Book Review of Hanging Palande: A Son’s Revenge by Anuj Tikku

Tell me, you guys, is grief a driving factor in a person getting depressed? Is pain a catalyst towards further misery, or can it be cathartically channeled to purge one’s soul of it, using that very pain as a driving force? How easy is it for one to approach the elephant, come face to face with their problems in life, and have the rendezvous you so detest? Not easy, right? Read on to find out the story of one such son who was totally consumed by his father’s brutal murder, itching to bring justice and a sense of closure to the brutal, horrific travesty fated upon him. Hanging Palande: A Son’s Revenge by Anuj Tikku is such a book that it will make the hair at the back of your neck stand in apprehension, gaping at the brutalities of the crime world.

You know, I always feel that pain is a powerful driver in life. And yet, there are seldom people who have the ability to convert that pain into power, doing away with the grief of the scenario, pushing ahead, not only head-on but apprehending the problem, meeting it in a collision of sorts, getting over the top of it, overpowering it, and doing away with the atrocity of it.

Wondering why I am speaking in a cathartic sort of way today? Well, I happened to catch up on Anuj Tikku’s latest piece of writing, Hanging Palande: A Son’s Revenge, which happens to also be the sequel to one of his previous works, Yes, Sir, I Killed My Dad. Centered around the murder of his father, the Late Arun Kumar Tikku, Anuj has not only used this piece of writing to address and bring out the entirely true story for the world to read and discover, but he has surely used this piece of writing as a cathartic means to therapeutically address the mound of grief that has been lying, perhaps unaddressed in a manner, for years, waiting to be called upon and resolved. Yes, closure, guys, is a very important aspect of life, especially when one has been wronged. Driving one totally off the path, pain and wrongdoing are things one cannot keep hidden in the closet like skeletons for long. That is because that pain, that crime or wrongdoing, has this uncanny characteristic of turning upon the inflicted, like a serpent of sorts, engulfing them in a threatening manner, making them claustrophobic and incapable of proceeding in life.

Naturally, having witnessed such a heinous and brutal act of crime (his father being killed so heartlessly by Vijay Palande and his gang), giving that horrific episode of his life closure is an extremely important aspect, and Anuj has come all out to address it commendably.

Giving a blow-by-blow episodic description of how the case proceeds and how he is called to Mumbai (a maximum city, he calls it) to give the life-altering testimony against Vijay, this actually made for a thrilling and, at the same time, an unsettling read too, TBH. It was unsettling because knowing that this is not strictly fiction but real-life happenings gave it a sense of dark reality for me, making me completely comprehend how difficult it must have been for Anuj to come out like that, bare, with all the facts. It was brave of him to come forth and tell all that really happened, and that too without any kind of window dressing (he actually even put in chapters where he put in snippets of actual conversations between himself and the inspector or officer in charge on duty, uncensored!), not shying away from putting forward reality unfiltered and unaltered for us to read and decipher. The entire run to the proceeding of how eventually Palande is sentenced and how Anuj manages to find closure, a peace of sorts, realizing that the one who wronged his dad will meet his deserving fate is an experience that I cannot just describe in words.

A cathartic piece of writing, this is surely one of Anuj’s most heartfelt works and has been written with honesty. Also, a special mention to one of the latter chapters, which had me really intrigued since he actually meticulously researched and put in a lot of data related to capital punishment, aka hanging and its history, meaning and significance, especially in our country. It was kind of intimidating to learn how the actual procedure of hanging is planned, conducted and done in our country—the science as well as the logic behind it, which happens to have been followed right from the British era. This one too shows how much Anuj has been deeply afflicted by his personal loss, as well as his strength to be able to go on, researching this and putting it out there for all to read and know about. Although a tiny critical observation book could do with a bit of spell-checking.

So, I hope you guys liked my thoughts on this one. Stay tuned with us right here at Booxoul for the best in the fields of entertainment, travel, food, fun, finance, fashion, education, lifestyle, tech, and gadgets, as well as all things bookish.

Adios Amigos!