Book- Captain Khadoos
Author- Arjun Hemmady
Genre- Fiction
Publisher- TreeShade Books
ISBN- 978-93-89237-07-8
Rating- 3/5
1- First and foremost the best thing I liked about the book is the relevance it holds to reality. As the book mentioned Depression is still somewhat in shadows and as Indian we haven't accepted it as a 'Psychological Disease' but as a 'Mental Disorder'. Depression is perceived as Taboo in our country and openly speaking about it can lead to pointing of few sharp knifes around you termed as 'Pagal'. We lack the basic understanding of the disease and for us it isn't just about being sad but lot more complicated than that.
2- Coming to the review I would have loved to see Depression being the centre of the story. The book lacked major crux of the story, but rather the book is an story of different events put together, it lacked the nucleus and depression could have been the nucleus. But on the flip side what the story portrays that Depression is not a person restricted disease and anybody can suffer from it regardless you're the Caption of Indian Cricket Team(Suraj) or an ordinary person.
3-One thing which I liked is the book is very fast paced. The liking about the pace of the story depends from reader to reader. As someone who likes reading them, the pace of the book was toned correctly but would have loved to see a lot more character description and detailed scenarios. Specially main characters like Suraj and Aditi, the book lacked character description and for the reader it is difficult to have the essence of the characters. Since the book is fast paced the journey of Suraj getting into depression and coping out of it couldn't be exploited. As a reader I would have loved to know more details of Suraj's depression and what helps him out of it.
4-One very marginal thing that caught my eye very profoundly was when Suraj entered the BCCI's President's office. The President ordered tea for both of them but in Marathi. There I would've loved to see the actual use of Marathi tone rather than using English phrases. As a reader it gets you involved in the story. Use of local phrases or actions can help in describing the different scenarios.
5-Also even though in the book Suraj was termed as 'Captain Khadoos' but leaving 2-3, scenarios Suraj's character is difficult to draw the judgement of 'Khadoos'. Initial phases of the story could've portrayed Suraj as a grumpy, aggressive young man. But the cricket scenarios explained in the story does hold true to real life scenarios. One prominent example was Suraj's attempt to save the county game in England. The conditions and atmosphere of a typical English playing conditions was described very adequately and as a reader it actually makes you feel the struggle of facing the ball by Suraj.
To finish of with a verdict I'd say that it is one of those books which I would've loved to read more. 140 odd pages does accommodate the story. But as a reader it wouldn't have caused me any problems to read even more.
Amazon Link - here
