Silicon, Scams, and a Spy Named Solly

Ramjee Chandran's debut fiction contains a cracker of a story.

- SHEILA KUMAR

Written in the most elegant manner, infused with generous doses of wit, guile, dash, and daring, the story is set in New Delhi when Rajiv Gandhi was the prime minister of India and when scams came under the unforgiving lens of journalists with spine.

But first, we are taken to the nondescript town of Mettur in Tamil Nadu. We become privy to an inhouse discovery in a chemical factory there, run by RV Ramani. The factory has the capacity and the ability to produce silicon metal. Silicon is vital to the defence interests of the country.

Though India at the time used silicon metal for making solar panels while the world used it for electronics-grade applications. To put it into perspective, this is quite an atmanirbhar achievement for the newly set up Metkem. But there's a problem of course.