The Pakistani Premier’s (read Mian Musharaff) sudden decision to invite himself to a cricket match in India triggers uncertainty, panic and bureaucratic gamesmanship in New Delhi. Seemingly above such mundane concerns, India’s elderly Prime Minister, Motwani (referred as Old Man) devotes his time and attention to Scotch, late mornings, and item numbers from a choli girl (digitally altered ones), occasionally adding to the confusion with an arbitrary political pronouncement or an occasional burst of ill-humour on national television. His joint secretary, Swami has to often walk the tight rope, and tap on his resourceful ingenuity to keep the government in office and to avoid be transferred to the animal husbandry department in his home state or to a Mogadishu in Africa when he is in hot water with the Old Man.
R. Chandrasekar carves an engaging plot in The Goat, The Sofa And Mr Swami and successfully paints a vivid picture while taking digs on the chaos, manipulation and petty politics in the circles of power. To add to the IAS and IFS officers, who make up the babudom running a dysfunctional coalition government, there are hints of the CIA tapping calls and keeping tabs on politicians and officers, a sensational and hungry-for-a-byte media, the opposition leader, who goes on a fast to death (only to be prevented from doing so by the PM in a staged drama) and the chief ministers of various states looking for a chance to up the stakes and score a few points against the incumbents in power. The Pakistani Premier joins the circus and brings with him a farm animal, a goat aptly called Sikandar, as his token of friendship to a cricket series in India.
There are many hilarious scenes in the book — the prank call to the Old Man from someone pretending to be George Bush past 2 am in the morning, Swami’s jibes with an unpopular cricket team captain, who has the habit of getting other batsmen run out, the politics behind the sofa to seat 25 dignitaries with the Indian and Pakistani Premiers, the opposition staging a walk out, the various committees composed of security forces and IFS/IAS officers set up to receive Sikandar the goat, and the Old Man exiling civil servants to a never heard of African country. The most interesting sections are those that feature the Old Man, a crafty politician from the hinterland, who despite his age is sharper than the Mian across the border, who engages him in a covert PR battle for the peacemaker. The wily Old Man also features in interesting, laugh out loud moments with an exasperated Mr Swami, who is given the task of holding fort and putting out the fires in between his and the Old Man’s trips to the hospital. The Old Man and his eccentricity is what holds your interest till the end, the high point being the camaraderie he shares with the Pakistani Premier in this political game and outwitting the media and his political detractors in the process.
This is a witty, refreshing and interesting satire, one that keeps you engaged and makes you laugh at the ones we elect as a part of the political circus as well as those who surround them, media and the babus. In times like ours this reads like a stress buster. It is definitely better than watching the juvenile banter on talk shows, the screeching wannabes on reality television or watching rehearsed interviews and lobbied for viewpoints on our esteemed ‘breaking’ news channels.

Ahmed Faiyaz is the author of Love, Life & all that Jazz... and Another Chance