A writer’s five year journey came to an end with the publication of his first maiden venture The Rickshaw Coolie Murder Case, which was officially released under the banner of Keekli Charitable Trust and Shimla Walks at Gaiety Conference Hall, Ridge, Shimla, today by the presiding Chief Guest KR Bharti, and book discussants Sri Sriniwas Joshi, Dr Usha Bande, Ms Saroj Thakur along with the author Atul Lal.
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Lal, a retired IT Executive, was intrigued by references to his hometown Garli and his Grandfather Lala Mohal Lal, a prominent citizen of Simla city, who just happened to be linked with the then ‘Simla Coolie Murder Case’. When Lal realised the key role his grandfather played in bringing justice to the coolie’s family without weighing much about societal support or pressures, he finally decided to bring all the facts into the limelight through his fast-paced narrative which is based on a true event that happened in 1925. An European had kicked a coolie to death, without any remorse or guilt, just for the fact that he was found sleeping on his porch.
The discussants Sri Sriniwas Joshi, Dr Usha Bande and Ms Saroj Thakur were quite edifying about their reviews and covered both the positives and negatives about the book. Each reviewer shed light on different perspectives of the book, Ms Thakur spoke about the events and what triggered the writing of the book, had the coolie not died, it would have ended as a simple incident, but it was not to be. Dr Bande spoke about the key features and timeline of the events as they took place and added the point of missing female characters. She also added her bit about the editorial check. Sri Joshi while sharing his review talked about the amazing style and how awestruck everyone would be after reading the book, along with a few factual inconsistencies that may be reviewed again. All three highly praised the author for his persistence and never-dying spirit to not give up on this project and finally giving them an opportunity to read yet another intriguing piece about Simla’s interesting history.
Chief Guest KR Bharti shared few very encouraging words for the author and the reviews shared by the discussants. He appreciated the humanitarian angle taken by Lala Mohal Lal at that period of time to provide justice to Jageswar was the essence of the book that makes it so powerful and gripping.
To name a few attendees of the event were Yatish Sood, Sumit Vashist, Vandana Bhagra, Kamala Bhoil, Sneh Negi, Ajai Vichlit, Monika Bhatnagar, Ramesh Gangotra, Meena Gangotra, Satish Nagpal, Chander Harsh Sood among many others.
