Blood Brothers; A Family Saga

New Delhi, India: Roli Books [Lotus Collection], 2006. Presumed First Edition/First Printing. Hardcover. Good/very good. Shamshad Hussain (Cover painting). [8], 346, [2] pages. Inscribed and dated by author on title page. DJ has slight wear and soiling. Front board has slight weakness. Some edge soiling. Blood Brothers is M.J. Akbar's amazing story of three generations of a Muslim family and about the fluctuating Hindu-Muslim relations. The story starts with the life of the narrator's grandfather Prayaag, who is saved and adopted by a Muslim family, converts to Islam and takes on the name of Rahmatullah. As he progresses in life, both in age and financially, he experiences many incidents - conversion, circumcision, the arrival of plague and electricity - and meets a fascinating array of characters. The Hindu-Muslim relations are discussed in detail and the author manages to describe the changes occurring in them through the generations. The story brilliantly fits into the main events of the Indian history- British rule, freedom struggle, Partition, Indo-Pak wars and the rise of communism. Blood Brothers is a personal journey through change as tensions build, stretching the bonds of a lifetime to breaking point and ultimately ending at a point where the reader experiences despair and hope at the same time- despair at the downward trajectory of the Hindu-Muslim relations and hope that the future generations learn from the past experiences and come together to build a great nation. Mobashar Jawed "M.J." Akbar is an Indian politician who is the Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs, and a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, from Madhya Pradesh. He was inducted into the Union Council of Ministers by PM Narendra Modi on 5 July 2016. He is also a veteran Indian journalist and author of several books. He first served as an elected Member of Parliament between 1989 and 1991, and returned to public life in March 2014, when he joined the BJP and was appointed national spokesperson during the 2014 general elections that brought the party back to office with a simple majority under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi. In July, 2015 he was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand. During his long career in journalism, he launched, as editor, India's first weekly political news magazine, Sunday, in 1976, and two daily newspapers, The Telegraph and The Asian Age in 1989 and 1994. He has also been editorial director of India Today and The Sunday Guardian. He was the Editor-in-Chief and then Editorial Director of The Sunday Guardian, a weekly newspaper that he founded, until he left to join politics full-time. He has remained associated with leading media houses and periodicals in India including India Today, Headlines Today, The Telegraph, The Asian Age and Deccan Chronicle',' among others. He has written several non-fiction books, including a biography of Jawaharlal Nehru titled Nehru: The Making of India, a book on Kashmir titled Kashmir Behind the Vale, Riot After Riot and India: The Siege Within. He also authored The Shade of Swords, a history of jihad. Akbar has also authored fiction, such as Blood Brothers-A Family Saga (Fratelli Di Sangue, Italian translated version). Have Pen, Will Travel: Observations of a Globetrotter is a travelogue authored by him. His book 'Byline' consists of write-ups of bylines picked from his writings. His book Tinderbox: The past and future of Pakistan, in January 2012 discusses the themes of identity crisis and class struggles in Pakistan.