The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A beautiful classic of two Englishmen, who venture into Afghanistan from India, to become Kings of a part of that country.
The story is narrated by a journalist who happens to meet two Englishmen Daniel Dravot and Peachy Carnehan, in a train in the times when India was still under the British rule. These two guys worked as sailor, photographers, petty contractors, engine drivers, boiler fitters etc and eventually come to a conclusion that India is not the place for their dream, and that is to become King of some land. Hence, they chose Kafiristan, a place in Afghanistan where they find that the place is ruled by tribes and have no proper King under one rule. They take the help of the journo to get smuggled into Afghanistan cleverly under disguise and were successful in making the people of Kafiristan believe that they are Gods in human form. The people there though innocent in the belief but were not ready to accept them as part and parcel of their tribes. All goes well until one day Daniel wants to have a female, as a wife, from among the tribes. This proposal of Daniel was opposed by Carnehan as the contract between them states that they should never touch or want any woman in foreign land, but rebuked by Daniel.. This aggravates the situation and the tribes realize the fact that these two guys were just humans cheating them as Gods. They brutally kill Daniel and crucify Carnehan. The severely injured Carnehan, somehow escapes from Kafiristan and come back to the journo to tell him what happened. Ultimately, he also dies in an asylum, repenting for what happened.

Positives: The author’s regular style of narration in poetic form is once again replicated. A man’s ability to reach his goal through will power and intelligence and the same man’s downfall due to excessive greed and wrong decisions is well brought out in this book. A must learn moral for every aspiring man and woman. The book has a wonderful poetic narration which can be enjoyed until the last page.

Negatives: The brutality of the Afghan tribes in killing Daniel who according them had cheated the people of Kafiristan, creates a kind of negative impact on Afghan way of living.

My rating is 4 out of 5


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