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Guild Hostilities
Ram Reddy discovers the potential in Mohamed Ali Adnan and trains him to wrestle. Mohamed develops a friendship with Ramaswamy Iyer while training under Ram Reddy. When Mohamed defeats an Irish wrestler in a bout and impresses an ex-army official, he gets a chance to fight in the British Indian army. He gets employed in Mesopotamia along with Ratan Singh and Michael McKenzie to fight against the ottomans. Here he meets a rape victim at a war theater, and develops a sympathy for her. As days passed, his sympathy gets molded into love… He soon returns back to India and gets employed in Lahore, where he lives a happy life having his childhood friend Ramaswamy Iyer as his neighbour and Ratan Singh as his colleague. However in a few days, the harmony of Lahore is shattered due to the literary works of selfish politicians… and members of his guild, brothers who stood by side at the war are plunged into communal violence… Ramaswamy, Ratan, and Mohamed sense their brotherhood perishing from the odour of blood painting their lands red… they try to terminate the hostilities… Will they be able to do it? Victory will mean the life of the brotherhood and countless others, but failure on the other hand, will spell the doom of everything they hold dear.
198 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
10 people want to read
About the author
C.R. Barath Narayanan
1 book4 followersCR Barath Narayanan, brought up in Chennai, is the creator of the novel “Guild Hostilities” published by Notion Press in the year 2014. By graduation he’ll be an engineer, by passion, he’s a writer. He’d completed his engineering course during March 2014. During his college days, he use to take the back seat of the classroom, grasping gossips, reading newspapers, peeping into fellow students’ text messages. His later job will be to take out a notebook, construct a beautiful story by gluing up all the information he’d gathered. He gained lots of appreciation from his fellow mates as his stories captivated their hearts. This is how he discovered the writer in him…
During 2011 July, while he was fresh into second year of Engineering, he was interested in writing a full length novel. He peeped into the “Creative writing” syllabuses of various world class universities, hunted the study materials worldwide, read all of them, taught himself the hypnotising techniques and globally acceptable grammar, started writing a novel once he was convinced that he’s “capable to write.” By the time he was convinced, it was January 2013. The first novel he wrote was “The Legendary Last Benchers,” which was a contemporary one, which ended up being a “Romantic-comedy Novel.” His friends loved it, but he wasn’t convinced, because he asked himself, “When gods give you something, why can’t you use it for some useful purpose instead of using it for a yet another ‘commercial-romantic’ thing?” later he denied the idea of publishing it. One of his best friends asked him, “Are you a retard?” after hearing his decision, CR Barath Narayanan replied, “I’m just trying not be yet another retard in the story telling field, that’s why I’m not gonna publish The Legendary Last Benchers”
During 2013 May, CR Barath Narayanan got animated to write about the pride of “Unsung Heroes” who lived in the vintage India, after reading some texts talking Indian history. Later, he plunged his “Imaginary heroes and heroines” into the world of Vintage India, saw them live there with his “eyes of creativity,” as words flowed down through his fingers into his laptop. As a result of 240 day research and 75 day writing, “Guild Hostilities” was born. And, CR Barath Narayanan was convinced as he felt that his work was worthy enough to be published…
During 2011 July, while he was fresh into second year of Engineering, he was interested in writing a full length novel. He peeped into the “Creative writing” syllabuses of various world class universities, hunted the study materials worldwide, read all of them, taught himself the hypnotising techniques and globally acceptable grammar, started writing a novel once he was convinced that he’s “capable to write.” By the time he was convinced, it was January 2013. The first novel he wrote was “The Legendary Last Benchers,” which was a contemporary one, which ended up being a “Romantic-comedy Novel.” His friends loved it, but he wasn’t convinced, because he asked himself, “When gods give you something, why can’t you use it for some useful purpose instead of using it for a yet another ‘commercial-romantic’ thing?” later he denied the idea of publishing it. One of his best friends asked him, “Are you a retard?” after hearing his decision, CR Barath Narayanan replied, “I’m just trying not be yet another retard in the story telling field, that’s why I’m not gonna publish The Legendary Last Benchers”
During 2013 May, CR Barath Narayanan got animated to write about the pride of “Unsung Heroes” who lived in the vintage India, after reading some texts talking Indian history. Later, he plunged his “Imaginary heroes and heroines” into the world of Vintage India, saw them live there with his “eyes of creativity,” as words flowed down through his fingers into his laptop. As a result of 240 day research and 75 day writing, “Guild Hostilities” was born. And, CR Barath Narayanan was convinced as he felt that his work was worthy enough to be published…
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 25, 2014
The author of this work has tried a different approach to the conventional literature about World War 1 and World War 2. Narayan though being a young author has shown remarkable writing abilities which we must respect. Narayan has shown us the two great wars of the early 20th century through the eyes of Indian sepoys which is unique and very novel idea in historical Indian literature.
The characters hold an important place in the story and one cannot function without the other. The author has managed to interconnect his characters in such a way that even though they all belong to diverse religions, they all share one common belief…the belief in humanity. Whether it is the Muslim Mohamed or the Sikh Ratan, the Christian Michael or the Hindu Ramaswamy, all these characters have one role to play and that is to teach us the glory of religious tolerance during the pre-Independence period of India. The characters are feisty and lively. They speak with no pretensions and the author at the beginning of his book has used a lot of slang which creates a different feel to the whole story especially during the life of the protagonists in the Akhara (sacred wrestling ring in India); I would like to mention here that I loved the way the author mentioned about the ‘slapping of thighs and shoulders’ which really made one feel the devotion of the wrestlers in the Akhara.
The main plot of this unique story is centred on the life and military adventures of Mohamed who is a dominating figure in the story. I was impressed that the author being a Hindu chose to create a Muslim main protagonist as his main character in the story. The story line is good, it has depth and the descriptions are few and interesting to read. There are fifty six chapters in all excluding the prologue and epilogue. The prologue is so gripping that it tempts the reader to want to know what is coming next. The chapters are short and very easy to read especially when one wants to read some light literature with a bit of intellectual work in it.
The book however is not meant for readers below the age of 13 as there is a rape scene depicted in the story. Readers above age 13 are welcome to read this historical book which portrays the stark realities of war including the hooliganism, thefts and rape. The rape of Elnaz the protagonist’s love is described with dignity and without a lot of gore to it.
The historical background has been taken into consideration by the author and he has done his research very well especially in certain chapters where he highlights that even though India had nothing to do with the First and the Second World Wars yet being a colony of the British Empire we were forced to take part in both these wars. The main characters in the story battle against the allies of the German’s and these encounters are described very well by the author.
The latter few chapters are very brief which ends the story very abruptly which maybe shows that the author wishes to write a sequel to this work of his? The dialogues become less coarse as the story proceeds and therefore after that it becomes easier to read.
Morals and virtues are the building blocks of this book penned by Narayan along with a sense of duty to one’s soul rather than to one’s self. This we clearly see when Elnaz is being raped after the carnage of the First World War and Mohamed without a loaded rifle, with his comrades tries to save her despite all the dangers. Some of the values one can gain from reading this novel are:
Respect for ones elders
Respect for ones Guru (teacher)
Respect for the dignity of a woman
Upholding the virtue of integrity
Upholding the virtue of compassion
Upholding the virtue of kindness
Upholding the value of true friendship which sees no caste, religion, race, gender, region etc.
Lastly, I would like to say that I hope Narayan continues to improve upon his work and writes more books in the future. I will end with a quote from his book:
“You’re now fighting a war against your enemy. You’re conquering his fort by fighting hard. Look at the sweat rolling down your body; it’s the blood of your enemy. Celebrate victory for each drop of sweat you let of your body.”
The characters hold an important place in the story and one cannot function without the other. The author has managed to interconnect his characters in such a way that even though they all belong to diverse religions, they all share one common belief…the belief in humanity. Whether it is the Muslim Mohamed or the Sikh Ratan, the Christian Michael or the Hindu Ramaswamy, all these characters have one role to play and that is to teach us the glory of religious tolerance during the pre-Independence period of India. The characters are feisty and lively. They speak with no pretensions and the author at the beginning of his book has used a lot of slang which creates a different feel to the whole story especially during the life of the protagonists in the Akhara (sacred wrestling ring in India); I would like to mention here that I loved the way the author mentioned about the ‘slapping of thighs and shoulders’ which really made one feel the devotion of the wrestlers in the Akhara.
The main plot of this unique story is centred on the life and military adventures of Mohamed who is a dominating figure in the story. I was impressed that the author being a Hindu chose to create a Muslim main protagonist as his main character in the story. The story line is good, it has depth and the descriptions are few and interesting to read. There are fifty six chapters in all excluding the prologue and epilogue. The prologue is so gripping that it tempts the reader to want to know what is coming next. The chapters are short and very easy to read especially when one wants to read some light literature with a bit of intellectual work in it.
The book however is not meant for readers below the age of 13 as there is a rape scene depicted in the story. Readers above age 13 are welcome to read this historical book which portrays the stark realities of war including the hooliganism, thefts and rape. The rape of Elnaz the protagonist’s love is described with dignity and without a lot of gore to it.
The historical background has been taken into consideration by the author and he has done his research very well especially in certain chapters where he highlights that even though India had nothing to do with the First and the Second World Wars yet being a colony of the British Empire we were forced to take part in both these wars. The main characters in the story battle against the allies of the German’s and these encounters are described very well by the author.
The latter few chapters are very brief which ends the story very abruptly which maybe shows that the author wishes to write a sequel to this work of his? The dialogues become less coarse as the story proceeds and therefore after that it becomes easier to read.
Morals and virtues are the building blocks of this book penned by Narayan along with a sense of duty to one’s soul rather than to one’s self. This we clearly see when Elnaz is being raped after the carnage of the First World War and Mohamed without a loaded rifle, with his comrades tries to save her despite all the dangers. Some of the values one can gain from reading this novel are:
Respect for ones elders
Respect for ones Guru (teacher)
Respect for the dignity of a woman
Upholding the virtue of integrity
Upholding the virtue of compassion
Upholding the virtue of kindness
Upholding the value of true friendship which sees no caste, religion, race, gender, region etc.
Lastly, I would like to say that I hope Narayan continues to improve upon his work and writes more books in the future. I will end with a quote from his book:
“You’re now fighting a war against your enemy. You’re conquering his fort by fighting hard. Look at the sweat rolling down your body; it’s the blood of your enemy. Celebrate victory for each drop of sweat you let of your body.”
September 3, 2014
Its a heartfelt book about the way politics and religion that once tore and still tearing our country apart. The author has done some good research about the happenings of the war during the different time the story deals with. The characters enter our hearts before entering our brain with the narration that they get with the mind of the author. Kudos to him!!
September 3, 2014
The flow with which the book written is awesome. After a long time read a patriotic type book & felt really superb.
The writer seems to be fresh & clear about his thoughts.
The writer seems to be fresh & clear about his thoughts.
August 21, 2014
First let me start by saying this is a different type of read for me. I must say I was lost in the beginning, but as the chapters went on I was able to get into it by the different scenes and plots the author tells. This is a literature book about the Military (Army), World War 1 and 2, as well as the different religions mentioned in the book. I did in fact love how the brothers (characters) formed a bond that's considered as Ram "guild" which explains the title and the wrestling defeats that occurred throughout the book, which I like how some of the authors words switched in slang as I can understand it.
I enjoyed the scene with Mohamed and Elnaz, the connection seemed deep. Each character had their own place that held up with each of the brothers. Ram was the leader and almighty guru, but they all share the same common belief. Elnaz rape scene was a great added mix to the plot, although it pissed me off , but I understood where the author was going. It was gripping, intense and down right wrong. There is so much to take from this book that it holds values that's given once the reader is finished with the book. I can tell the author did a tremendous amount of research detailing the Wars, Politicians, Religion, Trained wrestling, Protagonist's, ect.
Without given much of the book away with a drawn out long review, I overall thought the book was good. As stated before I'm not into all the World War literature aspect of reading, but I can say this book held my attention as I got into it and it became good because of the values detailed at the end. Good read Barath!
I enjoyed the scene with Mohamed and Elnaz, the connection seemed deep. Each character had their own place that held up with each of the brothers. Ram was the leader and almighty guru, but they all share the same common belief. Elnaz rape scene was a great added mix to the plot, although it pissed me off , but I understood where the author was going. It was gripping, intense and down right wrong. There is so much to take from this book that it holds values that's given once the reader is finished with the book. I can tell the author did a tremendous amount of research detailing the Wars, Politicians, Religion, Trained wrestling, Protagonist's, ect.
Without given much of the book away with a drawn out long review, I overall thought the book was good. As stated before I'm not into all the World War literature aspect of reading, but I can say this book held my attention as I got into it and it became good because of the values detailed at the end. Good read Barath!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews