It all starts when salesgirl Sapna Sinha is
approached out of the blue by billionaire industrialist V M Acharya with a
bizarre proposal that she allows herself to be assessed as his potential successor
as CEO of the massive ABC Group.
He explains he distrusts conventional
recruitment methods and will judge her fitness for the role through seven
unspecified tests. It sounds bonkers to her, but there is a
hefty up-front payment on offer just for
agreeing to take part. And recent events put her in desperate need of funds
(she is the family’s sole breadwinner) so why not humour the old man?
Sapna’s life moves from the ordinary to the
extraordinary as she finds her everyday life suddenly presenting her with a
succession of situations that require: leadership, integrity, courage,
foresight, resourcefulness and decisiveness. It seems impossible that all these
have been set up by Acharya, but how else to explain the chain of events?
Sapna’s testing adventures take place
against a backcloth of modern India with all its contradictions. And as the
seventh test arrives, her suspicions that not all is as it seems strengthen in
a hectic and dramatic climax.
The author’s Q & A (retitled Slumdog
Millionaire after the film was made) is a hard act to follow and for me this
fell short of the mark. Where in Q & A the coincidences were unlikely but
believable, here it all seems too contrived to really buy into.
Nevertheless it rattles along well and takes
pot shots at some unsavoury aspects of India – corruption in public office,
exploitation of child labour, the cult of celebrity, forced marriage, and
political patronage all come in for a bashing.
And the finale, unexpected twists and all,
is quite exciting so still well worth a read.
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