An avid crowd of bookworms listened in rapt attention as Ajay Pandey read out extracts from his book ‘Resonance’ during a book reading session at the Beldih Club Hall on Tuesday evening.
From pondering over some sketches of the characters to instances of technology, the readings were both amusing and poignant for the audience of different age groups. The audiences remain glued to their seats. Ajay Pandey, a mechanical engineer from BIT Mesra is the Additional Commissioner of Income Tax department in Mumbai. His reading skill became the cynosure of all eyes after he started reading passages from his maiden book. He interacted with the readers and motivated the youths to seriously take up writing.
Sharing his experiences in book writing, 48-year old Pandey said that from past several years he had harp a desire to pen a story. “The thought kindled in me while pursuing my B Tech in BIT Mesra. Those days, my sister would ask me to share a story whenever I was at home. One day, I had nothing except for narrating a self-scripted story. That day, my sister told I have the potential of being a good story teller. I was inspired to take up story writing”
Getting nostalgic while addressing the gathering Pandey said that he started his career at Tata Mines. He vividly remembered days spent at the company. Pandey’s debut fiction novel ‘Resonance’ is a fast-paced thriller which revolves around a man, Imran Shah Malik, who is on a mission to cause a catastrophe of biblical proportions. Imran, a soldier of Pakistani Army, fought the 1971 war between India and Pakistan.
He is taken as Prisoner of War (PoW) in India and put in Alipur Jail in Calcutta. later, he isn’t returned to Pakistan as per the Shimla agreement but handed over to ‘Mukti Bahini’ of Bangladesh which took advantage of his captivity, tortured him and forced him to reveal the strategic locations of Pakistani army. The man being a patriot refused to divulge details.
After a torturous treatment for five years he escapes and makes his way to Pakistan, where he is reinstated in Pakistani army. In Pakistan, he rises to become the chief of ISI (Inter State Intelligence) and takes a pledge to avenge the wrongs done to him.