A lost treasure, a wily king who wants to overthrow the Mughals and an old woman with an ancient secret — this forms the plot of The Treasure of Kafur by Aroon Raman, which was released recently. An adventure story set in Mughal times, it weaves in elements of history and fantasy as well.
The prologue begins with the story of Malik Kafur. It then fast forwards 250 years, to the time of Emperor Akbar. When the king of Khandesh, who is looking for a way to overthrow the emperor, finds out about the treasure, he kidnaps an old woman, Ambu, who is the only one who knows its location. Will her grandson be able to rescue her in time? “This is an evolutionary book and has taken me about six or seven years to write. I started work on this much before my first published novel The Shadow Throne ,” says the author. “I like history and the Mughal period is rich with stories. The book is fiction but apart from some fantastical elements, the story has extensive research on the history of that time.”
Aroon, a businessman, spends his free time reading books of every genre. He enjoys adventure fiction and explains that not many books by Indian authors explore it. “We are seeing an emergence of adventure fiction and this will help expand readership and bring in more authors. But when you want to read that kind of book, you typically reach out to a western author,” he says. And to write a book with elements of history, one has to make the characters and events believable, he adds. “You think about many things here — how do you evoke an atmosphere? Or make your characters believable? You can do this by creating an authentic background and looking at the pace of the plot,” he says.
An adventure novel has to be gripping and this was the biggest challenge for Aroon. “How do you hold the readers’ attention? This is by controlling the tension in the plot. This will keep the readers turning the pages,” he explains. “Sometimes, the characters are great but the plot is not racy and sometimes it’s vice versa. The key is to strike a balance between the two. I also want to try my hand at non-fiction.”
With The Treasure of Kafur , Aroon hopes to have done exactly that. “It’s a thriller but a rainy afternoon read. And it appeals to youngsters and adults across ages. I have had great response so far,” he says.
