Operation Jai Mata Di: A terror tale with a twist

Pratik Shah's novel about a tourist bus with over 10,000 pilgrims hijacked by 'terrorists' en route the holy shrine of Vaishno Devi, is an interesting tale with a twist, though it may seem like a run-of-the-mill plot in the beginning.

Book: Operation Jai Mata Di
Author: Pratik Shah
Publisher: WriteSaidPratik
Price: Rs 480

Book-cover-of-Pratik-Shah-s-Operation-Jai-Mata-Di

"The weapons recovery team has reported fifteen crates of small calibre weapons missing from the army truck hit by the landslide at Pir Panjal," a message that sends a shiver down the spine of director general of Border Security Force.

While Pratik Shah's Operation Jai Mata Di may seem to be a run-of-the-mill plot where terrorists take innocent people hostage, it is because of books like these that inspire the saying 'don't judge a book by its cover'.

In this nail biter of a book, over 10,000 pilgrims are en route to the holy shrine of Vaishno Devi, a religious tourist destination in the troubled state of Jammu & Kashmir, when they're taken hostage but no terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack because here the so-called 'terrorists' are different both in terms of nationality and their mission.

The reader is introduced to the plan made by Vijay and Ram Singh in the initial chapters where checkposts manned by Jammu & Kashmir policemen and the new way to the Bhavan are discussed at length. The answers to who these men are and what their agenda is revealed in the middle chapters. A revelation that makes you wonder whether such a situation will indeed be a reality in the political scenario.