By U.B. Acharya
In December 1971, at the height of India-Pakistan war, I was stuck in Mumbai on a prolonged project for my oil company in Assam. As the work had to be carried out on a computer located in Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) at Colaba, the company had very kindly provided me with an accommodation in a posh hotel near the Gateway of India. Life in Mumbai during daytime was normal but there was a total blackout at night. One evening as dusk was falling, after an early dinner at an Udupi restaurant, I was hurrying back to my hotel when I noticed a corner book shop still open. The kind Parsee owner sold me a new paperback and while collecting the price of Rs. 7.50, he said “It is a best-seller.” To me it turned out to be an “unputdownable” book. The book, “The Day of the Jackal” was authored by a British named Frederick Forsyth. This was his first novel and a historical thriller.
