Events always touch the creative chord of writers, specially the budding ones. That seems the case with Sumeet Singhal and Sanjeev Malhotra, debutant co-authors of “The Conspiracy of Silence” (Main Street) both masters in business administration with two decades of working experience in the corporate sector.
The book, about ambition, power, lies, deceit and exploitation in high places playing havoc in the lives of several people, is woven around the attack on Indian Parliament and several other historic incidents. The scene of action takes place in Sopore, Srinagar, New York, Lahore, Dubai and Delhi. “We had read a lot on the attack on Indian Parliament and did extensive research and found that the stories and reports about it did not add up. There were discrepancies and with that idea we decided to convert it into fiction and write this novel,” says Sumeet.
According to the author, he wondered that the accused of the Parliament assault — who had a wife and a child — was caught after three days of the event with a Sim card in his possession thereby directly incriminating him. Further, he adds that the assault was symbolic since no Member of Parliament was harmed. “The terrorists gained nothing and the attackers and members of the security forces were the only casualties. It was too good to be true,” Sumeet comments.
This led Sumeet and Sanjeev to read and research on the internet for details. “Both of us got interested in the same story by sheer coincidence and while discussing we agreed that things do not add up. We felt it was some vested interest which wanted to jolt the political establishment,” says the writer.
The choice of the subject was deliberate as the duo intended to reach out to the average reader who is politically aware. “Through this research-based tale, we wanted the reader to think about it, apply logic and come out with an alternative hypothesis and check if it stands the test of data and reasoning,” explains Sumeet adding, “We leave it to the readers to arrive at their judgement.” His basic surmise is, “whatever was handed over by the media, namely newspapers, television and official sources, need not be taken at the face value.”
Terming the co-authoring exercise as “initially difficult as our writing style and wavelengths did not match,” Sumeet says, “after a month we were completely in sync and assisting each other in the flow of the story. The chapters written by one were edited by the other. We would discuss characters and events at length.” He concludes, “We wanted the story to be realistic, plausible and logical with the political developments fitted into the fiction.” It definitely seems to have worked as they are writing another book inspired by current events.
