Title:
Fighter Cock
Author:
Sidharth Singh
Genre:
Contemporary Fiction
Publisher:
Penguin India
Pages:
256
‘This
is not livestock, Mr. Suri. This is black cock, Karianath. As you can see in
the painting above me, this black cock is everything to us here in Shikargarh.
It is our identity, our culture and now it will also be our business.’
‘Fighter Cock by Sidharth Singh’ is the universe of petty politics, rivalry and obsession for sex, drugs and cockfighting. Each character retains with their flaws yet absorbing. Although, I am not into this genre as much, still this debut gave me enough reason to carry on with.
Basically, Fighter Cock, is a story of Sher Shah aka Sheru, who has a dangerous past. In a search of job, he enters into this unusual world of royal heritages, patriarchal society, and vengeance. This story is set in Shikargarh, Central India. An untamed wilderness is ruled by Raja Rattan Shah with a passion of blood sport. As Kings always need a new territory to conquer, Raja sahib launches his dream project, the black cock poultry farm, which rears top- class Karianath.
‘Sheru glanced up again at the shabby painting of the Shikargarh coat of arms and inspected the black rooster, framed by two crossed swords below and a fortress above, trying to find meaning in its bizarre heraldry.’
As story unfolds, more characters come into spotlight with basic plot line, that is ─ The Raja's Karianath fighter cocks are the undisputed champions of the area but their reign is challenged by the new Aseel fighters imported by Teja, his bastard son, who also schemes to usurp his position The Aseels had taken the cockfights by storm and upset the status quo.
In next few chapters, we have been getting introduced to Sheru’s past life and his connection of Bombay’s underworld.
As a child our protagonist Sheru often asked his mother why she had given him the name Sher Shah. And her answer set the environment of this novel, ‘because you are a tiger, the king of the jungle. You don’t know that yet, but one day you will.’
Once he lost both his parents, he questioned his life journey ‘Why on earth had Anna (his guardian) sent him to Shikargarh, of all places, when he could have easily packed him off down south or even abroad? What was Anna’s real connection with Murugan (Raja Sahib’s Assitant)? How long would he be able to survive here knowing that Anna’s life may be in danger?
As in science projects, you need to construct a flow chart into your mind, you need to do the same here because there are not couple of plots but subplots and various tales and references, it is a wild trip, characters do clash, worlds rebuild and it really demands of a reader every ounce of attention.
Fighter Cock is a political thriller reveals difficult world of poor Kairus, who were caught in an endless web of debt and delusion. This weekly spectator-sport extravaganza was the only form of public entertainment in the area and brought in substantial revenue from illegal gambling, and illicit mahua and ganja sales, whereas the raja took the lion’s share of the proceeds.
The only thing interrupted into this novel is usage of superabundant characters, pouncing on the previous one. Prose is clear, and moving sentences. Author managed to captivate drama at right place. I liked the nuances between Sheru and Kanya. ‘If you stay in Shikargarh long enough, you will stop wearing one. Time moves slowly around here,’ she said and extended a delicate but firm hand towards him. ‘I am kanya’.
Fighter Cock by Sidharth Singh, is a kind of political thriller which will keep you hooked as you try to unravel the journey of human greed.
