Virag Dhulia - Chess without a Queen

Notion Press

Old No. 38, New No. 6

McNichols Road, Chetpet

Chennai - 600 031

First Published by Notion Press 2017

Copyright Virag Dhulia 2017

All Rights Reserved.

eISBN 978-1-948096-55-3

This book has been published with all reasonable efforts taken to make the material error-free after the consent of the author. No part of this book shall be used, reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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This book is dedicated to my parents Late Shri Ramnik Dhulia, my father and to my mother, Neena Dhulia. Without their love and blessings, this book would not have been possible.

This novel, Chess Without a Queen is special, what is so special? Because it is coming from author and filmmaker Virag Dhulia who has been associated with the mens right movement in India from a long time. He is not new to the literature arena. His earlier work The Secrets of Manhood was hard core pro men stuff which contained small articles related to men and their world.

He is a blogger too who has written all type of blogs travelogues, movie reviews, short stories. I have a special bond with the author as we share the common interest of writing and speaking about men and their world. He has been my mentor in the mens right movement and I have learned a lot from him. He keeps on doing different things and every time he allures us with the topic and technique he picks. He is a trained software engineer so you can see the perfection in whatever vein he chooses.

This time he has come up with an entirely new thing, a fiction novel. This novel is a political drama of a state in India The Uttar Pradesh. The title of the novel is unique, Chess without a queen. Now how is that possible? Chess is always played with the queen. That is the whole point of the book, everyone is playing chess and there is no queen involved. Sounds like a movie without a heroine, isnt it? But you will find female characters in this novel. It will be interesting to know that in spite of having female characters why the novel is named, Chess without a Queen.

This novel has something for every kind of reader, you will find a high profile political drama, suspense, romance, an honest man fighting with the system, political leaders trapped in scams and controversies, the corruption and the quest of finding peace amidst all the chaos. There are some books which you read to satisfy the inner hunger of reading something out of the box, this book satisfies that craving.

For all those who are admirer of Virags pro men views, they will get a special treat in this book. The characters and story are not from some other world in spite of it being a fictional novel, it is very much around us and we can relate to them. The local dialect of Uttar Pradesh and name of the places will give nostalgic feeling to the people who have any kind of touch with Uttar Pradesh. Those who do not know the place will definitely get some real insight and knowledge about how culture, language is almost same in India. The twists and turns will give readers some real goose bumps. A good fiction novel entertains and amuses us at the same time, Chess without a Queen does it propitiously.

Foreword by

Jyoti Tiwari

Bestselling Author, Blogger

Chess without a Queen is my first attempt at a fiction novel. I had written some short stories many years back, which is still on my website but other than that, by and large I have written serious articles on various social issues. This is my third book and first novel. My first two books The Secrets of Manhood 1&2 were a collection of short articles highlighting various social issues faced by men.

This novel is a story of two rival political parties Lok Sewa Party and Pradesh Jan Dal. Set in the backdrop of Uttar Pradesh, a North Indian state with the highest representation in the Lok Sabha The Lower House of the Parliament, the story and its characters are totally fictional and bear no resemblance to any character living or dead.

The incidents and plots are generally inspired from real life along with some creative liberty taken for the sake of story-telling. The novel, however, takes a dig at the internal operations of the System as we know it. Each and every wing of the system be it politicians, bureaucracy, judiciary, executive, or the media along with the corporates has its own weaklings.

At the end, all are run by humans with human needs and human weaknesses. The story, as it unfolds, talks about how the need to either get power or retain it, makes people play dangerous and treacherous games and then the price they pay for it. It ends with the redemption that one goes through in this mad struggle for power in a competitive world and also turns many concepts of law, order and justice, topsy-turvy.

The title tells us that a lot of games and strategies are played just like in a chess, except that here theres no visible queen, if the chase for power can be equated to queen.

This novel would not have been possible without the blessings of my late father and the continuous love and support of my mother for me. Other than that, a few close friends who stood by me through thick and thin and whom I have bugged a lot during the process of writing this novel.

Jyoti Tiwari, who apart from agreeing to write the foreword for the novel despite her busy schedule notwithstanding the fact that she was herself writing a book at that time. Her inputs also helped me understand Lucknow and shape my thought process and gave constant inputs as I developed the characters and the plot.

Madhu Sundar and Ramachandra, who gave me an honest initial review and valuable inputs about the flow of the novel and how to keep the audience entertained.

Bhuvnesh Sharma and Vivek Ganesan who not only did proof reading of the first draft but also acted as my first audience and without their feedback, this novel would not have taken the final shape it has taken. Their inputs helped me greatly improve the overall quality of reading and I feel deeply grateful to them for the time they took out and the effort they put in.

A big note of thanks to all of them for being there for me as I completed my first novel because without them, this novel would not have seen the light of the day at all.

22nd October, 7 AM, Sunday, London: