While the Kashmir conflict is a common enough theme for most modern Indian authors, what truly sets this novel apart is Jaspreet Singh's heart-wrenching description of the lives that are trapped in this disputed territory, lives that have little to do with the political puppeteers that wield the strings of terror and the continual threat of war, and lives that, above all, yearn to be 'normal'.
The story is woven around the journey of its protagonist — an unassuming, although markedly disillusioned, man named Kirpal. Son of a war hero who breathed his last in the snowy glacial peaks of Kashmir, Kirpal (or Kip, as he is better known) joins the army to follow his father's illustrious legacy. Overshadowed by the looming aura of his father, which, to Kip, always seems on the brink of swallowing him whole, he is assigned to Kashmir as an assistant chef. And it is in Kashmir, surrounded by miles of icy white nothingness, that he truly comes to terms with his father's death, discovers facets about his father's life that he was hitherto carefully shielded from, and takes his first fumbling steps towards his lifelong bitter-sweet relationship with the valley.
Over the course of his painfully ordinary career, Kip is assigned to the kitchen of the famous General Kumar. He eventually takes over the reins from his mentor, Chef Kishen, and unwillingly, but inevitably, finds himself intertwined in the whirlwind of conflicts — in both his thoughts and actions — that rages over Kashmir.
Kip's story is just like the thousands of others who pledge their life to defending the war-torn state of Kashmir, and as do they, he eventually finds himself questioning the reasoning that underlies why this conflict exists at all. Through Kip's eyes, Mr Singh examines the many truths that never make it past the garrisoned fortress of the Indian army — be it the unethical torture of Pakistani POWs in Kashmiri hotels, the blinkered vision that the top brass of the Indian army sometimes knowingly choose to adopt, or even the unjustified harassment of innocent civilians at the behest of local authorities.
Over time, Kip finds his growing disillusionment with Kashmir evolving into bitter resentment as his heroes and his dreams are snatched away from him, one after the other. As fate would have it, Kip finds love with a suspected Pakistani terrorist – Irem – whom he eventually loses to charges of inappropriate conduct. After he leaves the valley, for what he presumes to be, for good, he is diagnosed with a brain tumor, which his finances do not allow him to treat. He finally returns to Kashmir after close to a decade of voluntary banishment, to cook up the “feast of his life” for the wedding of young Rubiya, daughter of General Kumar, with whom he has forged a silent, emotionally-charged, bond.
Jaspreet Singh's prose is dry, and at times, almost cold. While this may strike some readers as disconcerting, the style is reflective of the protagonist's inner state — a quiet detachment that allows him to mirror all that happens around him. Yet, as Kip traipses down memory lane, the author bursts into sudden spurts of evocative narrative that harken back to the strong emotions that Kip consciously buries deep within him — and it is these passages that remind the reader about the strong emotional ties that root Kip to the valley.
What is perhaps, most striking about this book is its latent sensuality. Mr Singh relies strongly on vivid sensory images to describe the solace Kip finds in cooking, his fascination with the timeless beauty of Kashmir and his strong reactions to his charged surroundings. Although the book is relatively free of stereotyped war imagery, Mr Singh artfully crafts Kip's many conflicts into interesting layers that readers are invited to peel back, one at a time, as they foray deeper and deeper into Kip's (and the book's) soul.
Artful, subtle, intense and unpretentious – Chef is a quiet ode to a subject that its author evidently holds close to his heart, and succeeds in communicating this passion to its readers.
