How to Kidnap the Rich: A Novel

Ramesh Kumar works in his father’s tea stall in Old Delhi, his life nothing but frequent beatings and long days grinding spices and learning the ways of a low-caste Indian – lying, cheating, bargaining. His chance to move up in the world comes when Sister Claire semi-adopts him and introduces him to an otherwise inaccessible world of knowledge. He takes to it like a duck to water but, after her death, (mis)uses his talents to sit examinations for the lazy or stupid sons of Delhi’s middle class. His life changes forever when one of his fraudulent submissions earns first place in the All Indias, the national university entrance exams. This paves the way for an outrageous scam in the form of a top-rated TV show, soon followed by multiple kidnappings and a love story. The escapades, surely possible only in Rahul Raina’s marvelous rendering of India, pit the haves against the have-nots, with the would-be haves, like Ramesh, stuck firmly in the middle. What makes How to Kidnap the Rich such an enjoyable read is not only Ramesh’s adventures but also the riotous way his story is told – comical accounts of incidents, self-deprecating quips, telling put-downs of fat-cat politicians, and numerous disparaging comments about Westernized Indians. Great fun.