Author Zac O'Yeah's initial foray into the realm of English fiction came with the novel Once Upon a Time in Scandinavistan, a crime thriller with science fiction elements and dark humour. His next novel, Mr. Majestic — The Tout of Bengaluru, is also a crime thriller.
The protagonist, Hari aka Harry, who goes by many, many names, including Director Bongjee and Mr Majestic, is the self-declared top tout in Bengaluru. And he is a conman of some (dis)repute.
A day dawns when a thug marches into the cyber café where Hari-Harry-Majestic creates and promotes his scam of an acting course. Hari, with his impeccable knack for nicknaming almost anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path, promptly thinks of him as 'Rhino.' And even with his dubious sense of ingenuity and quick tongue, Hari finds himself slinking out of the café. Especially because it appeared that 'Rhino' had come to disrupt his scammer operations.
Outside, however, he notices something else — his childhood hero, the actor Jagatprasiddha, has had an accident. Despite the ensuing chaos, and Jagatprasiddha's troubles, and the milling crowd, Hari notices the car, a Porsche.
Eventually, he meets a tourist, an American called Jane, on whom his powers of touting apparently work a little too well. And he's hired to find her missing sister Madhuri, who apparently came down to India seeking admission to his own acting course scam.
And from there on Hari's exploits find him searching here, there and everywhere, avoiding thugs and running into them, getting himself injured, deceiving himself into thinking he has killed a certain Tord Lemming, and then realising that he hasn't, and then have it happen anyway.
Then there's Bengaluru's underworld, full of sleazy thugs and hot-headed 'northerners' with their peculiar slang and apparently innate stupidity to thump anybody they see. There are seedy bars and cheap 'made in India foreign liquor'. There's Hari's uncle 'Mamool', master forger, who's more trouble than he's worth, and more than a little cantankerous most of the time.
There is a spate of characters done well in 'Mr. Majestic'. Hari himself is distinct, cheery at the worst of times, and rarely grumpy, if not a little spaced out when it comes to dealing with hired muscle. His own business card declares him to be 'Mr. Majestic, Deputy Director & Official Agent, Sandalwood Starring Multi-Agency'.
Remarkable self-restraint prevents him from adding 'Secret Agent & Private Detective'. He is also superstitious, a believer in fate, and confuses himself (and the reader) with a warped sense of karma. His belief that wishing someone well when taking leave of them, and adding an "all the very best" adds to humorous conversations depending on the context.
Jane, his 'employer', is aloof and disdainful in her dealings, Mamool is a cranky old man when he's in an inebriated stupor, and even crankier when he isn't, Rhino is the typical muscleman with his table thumping style of dealing with things. Tord Lemming is a weak, uncertain man of peculiar interests.
Sub Inspector Pushpa wants to do much but always complains of lack of resources. There's Madhuri, who cannot, for the life of her, get Hari's name right, calling him everything from Mango to Larry, and Triplex, the porn-obsessed video pirate. Even Underdog, Hari's dog that looks like a rat, is intensely loyal and all teeth, and who Hari believes is a reincarnation of Winston Churchill, is unique.
Despite the elaborate characterisation, however, Mr. Majestic suffers from a heavy writing style that depends a good deal on verbiage. Several parts of the novel seem rather ponderous, and difficult to navigate through, for the simple reason that there is too much detail, too many characters. While many parts of the book are humorous, there are times when it seems laboured, and in certain cases, repetitive and cumbersome. The multitude of characters and their nicknames can evoke a laugh — and they can also be very confusing. Sometimes, the inherent need to tie every single plot thread to everything else also results in a web of knots.
Not that the underlying presentation of Bengaluru, as it is depicted, is lost. Just that the chaos tends to veer away from the story a little. This is a tale that held plenty of promise, and the hint of an amusing, fast paced story of absurd and amusing incidents.
Ensuring that the flow of the narrative is maintained would have ensured greater reading pleasure. Shortening the overall framework of the book might have made the story more entertaining. Attention to detail is an important aspect of story development, but the plethora of ideas and multiple focal points often do more to hinder than help.
In essence, Mr. Majestic — the Tout of Bengaluru has many moments. It just could have been better.
The protagonist, Hari aka Harry, who goes by many, many names, including Director Bongjee and Mr Majestic, is the self-declared top tout in Bengaluru. And he is a conman of some (dis)repute.
A day dawns when a thug marches into the cyber café where Hari-Harry-Majestic creates and promotes his scam of an acting course. Hari, with his impeccable knack for nicknaming almost anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path, promptly thinks of him as 'Rhino.' And even with his dubious sense of ingenuity and quick tongue, Hari finds himself slinking out of the café. Especially because it appeared that 'Rhino' had come to disrupt his scammer operations.
Outside, however, he notices something else — his childhood hero, the actor Jagatprasiddha, has had an accident. Despite the ensuing chaos, and Jagatprasiddha's troubles, and the milling crowd, Hari notices the car, a Porsche.
Eventually, he meets a tourist, an American called Jane, on whom his powers of touting apparently work a little too well. And he's hired to find her missing sister Madhuri, who apparently came down to India seeking admission to his own acting course scam.
And from there on Hari's exploits find him searching here, there and everywhere, avoiding thugs and running into them, getting himself injured, deceiving himself into thinking he has killed a certain Tord Lemming, and then realising that he hasn't, and then have it happen anyway.
Then there's Bengaluru's underworld, full of sleazy thugs and hot-headed 'northerners' with their peculiar slang and apparently innate stupidity to thump anybody they see. There are seedy bars and cheap 'made in India foreign liquor'. There's Hari's uncle 'Mamool', master forger, who's more trouble than he's worth, and more than a little cantankerous most of the time.
There is a spate of characters done well in 'Mr. Majestic'. Hari himself is distinct, cheery at the worst of times, and rarely grumpy, if not a little spaced out when it comes to dealing with hired muscle. His own business card declares him to be 'Mr. Majestic, Deputy Director & Official Agent, Sandalwood Starring Multi-Agency'.
Remarkable self-restraint prevents him from adding 'Secret Agent & Private Detective'. He is also superstitious, a believer in fate, and confuses himself (and the reader) with a warped sense of karma. His belief that wishing someone well when taking leave of them, and adding an "all the very best" adds to humorous conversations depending on the context.
Jane, his 'employer', is aloof and disdainful in her dealings, Mamool is a cranky old man when he's in an inebriated stupor, and even crankier when he isn't, Rhino is the typical muscleman with his table thumping style of dealing with things. Tord Lemming is a weak, uncertain man of peculiar interests.
Sub Inspector Pushpa wants to do much but always complains of lack of resources. There's Madhuri, who cannot, for the life of her, get Hari's name right, calling him everything from Mango to Larry, and Triplex, the porn-obsessed video pirate. Even Underdog, Hari's dog that looks like a rat, is intensely loyal and all teeth, and who Hari believes is a reincarnation of Winston Churchill, is unique.
Despite the elaborate characterisation, however, Mr. Majestic suffers from a heavy writing style that depends a good deal on verbiage. Several parts of the novel seem rather ponderous, and difficult to navigate through, for the simple reason that there is too much detail, too many characters. While many parts of the book are humorous, there are times when it seems laboured, and in certain cases, repetitive and cumbersome. The multitude of characters and their nicknames can evoke a laugh — and they can also be very confusing. Sometimes, the inherent need to tie every single plot thread to everything else also results in a web of knots.
Not that the underlying presentation of Bengaluru, as it is depicted, is lost. Just that the chaos tends to veer away from the story a little. This is a tale that held plenty of promise, and the hint of an amusing, fast paced story of absurd and amusing incidents.
Ensuring that the flow of the narrative is maintained would have ensured greater reading pleasure. Shortening the overall framework of the book might have made the story more entertaining. Attention to detail is an important aspect of story development, but the plethora of ideas and multiple focal points often do more to hinder than help.
In essence, Mr. Majestic — the Tout of Bengaluru has many moments. It just could have been better.