Title— The Burning School
Author— Sandesh Raj
Genre— Crime, Thriller & Mystery
Publisher—Notion Press
ASIN— B0874XJT7H
The Burning School by Sandesh Raj is definitely one of the untold
stories from Kashmir. This novel was running a little over 400 pages, but it became
one of my favourite in the recent time. Why? Because the novel was written
about a concrete them: education empowers the people. You heard it right. The
novel features Naved as the lead character, he is passed out from IIM, but
still chooses to work for poor students in Kashmir. He is from Lucknow. He
hails from an army family. Despite knowing the terrorism in Kashmir, he goes
there to teach students preparing for the IIT exams. As he reached there, a new
land awaits him. He gets company of one of the close students named Ashraf who
also arranges for his home and food.
Naved is sad to see that there schools are being burnt by the
terrorists so that children can be used as stone pelters to disturb the armed
forces. As Naved delves deep, he finds that students are scared to go to
schools or matter of fact there aren’t enough schools left in his area of
sojourn Baramulla. Naved takes up the challenge not only to prepare aspirants
for IIT exams but also to reopen schools for young children. How and why, fills
the most narration in the story.
Naved’s journey to empower students by education is not so smooth,
he has to first face the distrust of the locals and the threat of terrorists
and the intervention of local police. Will he be able to succeed in his mission
or would land up in jail just like any random terrorist?
After some initial chapters, the story takes us to a higher level
and a new era of thrill begins. I totally enjoyed his journey and the local
flavour and his involvement with the soul of Kashmir. I appreciate the overall structural
concept of the story. Sandesh Raj is a highly promising author with the ability
of building great stories on humanitarian ground. The novel is lucid to read
and have good grasp over pace. All in all, a good story with amazing sub plots
and twists.
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