*Raw Earth* by the journalist Alexandre Moniz Barbosa starts promisingly and certainly quite colorfully. "Blood seeped slowly from the wounds and formed a bright red streak on the cassock he was wearing. It darkened the purple fascia around his waist and plastered the clothes to his body." A novel which starts out with an action scene like this involving a religious and that too an Archbishop grabs attention. Does the book sustain the attention it creates?
Barbosa's novel is a 190 page political thriller the plot of which tries to weave in mining and religion and politics in a Goan setting that seems not too far into the future. It posits as the two main protagonists the Chief Minister and the Archbishop of Goa both of whom happen to be brothers. Although this is a bit far fetched that's all right for this genre, which requires readers to suspend disbelief and be ready to be taken for a ride full of suspense and drama. Not that there isn't sufficient reality in the book. In fact the incidents of Barbosa's fiction can be easily matched and even bettered by the Machiavellian happenings in real Goan politics which make the mind spin - just look at the sex, prostitution, and political skulduggery of the recent events involving Shri Babush Monserrate MLA. The bone of contention is the Netravali Wild Life Sanctuary which a bunch of Goan mineowners want to open up for mining for ore. The idea is hatched by a recent North Indian settler named Singhal who is a high stakes fixer who moves between Goa and Delhi arranging for Goan politicians to carry suitcases full of high denomination currency notes to their high commands. However this comes in conflict with the interests of villagers of Cawrem and other mining areas where this activity is disrupting their lives. The Archbishop comes into the picture when on one of his pastoral visits he comes across a child who has been run over by a mining truck and volunteers to take her to the hospital. Slowly he gets drawn into the conflict that is taking place between the government and villagers supported by NGOs over the mining issue. The cabal of mine-owners led by the wily Singhal who are faced with public uprisings which will ruin their plans, try to smoothen things out for themselves by bumping off the protagonists. I won't give away more of the plot. Is it a good read? I'd say it's so-so. For one thing while the book is in the honored tradition of political novels from Goa pioneered by Ben Antao, it doesn't have the sex which he used to ladle out in healthy doses. Although the book started with a likely heroine in the form of a female NGO Barbosa doesn't try to use her to create any romantic interest which might have helped the plot along and which could have added some fire to the story. Also Barbosa doesn't quite build up the element of suspense needed to make the thriller thrilling enough. Things go the way of the good guys (who we all know aren't all that good) far too easily in the end. Maybe Barbosa needed a good editor or reader to give him some honest feedback about the pacing and plotting which could have been better. Barbosa's experience as a newsman helps him to flesh in details of Goan political life and add local color. I'd give the book some credit for trying and the fact that I did read it till the end means that it was readable enough as far as I'm concerned. For Goan readers it will give an opportunity to reflect on the political and economic scenario of Goa as they follow the events of the book; and for those new to Goa it'll give them an idea of how things happen around here.
