A maze of espionage

Bilal Siddiqi is merely 20 years old. He lives in Mumbai where he goes to college and much like anyone of that age hates to do so. Pick any 20-year-old from Mumbai’s umpteen colleges and this might well be him, but Bilal has just one feather in his cap that sets him apart from the rest — he is already a published author and has given India, what he hopes, will be the next big, bad spy that will rival Bond, Bourne and Reacher.

His book, The Bard of Blood, is an espionage thriller, which doles out wit, suspense and gripping twists in equal measure against a backdrop of tense conflict inspired from the militant strife in India’s border. And with the backing of one of the country’s most celebrated crime writers Hussain Zaidi and a helping hand from intelligence agents from both India and the US, his book has all the makings of a crime thriller.

Ask him how he feels about having achieved this laurel at such a young age and he says, “It’s the same as what any writer would feel when his work sees the light of day. I never considered my age as a factor but the feeling I should say is amazing.”

As a child, says Bilal, his dream was always to get published at least once in his life. “I had promised myself that I would write a book before I die. Funnily enough, it came true rather quickly. The journey for me started with Tintin graphic novels, which my dad got for me when I was about five. And by the time I was in high school, I found myself skipping Enid Blyton in favour of Mario Puzo and Frederick Forsyth. My fascination for the world of espionage kept growing without bounds and by the time I was 17, I already knew much more about spies and shady world of intelligence agencies than anyone else my age.”

His hero, Kabir Anand, says Bilal was born out of a void. “Being an avid reader of fiction, I always kept myself abreast with the latest Lee Child or Jack Higgins novel. But I realised that India was bereft of a fictional character that was as powerful as  James Bond or Jack Reacher. I wanted to fill that void. I wanted to create a character set in the real world dealing with what could well be real situations.”

The book is not just all fun and games, says the young writer. He adds, “The reason why I chose the militant backdrop is very close to my heart. Being a Muslim, I wanted to understand why I was so different from these ‘Jihadis’, when ideally, we both were supposed to believe in the same set of principles. It was in fact the entire talk about jihad and Islamic extremism that plagued every newspaper that pushed me towards exploring this subject more.”

Telling us about his next plans, he says, “For the time being I want to stick to the genre and create a niche for myself. I want to add more shades to Kabir’s character and finish what I have set about before anything else. But yes, writing books is a great satisfying experience by itself and I can’t wait to start my next.”