Silicon, Scams, and a Spy Named Solly

The narrative explores a complex case under the Rajiv Gandhi administration

- ILA KUMAR

mjee Chandran's debut fiction contains a cracker of a story. In the most elegant prose, infused with generous doses of wit, guile, and daring, the story is set in New Delhi when Rajiv Gandhi was the prime minister of India and when India came under the unwavering lens of journalistic scrutiny.

First, we are taken to the descript town of Mettur in Tamil Nadu. We are privy to an in-house chemical factory there, run by RV Metkem. The factory has the technology and the ability to make silicon metal. Silicon metal was crucial to the defence needs of the country. India at the time used imported silicon metal for making solar cells, while the world used it for electronics-grade applications. To put it into perspective, this is quite an extraordinary achievement for a newly set up Metkem. But there was a problem of course.