Battle with the Gods

http://www.battlewithgods.com The battle is Maneesha's and it is one that she wins: but she wins the battle and loses the war against Destiny. It is a destiny that takes her from Goa to Bombay to Dubai and then, all over the world. In the end, she returns to Goa and accepts defeat at the hands of Destiny. Maneesha has been raised in poverty in Goa. Her mother works as a part-time hairdresser and also does the hair of the lady of the "big house", the much older wife of the lecherous Matthew Dias. No prizes for guessing how her mother makes ends meet.

Childhood loneliness, caused by her mother's incessant evenings out, makes Maneesha rather needy and she forges a bond with a teenage Bijju Fernandes who shows her a secret swimming place. In later years he introduces her to other secrets. He becomes her one and only true love but is shot and killed by a jealous Matthew Dias who also has designs on Maneesha's body. Maneesha embodies certain very rare qualities. She is of interest to men not only because she is beautiful (which, of course, she is) but because she has a kind of steely inner resilience, honesty and integrity, that men find very attractive but most other women find extremely threatening. She gives in to the older and richer Dias (thinking that she loves him,) but the reader already knows that it is Maneesha's mother (Lata) who has kept Mat Dias well serviced up until now. Battle with the Gods is pretty graphic in its narration of sexual situations and the human anatomy. Having said that, the story of "Battle with the Gods" is fairly engaging in that the reader is able to sympathize with Maneesha's frustrations and dreams. Everybody wants the poor little girl to land on her feet but, more often than not, she lands on her back, with some or the other man doing what most men think takes only "a few thrusts". At one very simple level this is a rags-to-riches-to-death story. The elements of the story are Bollywoodesque in that Maneesha, brought up in poverty in Goa, dreams of becoming a big star/model/actress traveling the world and never having to count the pennies again. And, she succeeds, rising from poverty and obscurity to fame and wealth -- but she is powerless against the battle of destiny. A Sufi sage once said: "There is only one thing that is worse than not getting what you want and that is getting it!" Indeed, Maneesha gets everything and more, that she ever dreamed of but there's a sinister twist in the end...I suppose Yusufali is making the age-old point: 'Money can't buy me love!' About The Author:Ali Yusufali was born and raised in Tanzania. He migrated to the Middle East after high school and has traveled the world, especially Asia, extensively. He is an MBA and currently lives with his family in Houston, TX. This novel, his first, was researched in India.

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