Canny Observations
The blurb on the back cover of C P Surendran's An Iron Harvest states that it is "the story of one death and three people". Set in the controversial emergency days, the death, in police custody, is that of Abe, a young engineering student. The three people are John, Abe's classmate, Raman, a deputy inspector general of police and Sebastian who is John's father. John is an ideologically driven Naxal revolutionary who naively believes his violent movement will usher in "a beautiful world… an equal world". Raman, who has guiltlessly and ruthlessly eliminated Abe, is a sexually frustrated, power hungry, efficient tool in the hands of Indira Gandhi's stooges. Sebastian, unlike these two, has no gun in hand and yet, achieves a victory of sorts when, after a six-year-long legal battle, he establishes his dead son's innocence.

Interconnected with these three protagonists are countless other characters, each sharply delineated and reflecting the complexities of the time. Heston, perpetually in the cups, is one of the key figures in John's fight against class enemies - a telling comment on the types who want to usher in a golden era through means as ruthless as those used by Raman. Nafisa Ahmed, general secretary of the Youth Congress, Delhi, is a perfect caricature of the stiletto-heeled, chiffon-clad coterie that surrounded Sanjay Gandhi. Bhaskaran, Sebastian's friend from college days, is a very well-respected journalist who drinks hard, reads a lot and writes very well; all of which makes him a cult figure in the capital, but not the best of husbands. Recognisable cameos like these make the novel a richly-layered, socio-political commentary of the period.