Harinder Sikka's new novel 'The Chabimaster' draws inspiration from RAW operative's life

NEw new delhi, The quiet in the domain of covert intelligence service and espionage fascinates former naval forces officer and author Harinder S Sikka, whose new offering "The Chabimaster" is inspired by the life of a RAW operative and rooted in real-life intelligence operations."Some of the most important stories of this nation are ones nobody ever gets to hear... Real heroes of covert operations don't stand in spotlights. They work in silence. Sometimes even history doesn't know their names. That never left me," says Sikka, whose second book "Calling Sehmat" was adapted into the acclaimed film "Raazi" by Meghna Gulzar.His says "The Chabimaster" grew from a single idea."A chabimaster is not just someone who opens locks. He unlocks minds. Situations. Destinies. At its heart, this is the story of a very ordinary man whose entire purpose becomes seeing what others cannot and opening what others dare not touch," Sikka told PTI."At one level, it's an espionage thriller; RAW operations, covert missions, international networks, deception threading through India, Pakistan, London, Istanbul. But if you strip all of that away, what remains is a deeply human story. That's the book I wanted to write," he says about his book, published by Penguin Random House."The Chabimaster", Sikka says, also "asks a question I find myself returning to: what does it truly mean to be a patriot? Is it power? Recognition? Or is it the willingness to vanish to give everything and leave no trace?"According to the author, the silence in the world of covert intelligence and espionage draws him in."In the armed forces, bravery has a face. You wear a uniform. You earn a medal. Your rank tells the world what you've done and who you are. There is honour in that visibility. And it is well deserved."But intelligence officers live in a completely different universe. Their victories are classified. Their sacrifices go unacknowledged. They cannot tell their families what they do, cannot claim the risks they take, cannot even grieve openly when they lose a colleague," he says."They live inside a lie, often for years and when the mission succeeds, someone else takes the credit. When it fails, they disappear alone," he adds.Sikka says the psychology, the ability to operate in total anonymity, to serve with total conviction and to ask for nothing in return, is what he finds extraordinary."It is perhaps the purest form of patriotism there is. No audience. No applause. Just duty. And beneath that silence, there is always a story. A real one. A human one. That's what keeps pulling me back," he says.Asked whether a movie adaptation was in mind when he wrote "The Chabimaster", Sikka says that was not the primary intention."Because if you begin by thinking cinematically, you risk sacrificing the very thing that makes a story worth telling. Literature has a depth, an interior life, that no screenplay can fully carry. My first responsibility was to the story. To tell it truthfully. To let it breathe," he says.But he hastens to add, "That said, I visualise as I write. I always have. Perhaps it's the journey with 'Calling Sehmat', perhaps it's simply how my imagination works, but scenes form in my mind with texture and light and silence. So yes, there is a natural cinematic quality to 'The Chabimaster'."He says if "The Chabimaster" resonates the way he hopes it will, he would love to see it adapted, as a film, or perhaps a long-format series that honours the complexity of the narrative."But any adaptation worth making must capture what no action sequence ever can, the invisible weight carried by men and women who serve this nation from the shadows, in silence, without ever being seen. That is the story. Everything else is backdrop," he says.The book was launched last month by former Navy chief Admiral Dinesh Tripathi in Delhi where former Supreme Court judge Manmohan, filmmaker Boney Kapoor and former Indian cricket captain Kapil Dev among others were also present.This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.