basic general knowledge stuff. But slowly and steadily as I began wading my way through the book, I came to understand what was actually happening. I admit that the actual reason of leaving this book half way through in the 9th standard had much to do with my not being able to make head or tail out of the printed letters.
But now, being actually able to complete it (you may see a proud smile on my face right now); I can tell you that this book is indeed worth a read. Not concerning overmuch about the details right now, the plot revolves around the lives of four, ambitious guys, wresting each other to reach the topmost echelon of the government i.e. to be the Prime Minister of England–Simon Kerslake, MP for Coventry Central and later Pucklebridge; Charles Seymour, MP for Sussex Downs; Raymond Gould, MP for Leeds North; and Andrew Fraser, MP for Edinburgh Carlton in the span stretching from 1964 to 1991. Two of these namely Simon and Charles are from the Conservative Party while the other two are from Labour party, though Andrew later moves to Social Democratic.
Now- I must admit I did a Wikipedia search for this one- the exact reason being, in this book these guys actually interacted with the real life characters (Margaret Thatcher, Winston Churchill and many more). So, my doubt was whether this novel is inspired from the real life stories of four politicians or was it just a fictional account, though of course some of the incidents mentioned actually did happen. The latter part proved to be correct, as the author, drawing from his own hands-on experience in the House of Commons and the House of Lords, infused the characters with necessary soul. Another writer that I can think of, mixing fact and fiction into a lapel-gripping, helluva ride down the torturous path of plots and sub-plots is Dan Brown.
If you have read my critique of ‘In High Places’ by Arthur Hailey, you might know that I had drawn a parallel between the Indian and Canadian democracies. It might not surprise you when I say that, it would be more than just a parallel when I compare the Indian and the English constitution. Though of course in England the Prime Minister’s cabinet has Secretaries (Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Home office) while in India, the Prime Minister’s cabinet has ministers (Defense minister, home minister). The back-benchers come lowest in the hierarchy there, amongst the elected constituents, then you got to be Under Secretary, Minister of State, Secretary or finally the Prime Minister if you have as much talent or determination as these four guys possess. And if you are in the opposition you have Shadow ministers. I don’t know much about the Indian structure as there is a dearth of such politically-motivated novels (or I might not have noticed in the market!) . Plus, it was indeed interesting to know that, the recordings of both the houses, of the sessions that took place were transmitted to the world through radio, and later they were live telecasted on television.
In recent times, we see the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha T.V. channels in India, no doubt following suit…
You might say I am trying to impress you with the smattering of some political tidbits that I now possess through this book…
Maybe you are right, but that doesn’t change the fact that this book is indeed wonderful. Though the murky politics involved has a tendency to shock you.
Those of you who might be frequent watchers of either the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha channels might come to appreciate the similarity between the two countries’ constitution by this simple statement spoken by the speaker…
“As many as are the opinion say Aye, to the contrary, say No. I think the Ayes have it, the Ayes have it………”
Alienman 