Kashmir is a land of daily tragedy, bitterness and war. But above all, it is the home of the conspiracy theory.
A supercharged atmosphere of confrontation and frequent bloodshed, fuelled by the geo-political aims of India, Pakistan and other countries, gives the status of truth to bazaar rumours and renders reality irrelevant.
On this tumultuous backdrop, Indian broadcaster Vikram Chandra has chosen to write his first novel titled, appropriately, The Srinagar Conspiracy - probably the first serious thriller written about Kashmir in modern times.
“I’ve been covering the place for years,” Chandra told BBC News Online, “and the stories I couldn’t tell on TV just had to be used somehow.”
Chandra is referring to those conspiracy theories and rumours that abound in Kashmir - the probable half truths that don’t make the news, but set the heart racing and the imagination working overtime.
Racy plot
The “Great Game meets Bollywood” is one way to sum up The Srinagar Conspiracy.
The plot revolves around two friends, a Muslim and a Hindu, both Kashmiris, who are raised as brothers along with a young orphan who rapidly grows into a love interest.
War and rebellion rip them all asunder.
Into this, stumbles an ambitious but well meaning Indian TV journalist trying to shed light on the Kashmir imbroglio.
Chandra hastens to say the novel is not autobiographical.
The early Kashmiri movement was based on firmly held convictions
"No, it’s not me in the novel. None of the characters are based on real people, except famous militants and politicians.
“You can’t just drop people into a topic as explosive as this. I had to keep some secrets.”
Sympathetic
The novel, published by Penguin India, steams along at a frantic pace and is firmly based in recent history.
It portrays its Kashmiri characters sympathetically, even some of the militants, suggesting that their grievances with India have had some justification.
The Kashmiris are portrayed sympathetically
“Let’s face it,” Chandra says, "the early Kashmiri movement was based on firmly held convictions - people were sincere.
“These days, and I tried to bring it out in the book, foreign militants from across the Line of Control, have hijacked the movement. A lot of Kashmiris resent that.”
In the end, the book does fall broadly in line with India’s view of Kashmir.
The “conspiracy” of the title unfolds in a spectacular manner like some blockbuster of a Hindi film.
Establishment line
Makarand Paranjpe, professor of literature at Delhi’s Jawarharlal Nehru University, says pop culture in India has always had a complex relationship with establishment thinking on the emotive issues of the day.
The problem is solved by a good man in a bad system, thus saving the system as well as the situation
Prof Makarand Paranjpe
“Take Bollywood movies,” says professor Paranjpe.
"They often challenge authority very vigorously early on in the plot, but tend to come around in a torturous manner to the official view, or at least conclude in such a way that doesn’t throw the establishment into complete disrepute.
“The problem is solved by a good man in a bad system, thus saving the system as well as the situation,” he says.
Whatever the academics or critics might say, Chandra just hopes people enjoy his book and accept they are reading fiction, however well informed by journalistic experience.
“Everything in The Srinagar Conspiracy is fictional except the march of the events,” he says.
“You don’t write a thriller to make a political point, you do it to entertain, and I hope I’ve done that.”