The Urban Jungle

The Urban Jungle is a delightfully fast-paced novel. Though not literary fiction the book quickly illustrates that fact that contemporary popular fiction in India need not go the "Chetan Bhagat way" and can be both intelligent and entertaining.

The book follows the adventures of Jimmy who moves Delhi from small town India. It is made interesting by the many tiers in narrative that seem to co-inhabit the same book do so mostly comfortably. Peel of the first layer and its the story of a young man's first experience of the maddening urbanscape of turn of the millennium Delhi. Just to push the pace a little - India is changing, a youth ballad unfolds to the tune of binge drinking, house parties. Jimmy finds himself in this unfamiliar new world of capitalism perceptually broke and under-appreciated at work. What I'm not telling you is that Jimmy is the grandson of Mowgli and realizes he can communicate in clicks and howls to the pradhesh of monkeys - and finds himself as agent and translator for the Bandar-log.

The books turns to a quick page turning pace when Jimmy's life is turned upside down when he comes against the villainy of the Shamsher Khan. A evil poacher and arms dealer. A tiger in the sheep's clothing of a social worker and respected community leader. Will Jimmy and friends Heera, Guru Ka and Bandar-log successfully save themselves and the urban jungle from such evil and more importantly will Jimmy ever find a suitable mate to love him? All this and more in Samrat's debut novel,a brilliant modern day re-imagination of the Kipling classic The Jungle Book - "The Urban Jungle".

Full Disclosure : Samrat is a friend of mine, and I received a pre-release copy of the book, at the same time I've tried to keep the review of the book unbiased.