But for
all my fangirlyness, I have to concede that sooner or
later, you can pretty much predict plot trajectories in your sleep - the dead
rise for whatever reason (usually bioweapons dunnit) , start chomping on the living and pretty
much ring in the apocalypse. The world falls apart, the unbitten band into unlikely posses of survivors
and
slowly journey towards some distant safe haven rumoured to be free of zombies. They
also discover that, menacing as the zombies are, the humans they meet on the way prove
infinitely worse. There is always one
person in the team whose DNA is vital to the survival of the human race,
prompting several others to sacrifice their lives to keep him/ her alive. The
cast – human and undead- will be pruned in various gory ways, heroes will
discover themselves, bonds of friendship forged and one last confrontation occur before said
Mecca is found and claimed. One last thing - when killing zombies, always,
always aim for the head.
Mainak Dhar, author of Zombiestan, seems to have
done his homework, and added some touches of his own. His book follows pretty much the usual plot; his bioweapon,
on the other hand, is nothing short of the Taliban’s Last Stand. Unwittingly
unleashed during an American assault on a terrorist camp, the bioweapon swiftly slays
its victims, only to make them rise again as rabid foot soldiers of the holy war (called
Biters hereafter) , obsessed with wearing black turbans, yelling stuff like ‘Jihaaaaaaad’ and ‘Kafiiiiiiir’ at regular intervals and increasing their fold by biting (NOT
eating, mind you) every hapless human that stumbles into their path. They also
evolve rapidly, learning (or perhaps, remembering) to use weapons, drive
vehicles and coordinate attacks on the unbelievers still standing. And the
headshots don’t work, guys.
In the middle of all this mayhem, a US Navy Seal, a pampered
teenaged boy and an elderly romance novelists come together in zombie-torn
Delhi , trying to stay alive. They are joined soon after by a young girl and
her brother, a toddler who just might be the key to humanity’s survival. Overcoming all
kinds of odds – especially the ones posed by other humans – they struggle to make
their way to an army base in Ladakh that just might be the only safe haven left
in India.
Zombiestan takes a while warming up, then breaks into an
energetic canter that it sustains till the end. The characters are interesting,
and young Mayukh Ghosh, our teenaged hero, is both likeable and believable as
he falters, then stands tall, on the threshold of adulthood. He also gets his
first shot at romance, courtesy Swati, the girl he saves. (Sadly her character
is rapidly reduced to ‘frail, victim girl who makes kissyfaces at boy hero every few pages’ - this is very clearly Mayukh's story. ) I also enjoyed
the character of Hina Rahman (even if she is too obviously the token ‘good Muslim’among the, um, kafiiiiirs) and the brief cameo
by a band of ex-armymen who spiritedly join Mayukh and gang in fighting off the Biters.
Right, now the things that made me go hmm (or should that be ‘Hmmmmmmmmm’ in the style of our rotting, biting brethren) – several aspects
of ‘Zombiestan’ had me gritting my teeth.
The zombies’ penchant for black turbans
seems ridiculous and is certainly pointless to the plot; it also reminded me of the innocent Sikhs and
Muslims targeted across America by
lynching mobs immediately after 9/ 11, simply because they were wearing turbans. And what’s with the constant refrain of ‘Jihaaad’
and ‘Kafiiiir’, when the zombies can’t seem to say anything else? Dhar seems to
have succumbed to the easy charms of racial stereotyping here, much like those
mobs. Other slips up are equally glaring
- the disease initially starts off as airborne, then mysteriously switches to
spreading only through biting . And Dhar just can’t seem to make up his mind
over whether guns will fell his zombies or not.
For a book based in India and peopled with very Indian
characters, the lead players of Zombiestan’ seem curiously genial and heroic. At the best
of times, most of us tend to stay divided over our religion, caste
and class prejudices, yet Mayukh and gang manage to instantly bond and stay
together till the end. A terrific opportunity to explore those differences,
utterly lost in all the gunfights . Romance is all very well,
but (spoiler alert!!) in a book aimed at
young adults, having your teenaged characters getting engaged seems both prudish and misguided – another black turban moment, methinks. And why, why, why does India’s first homegrown zombie thriller need a
blond all-American war hero stepping in
as savior - given who kickstarted the apocalypse anyway ? Allegory or another black turban - I'll let you decide.
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