The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

This short story by the master storyteller proved to be a rejuvenating one for me. Henry Sugar is an interesting character but the more interesting thing happened to be the narration style of this story. It has been done peacefully well. I would express my experience with the book something like this; inside a story, there was another story. One story is wrapped in the second story. And then that second story was gift-wrapped in an embellished envelope which in itself turned out to be a story. In the end, I found myself reading the envelope for the nub of the story. Are you getting that?

I have read many stories of Roald Dahl and he is a twist-in-the-tale maestro. I was expecting something similar twist towards the end and I was ready for my share of those usual goosebumps but this time there was something else reserved for me. The story is about money and gambling and trickery and greed then this story is also about yogic control and meditation and focus and philanthropy. How these two different sets of human bearings go together here, among the same characters is the oddity of the game on the part of the author. The interesting part is that it traces its roots to India, and also mentions a place that is just a few kilometers away from the place I am writing this review, right now.

There are two spellbinding characters in this story. There is obviously the first one Henry Sugar, who is rich because he had a rich father and he has done never a day’s work in his life because he has invented a motto for himself,

“It is better to get a mild rebuke than to perform an onerous task”

He is 41, still unmarried because he is too selfish to share his money with his wife. This man drifts like seaweed across the globe. Such a wealthy man! Then this fascinating gentleman comes to know about the story of another compelling gentleman named Imhrat khan in Bombay whose introduction goes like,

“The Man Who Could See Without His Eyes”

One day, a doctor of the Bombay general hospital takes a roll of three-inch bandage and wraps it around this man’s head( Imhrat Khan’s) and this bandage holds a ball of cotton wool over his dough filled eye sockets so that this fellow could see nothing other than the top of his nose. He himself had suggested doctors do this so that he may look like a man without eyes in real, and then this man performs a miraculous performance in such a blind state in the Royal Palace Hall at night. Later after the revelation of the secret behind it, Henry sugar comes to know that this man had learned yogic techniques from a yogi of India, after years of practice of concentration he could see the other side of a card or could read a book put behind the metal sheet without seeing it just by touching the metal. Henry sugar decides to master the technique and he masters it quickly. He is one of the millions it seems. He also thought the same. When he learned it too fast. The chosen one!

And then begins this man’s venture. He takes a flyer with the casinos and gambling world and after winning a huge sum of money across the world with his power of “seeing which is not seeable”, he does so many unusual things. What does he do with that money and what happened to him after that? You should explore it for yourself. It’s a fascinating Roald Dahl style of storytelling on work, till the end. One can read it for a refreshing experience!

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