Yes Sir I Killed My Dad!: A Son’s Grief by Anuj Tikku | Book Review

It is often said that “the truth is stranger than fiction”. Do you believe it? Actually, most of us experienced, witnessed or came to know about many such incidents which make us believe in it. Sometimes we see things happening in a way that we consider in an unfair or unjust way. And, then we start thinking that the world is a strange place to live in.

Often, when we cannot come to a logical conclusion for some happenings and the possible reasons behind it, we tend to incline towards the theory of Karma. And, when we are unable to connect the dots to these incidents to the Karmik timeline, we tend to think beyond this life and start believing in the theory of re-births.

Though the tragic incidents which we cannot justify, leave us devastated they also lead us to think and rethink our actions and behavior. They often lead us to be better human beings. We start caring about others. Our priority often shifts toward doing greater good for society rather than just ourselves. And, we become more spiritual. That is, of course, if humanity is rooted inside us.

Why are we talking about the unfairness of life and spirituality today?

Well, today we are going to talk about a book named “Yes Sir I Killed My Dad!” by Anuj Tikku, which explores “A son’s grief“.

[Crime Patrol Burning Cases: Arun Tikku murder case (Dial 100 on 7th, 8th Feb, 2018)]

The book explores the criminal incident of the brutal murder of Mr. Arun Tikku (and a couple of more such incidents), late father of the author Anuj Tikku from his perspective. The case became talk of the town during the period and eventually, with passing time, it wiped out from the memory of people too. The life, however, for the author and a few other people who are associated with him and his family are changed forever.

Let us take a look at the book cover.

The first thing that comes in front of your eyes when you look at a book (or for that matter any physical media) is its cover page. It would not be wrong to consider the book cover responsible for many purchase and/or reading decisions.

The cover page is expected to reflect the tale explored within. As the book is a biographical crime thriller and explores the incidents weaved around the murder of a senior citizen in a metropolitan city of India by repeated stabbing; you can expect the cover page to be a little bold. The reddish color, reflecting the blood of the victim gives it an authentic look. The author himself seems to stand as a model picking a knife (only his hand and the body parts around it are shown) representing the multiple stabbing. The black color jacket worn by the assassin reflects the dark world of the crime quite well.

Overall, a cover page that could have been better but is authentic to the story and is attractive too.

Book Plot:

Anuj is the only child of his working class parents Mr. Arun Tikku and Mrs. Rekha Tikku. His father did a job in Nigeria for some time and thus they are a well to do middle class family. Anuj was a good student as per his claim and his study in various remarkable institutions back the claim.

After completing his business administration course he joined the world of corporates and did jobs in Mumbai and Delhi for a few years. His life took a then. He eventually lost interest in doing 9-5 job and his wife Nidhi left him for someone else. Eventually, Anuj decided to try his luck in Bollywood and he did a short course in acting at a reputed institution in Delhi.

Like most of the traditional middle-class family elders, his parents were not happy with his decision to leave a job and go for an unsecured future. Anuj was also firm on his decision and his parents then allowed him to try his luck in Mumbai. He also has his own struggling days and he knew his limitations. He knew that he doesn’t have the look to become a traditional hero, however, he got a funny face and a good sense of humor which he can bank upon.

Slowly he started getting work in advertisement and later in the entertainment industry. Of course, he was not getting lead roles, but he doesn’t need to worry about his regular expenses. Though critical for his career choices and not taking life seriously, like all other traditional Indian parents, his parents also ware happy that his son is happy. To make his life more comfortable his father used his own savings to buy him a flat in Mumbai.

Who knew that this decision, taken with genuinely good intentions will prove fatal for Mr. Arun Tikku?

You can explore the author’s perspective about what happened then and how in the book.

As the book contains biographical stuff which is based on real incidents, we cannot comment on the plot. But, it is no less than a thrilling movie. In fact, the author mentions in the book that at least a web series should be made on this story if not a full length feature film.

A very few people know that Puja Changoiwala has written a book named The Front Page Murders where this murder case is reported in detail. The author mentions it in the story (towards the end). Here are quick purchase links for that book, if you want to explore it.

• Buy Book From Amazon India – Paperback
• Buy Book From Amazon India – Kindle EBook
• Buy Book From Amazon US – Paperback

In fact, I will suggest you to watch some of the videos related to this tragic incident, which are available in the public domain (including the coverage by news channels) to verify – how true the author remains to the facts.

[Arun Tikku murder: Actor Anuj Tikku a suspect again – NewsX]

[Bulletin # 1 – Tikku Murder Case Model Arrested April 13 ’12]

[Tikku murder: Accused’s girlfriend arrested]

[Tikku murder case: Cops suspended for letting accused escape-NewsX]

[Escaping Tikkoo Murder Suspect, Vijay Palande Caught Again By Mumbai Police]

The book explores the events and incidents in an emotional yet unbiased manner. Anuj never hid the things he had done which were out of line. It is not easy to explore your dark sides and wrongdoings in “matter-of-fact” manner. The book also explores the working of the advertisement and entertainment industry in quite an authentic way. While he has comparatively limited exposure to the industry, he had seen both the positive and the negative sides of the same. He made some life-time friends who stand with him in thicks and thins of his life and he had also experienced how people including his relatives ran away from him during those times.

The way Anuj supported many other newcomers and how he allowed his friends to use his flat teaches a lot of lessons. It also conveys some warning notes one should remember when dealing with such stuff. His experiences provide a good lesson to learn for getting exposed to a high amount of money, fame and mainly unaudited freedom. No matter how old-fashioned your parents sound, they are the people who have your best interest in their mind and heart. It is easy to fall for the attractions of lust, drugs and other such stuff, but they eventually lead to a disaster.

If you learn at least these points from his real-life experiences, the book is worth the same.

The book has some pictures, mainly as chapter titles which are not very impactful in the kindle device, but gives a little rich look to the book.

I also like the way the author has integrated “connecting the dots” theory from the famous speech by tech visionary Steve Jobs, in the book. That speech was, is and will remain inspirational for many enthusiasts.

The Book title may seem like a confession, but it actually represents the grief the author holds within. He seriously thinks that his actions were responsible for the loss of his father’s life. And, thus, he wanted to show the account of the same to the readers so they can learn from the same. Here are the first two lines of the poem:

Yes sir I killed my dad
He was a jolly good chap never harmed a fly
…

As said earlier, the book is written from an emotional aspect and thus some statements and sentences are repeated, poorly formed and not well arranged. If it is not enough, the book needs some serious attention in “proofreading” department. There are times when you get irritated due to spelling, grammar, and proofreading errors and may want to leave the book then and there.

The story doesn’t go in a linear direction. Of course, you can have multiple tracks, but in that case, the tracks should be linear and well arranged. The author could have worked on it seriously and the book could have been much better. In short, better story planning is required.

The book explores crime, drugs and other such stuff which restricts target readership to adult (mentally) readers.

Below given are some quotes from the book. They are embedded here so you can get a fair idea of the quality of writing you can expect from the book. I have tried embedding the quotes which have positive aspects and letdowns both visible in the same.

Well, mine is also a story of dreams, infinite dreams which finally fell to the wayside and ended up in a herculean tragedy. I am a man who also dreamed and chased my dream with full vigor and might. Unfortunately, I don’t know where I stopped chasing my dreams and starte chasing Cocaine instead. …
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Hope and ambition are good things and one can run on these two engines for a long time, but the city does tire you down, lack of accommodation, cost of living, lack of support for actors and artist, over congestion all this takes a toll on morale.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Just stick to your job, I know the daily grind in boring and unexciting but it is safe and secure stay with the mainstream after all I have been doing a job for twenty years if I can do it so can you. Anyways you don’t have Hrithik Roshan like body how will you get work, you have no prior experience of acting.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
My first rude shock was that I was a nobody this was not the world of the corporate office, I was shielded by my prior experience about life…
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Sometimes I thought some of the newspaper editors that reported the news must have been even more drugged-out than me, there was so much speculation in the name of truth. Well, newspaper and TV space and to be filled and over gear, editors would fill it with everything even plain gossip. I would often read the news reports at home on the internet, there were at least three interviews in Mid-Day and DNA that I had never given and these were reputed journalists they had concocted the questions and also given their own answers to the question, there was no need to ask the Victim Anuj Tikku about anything.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
An enemy is a man just one step from becoming your friend.

Let me finish it with a disclaimer that I have received the book from the author. The review is uninfluenced by all means.

Summary:

It is a book that explores the real incidents in an emotional manner. If the author could have paid attention to proofreading, it could have been a thriller you do not want to miss. The book is quite costly too.

Around 6 out of 10.

Quick Purchase Links:

• Buy Book From Amazon India – Kindle EBook
• Buy Book From Amazon US – Paperback

Over To You:

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