The moment I saw the cover of this book at the book stall, I knew I’ve to read it. I knew I wanted to know the heart, the mind, the souls of the beings who take pleasure in the cries, in the shrieks, in the grief of an orphan, of a widow, of a childless parent, of a handicap. I knew I am diving into a dark non-fiction, which will only dump a heavy sack of dark, brutal, naked truth on me; and so it did.
S. Hussain Zaidi, a journalist (specializing in crime reporting) is the writer of this book, aptly named after the name of this day, Black Friday. Why Black Friday? Because this, 12th Mrch, 1993, was the day when Bombay, now Mumbai, was drenched in the blood of hundreds of innocents, when the city trembled with not one, or two, or three, but 10 serial blasts in a span of 2 hours; of which last 5 went off in 30 minutes of time, mere 30 minutes. This was first in its kind of attack in a city worldwide. Yes, Bombay was the first ever prey of an evil attack of such a gruesome kind.
The credulity of the profession of the book’s writer had made me set great hopes from the book, that the information I’d get from the book will be reliable and far from the half-truths and hearsays. And, after finishing reading it, I can say I was proven right with my assumption. The book indeed made most of the things clear. It provided with a lot more than I had expected.
The book starts off with the description of the day, Black Friday. And then, as the chapter’s title indicates, starts with “The Beginning.” Eventually, we’re made aware of the masterminds behind the blast, the people involved in the execution of the plan, training provided to those people, the police teams involved in solving the case, the corruption which led to the landing of the ammunition, the involvement of the Bollywood names, the Pakistan’s role and much more.There’re dedicated chapters to each of these sections, and Zaidi has not rushed in jumping from a scene to an entirely different one.
How, like always, it came down to Hindu-Muslim religious war, shows the little good that religion has now held for us! Tiger Memon might have had his selfish motives behind these attacks, but the ones who actually planted the bombs, were fed with the absurd ideas of religion. What scared me more was the attack on the Muslim areas in Bombay, while this chain of blasts was still going on on Friday! Even in the midst of a massacre that Bombay was in on the day, people, instead of saving their own lives, couldn’t help destroying others’ lives. Such is the power of religion on humans now. Most of the evils today are taking shape in the name of religion. Religion, that was meant to unite us (in a way that I had never really understood), is the sole reason of destroying each one of us.
As for the writing style of Zaidi, I didn’t expect a whole new different level of writing, but decent writing and that I was fruitfully delivered with. Judging this book, on the basis of anything other than the factual content that it has to offer and the way that data is presented, would be me making a fool out of myself.
Go ahead with reading this book if you want to know about the backstory of Black Friday, its execution, and the havoc it created. But most importantly, to know how the real culprits, the masterminds behind the whole massacre, were still not captured.
The ending- “…when the initial plan to bomb Bombay was formulated, it was suggested that seven other cities – including New Delhi, Calcutta, Bangalore, Chennai and Ahemdabad – be bombed as well. However, due to logistical problems, this did not work out”- shook me to my core.
Black Friday isn’t the only Black day in the world’s history. There’ve been deadlier, more cruel days when humanity was lost to devils. But now the situation is such, every day is a Black Friday for some or the other place around the globe. People are killing on the name of God and religion; people are dying for the same reason. What will be left of the humans if religion was removed? Humanity perhaps; or maybe worse! English And then some of them have the galls to say why their patriotism is always questioned 😂😂😂🤷♂️ English This was my second book (3 if u consider “Sacred Games”) by the author after his famous “From Dongri to Dubai” on the Mumbai Underworld. Impressed by his earlier books, I picked this up despite watching Kashyap’s movie based on this book. And like the earlier books 2 things struck me :-
The superlative knowledge and research of the author of the subject matter.
The trivialising masala tone in which he writes full with Filmy dialogues. Maybe this is writing non-fiction with Bambaiyaa smartness.
Perhaps this strange combination (almost like the professor Sanjay Dutt in Lage Raho Munnabhai) is what made the books very readable and yet credible/authentic. This book is a comprehensive account of the Bombay Bomb Blasts which rocked the city in early 1993. The motives, the methods, the investigation and trial have been covered in quite some detail. And inevitably there are scores of names - police officers, gangsters, lawyers, politicians which at times can seem overwhelming. But as mentioned above, the book is very readable. Do not hesitate in picking this up !
PS:-
a) Despite knowing about Pakistan's involvement in murdering hundreds of civilians in the Bombay blasts, Indian govt did nothing to retaliate.
b) The revenge theory i.e. many in the Islamic countries wanted revenge for a mosque is a bit ironical. What happened in India was disgusting but name one Muslim-majority country that treats its minorities well or is liberal and secular !
c) With all due respect to the eminent judges, wonder if Yaqub Menon deserved the death penalty ? English The most authentic and well researched book on the blasts that shook India. Written by India's ace crime reporter, the book details the planning that went behind the execution and the role Mumbai underworld played in executing it. It also bares the deep nexus between the corrupt policemen, custom officials and the underworld. Great fantastic read English It is no doubt that S. Hussain Zaidi has done a lot of groundwork in preparation to this book, the only one of it's kind describing the overarching crime of the Bombay Bomb Blasts. However, the writing is seriously mediocre, frequently moving into floral and trying too hard to create artificial emotion territory. It is a testimony to the genius of Anurag Kashyap that he made his taut thriller based on this slush of a material, and one's heart goes out to Zaidi himself, so obviously bereft and lacking of any authorial talents, seeing as this is the only book that has gone as deep into the subject matter, and one wanted to like it so much. Alas.
The book reads as a cross between a newspaper article and the notes' diary of a court reporter, it's attempts at characterization are a hoot, and the two hundred or so characters it throws at you in a whirlwind vanish in a sputter of a sentence. My initial impression was that perhaps Zaidi has done it deliberately, stayed utilitarian in his writing to cover for any imagined slights against the Dons he's writing about, but his later books stay with his uh .. style (I ran through the initial few pages of Dongri to Dubai), and I must say I am rather disappointed.
However, this book still gets an 3 star average rating for the sheer paucity of Indian authors writing about true crime, Meenal Baghel's (who is incidentally Zaidi's ex boss) Death in Mumbai being a notable exception. English
An account of the biggest terrorist attack on the Indian city. In this book, the author takes us into the heart of the conspiracy and the investigation that ensued. The book gives insights into the criminal mind as revealed in Zaidi's interviews with some of India's most notorious names like Dawood Ibrahim, and Tiger Memon among others. Black Friday: The True Story Of The Bombay Bomb Blasts
This is an account of one of the biggest terrorist attacks on an Indian city - Bombay.
The author has very weel described the events, the conspiracies behind the attack and the investigation that was followed further. The description was so vivid that tears spilled as I read about the attack and the plight of the city following it.
This one must be read by everyone to know what was the truth that lead to such an attack. The narrative is compelling and this book celebrates the hardwork of each and every police officer, who had dedicated their day and night to their duty. To all those who had lost their lives in the bomb blasts, who had done nothing to be blamed for, are remembered forever in the hearts ... English
When two giants fight, the expendables are always the common people—like the people butchered in the riots or killed in the blasts, none of whom perhaps shared a fraction of the religious and political zeal of their so-called leaders.
4.5 stars.
Despite being a true account of the ghastly event, Mr. Zaidi tells it like a story. And a gripping one at that.
The book starts at the BSE building on the day of the bombings and then takes us back to introduce many people like Dawood Ibrahim, Tiger Memon, which leads us to the fatal day and the investigation that follows.
From the events that encouraged the perpetrators, to the planning, organization, transportation, execution and the aftermath, Zaidi describes each and every aspect meticulously. I was angered at the death of innocent city dwellers, all because of a bunch of credulous fanatics who thought they were 'fighting for a noble cause'.
It is a good book which does not lose pace and is recommended to everyone. English What a detailed version of the serial bombings!!
I was a kid during the occurrence of those and had a very little knowledge, but this book has given an insight to the happenings. The author's narration was very shrewd and detail oriented.
Page after page, every chapter was presented in a very structured way and so clear that one may not get confused due to lot of characters. The pace with which the book goes on is commendable.
The best part of the book was the chapter which showcases the horror faced by the survivors and it definitely will touch you.
It's definitely a book worth reading/must read for those who r interested in the genres: crime, mafia and investigation. English At the risk of sounding stupid ........I was born in1988 so I don really belong to the generation that was perturbed by the 93 blasts ... Yes u talk about world trade centre attack or Bombay 26/11 attacks it might bring tears to my eyes but not the 93 blasts ...... But this book changed that I felt lik i was living through those blasts .... What's perplexes you is whose side to be on...... The book is written from everyone's point of view it's difficult for u to decide how it is that the world can be a better place when everyone is so bent avenging ..... English I'm sure the transition from crime journalist to author is a difficult task, as your audience/reader expects a different writing style. As a huge fan of Mafia Queens of Mumbai and Dongri To Dubai, this book makes it evident that Zaidi's writing skills became more polished with time. Black Friday is an incredible piece of work, as it provides deep insight into the Bombay Blasts, the masterminds behind it and those connected with them. However, Black Friday reads more like a (long) newspaper article at times, rather than a novel. This does not make for light reading. In fact, for a more broken down, easy to follow version of Black Friday, I'd recommend watching the Anurag Kashyap film - which was, in fact, based on this book. He's done a great job bringing these words to film and he has kept true to this book.
However, this is not me saying this book isn't amazing - it is. It's so interesting to read about the people, the families and even the celebrities connected to the Bombay blasts. There's even a good 15 pages dedicated to Sanjay Dutt's case and how Dutt got caught up in his own mess. A very good book, no doubt, but for me personally, it's the weakest of Zaidi's books. Simply put, it doesn't read as a novel, but rather a newspaper. English
