The King’s Gambit: Chapter 1 (The Immigrant)

Rafique

There was an MSNBC story about an american woman married to someone who used to be OBL`s secretary. There are some striking parallels between your protagonist and this guy. You may want to check it out (MSNBC Jan 8th).

Rdesikan 15; ``Your guys should hold on to your day jobs``

Both of us have decided to follow your advice, and have withdrawn our resignations. Our current jobs are far too well-paying to consider another career. At the same time, we need to keep in mind that Tom Clancy was an insurance salesman, and JK Rowling was a teacher, before embarking on their careers in fiction. If they had followed everyone`s advice, we would not have been introduced to Jack Ryan and Harry Potter.

Prem 16; Thank you for sharing the information. Our childhood does play an important role in deciding who we are. I talked to a psychologist who told me, our personalities are decided by the time we reach our teens. Another told me, they are decided by the time we reach the age of four.

The death of Rafi`s father will be explained in a later chapter. And you will discover the basis of his obsession.

soysauce 17; I will check out the OBL story. Interestingly enough, when I wrote the abstract, one of the original chapter`s outlines dealt with a coup that takes place in Pakistan. About six months later, a coup did end up taking place in Pakistan. Similarly, one chapter dealt with a terrorist attack in the USA. Lo and behold, Sept. 11.

Bringing these exact events in, after they have occurred, is going to be somewhat unintersting. So they have been commented out. What do you think?

Interesting ! As I was reading the beg I thought it was about that sharp Pakistani financier cum political analyst cum whatever - I forget his name but is on TV all the time nowadays.

As an aside did you know - The Bourne Conspiracy is being released later this month ?? Cant wait !!

aicha

Re Rafique 18

Dream on. But seriously, good luck if you do strike it big as authors.

Rafique

Can`t wait for your next installment. Since you have been so prescient, do share with us how the border situation will turn out.

BTW, WTC attack, while shocking was not totally unexpected. The earlier attack made it clear that this was a target. Did your story have planes ploughing thru the buildings? Now that would have been pure genius. In that case you should indeed quit your day jobs and join the CIA or the NORAD (or whatever else the canucks have).

Predicting an army coup in pakistan is no big deal since coups have been a regular feature in pakistan any way.

SUX SENA

``highest per average income of any ethnic group in america...``

Thats because they counted me as ``Indian ethnic Group``

Whose statistics ,it must be Rediff/india abroad/Sulekha poll of Indian sounding names

There cannot be ``Indian Ethnic Group``

b/c South Afrikan,U,K,Trinidian ,Guyanese,West Indies,Surinam,Belize,Kenyan,Nigerian,Middle Eastern(kuwaitGulf Iran..)are NOT indian Nationals but socialioze with Indian Organization Holi ,Deevali & Assocuiation membership

aicha 19; ``that sharp Pakistani financier cum political analyst cum whatever``

You might be refering to Manzur Ejaz (not sure whether I have the spellings correct). He was (is) President Clinton`s unofficial representative for Track II diplomacy between India and Pakistan.

Are you refering to the Bourne Identity or the Bourne Ultimatum or the Bourne Supremacy by Robert Ludlum? I am not familiar with the Bourne Conspiracy. Was that another in this series?

Ludlum took me a while to get used to. I started off with Forsyth and then moved to Ken Follet. I am now following Clancy. Clancy`s writings are not easy to follow, because they are quite dry in comparison to the other writers. But his technical details of military equipment are beyond comparison. I don`t know how he learnt all that as an insurance salesman.

Rdesikan 20; Thanks for the encouragement. Pakistani and Indian authors (mostly Indian) have hit it big in fiction and literature. Rushdie, Roy, and Sidwa come to mind. Did you know Arundhati Roy was actually an architect`s artist, and sold empty beer bottles for a living? Another writer I am starting to follow is Mohsin Hamid. He is going to be big.

But for some reason, South Asia hasn`t produced any, ``Thriller`` writers. At least none I can think of.

soysauce 21; I will leave an analysis of the border situation to Umair. He is usually up on these things. Maybe he should write an article.

My story did not have planes flying into the WTC. That would have required an extraordinary imagination. NORAD is jointly manned (and wommaned) by USA and Canada. It is actually in Wyoming. Deep deep inside the Cheyenne mountains. It is the second target, after downtown Washington DC, for Russian nuclear missiles. So not a very good place to work.

The Central Intelligence Agency, in my opinion, is very overrated. But a job with Mossad would be interesting.

RSaxsena

The Indian`s is bigger and better than the Pakistani`s. Yours is the biggest and bestest of all. Happy? - Why do persons such as you, who happen to be Indian, feel such insecurity about themselves? Don`t feel insecure or threatened - just stay away from mirrors.

Rafique

My apology for the earlier post, it was meant for Godot`s board. Correct me if I am wrong, was there not a similar story in a book published some 20 years - where Pakistan military intelligence convince India to support them in a plan to plan nuclear weapons in Dhows in the Gulf in an attempt to black mail the Arabs for the payment of tribute that they would shar with India, and Pakistan would also take care of Bangladesh? And with Isreal launching missile on Kahuta from a cargo vessel in the Arabian sea? complete with a wealthy Pakistani Jew (are there no ordinary Jews) and dissident Balouchi nuclear scientist?

Guys dont let such dubious news let you fool.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/secon2.asp?cat= edit1&d=Edits

India considers Arafat who, according to Israel is doing little to control terrorism, to be a friend. Equally, Israel`s stand on talks with Pakistan is slightly softer than India`s.

Ref Rafique #: 23

[Clancy`s writings are not easy to follow, because they are quite dry in comparison to the other writers. But his technical details of military equipment are beyond comparison. I don`t know how he learnt all that as an insurance salesman.]

Clancy used to read commercially available trade magazines on naval/electronic warfare equipment. The US Navy was quite surprised that he got the scenarios so right in his book ``The Hunt for Red October``. After the book became a best-seller, Clancy got an invite to tour a US Navy submarine.

[NORAD is jointly manned (and wommaned) by USA and Canada. It is actually in Wyoming. Deep deep inside the Cheyenne mountains. It is the second target, after downtown Washington DC, for Russian nuclear missiles. So not a very good place to work.]

NORAD is in Colorado Springs, Colorado. At least 200 miles south of the Colorado-Wyoming border. Would have been a simultaneous target along with Washington, DC, if not the very first because it tracks all missile launches from anywhere in the world.

During the Cold War, there were tours of the facility so that people could see what their money got them. They stopped all public tours by 1998. So, you have to watch the History Channel to find out more about NORAD.

hobbytv 24; I am not familiar with the story of India and Pakisan jointly planning an attack on the Gulf.

In the early eighties, there were rumors Israel had initiated an attack on Pakistan. It was detected by the Saudis, who informed Pakistan. I vaguely remember seeing a very large group of Pakistani military aircraft taking off, one after another, in the middle of the night.

harimau 26; Thanks for the info on Tom Clancy. I believe he hit it big with Red Storm Rising. It actually became a part of the curriculum for the US Air Force and the US Navy training institutes.

The Hunt for Red October was one of my favorite movies. I heard Alec Baldwin wasn`t interested in playing Jack Ryan after that, and the role ended up with Harrison Ford.

Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs is the HQ for the USAF Space Command. It is where the NORAD commander sits. I think he reports directly to the President of the USA, and the Prime Minister of Canada. I had the opportunity to visit Peterson, once.

Cheyenne Mountain Air Station contains the systems which monitor everything flying in space, including Santa Claus. I am assuming the mountain acts as a nuclear shelter.

Rafique - you are right on both counts. Bourne C was ofcourse me getting ahead of myself : )

It is interesting you mention Ken Follet along with Ludlum&co. I would have thought he was into fiction - but then have read only one of his works - pillars of the earth. No conspiracy games there. The world of espionage has become quite dull after the fall of the ussr or perhaps it is still as exciting but we dont get to hear the stories.

aicha

Messers Raja & Rafique

Imagery is good. Judging by the size of first chapter, I guess it lies somewhere between a novellete and a medium size story-unless of course there are 125 of such chapters coming. Also judging by this introductory chapter I am sorry to say but the ``Gambit`` is clear from the very begining-that`s a downer which should have been avoided at all costs. So the reader will be left to keep guessing who the ``King`` is, I suppose, for the rest of the episodes.

I welcome you to Chowk. Please forgive my critique, I am as unqualified as anyother bob but if you wanna blame someone blame the interactive forum.

aicha 28; Try the following by Follett: Triple and On Wings of Eagles.

The first one is a fictional thriller, and the second one is a factual thriller based on the rescue of Ross Perot`s employees from Iran. Another interesting one by Follett is Lie Down with Lions, which covers Afghanistan. It has an interesting Afghani Stinger missile expert, called Mullah Rockety as one of its characters.

I think the recent terrorist threats are going to dominate the future of Thrillers. This may turn out to be more interesting than the USSR.

re: 12-head

{Thats because they counted me as ``Indian ethnic Group``}

that would give indians the lowest average IQ..that`s clearly not the case...

#: 31

RSaxena

re: 12-head

{Thats because they counted me as ``Indian ethnic Group``}

that would give indians the lowest average IQ..that`s clearly not the case...

SUX SENA

YOu are A.c.COUNT .TANT,what would you know about the mind biology ?Intelligence Quotient is not INCOME AVERAGING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!