A Ticket to Syria Paperback – September 11, 2020

A Ticket to SyriaBy Shirish ThoratA review by Suraya DewingI was keen to read A Ticket to Syria because, as a Westerner, I had no absolutely no idea why ISIS appeared on the world scene. It seemed to hit the headlines out of nowhere and I wanted to understand how the movement gathered so much influence in what appeared to me, such a short time. I was also keen to understand the whole concept of Jihad. What would drive someone to don a jacket lined with explosives and blow up a target and themselves?The Contact, a central character in the story, is an excellent narrator who gives the political and social background to the rise of ISIS. The reason behind the ferocity of its adherents became clearer as I read the Contact’s account.Sameer is a qualified doctor leading a perfect life with his family in the Maldives. He is the eldest of six. Munsiu, his youngest brother recently married Zahi, a nineteen year old. In his opinion they are deeply in love. However, a darker side to Munsiu is revealed when Sameer learns that all his family has gone to Syria to join ISIS including Munsiu and Zahi.Zahi believed she was going on holiday to Singapore. Instead she finds herself in Syria and effectively an unwilling ISIS prisoner. She is alone. Everyone else is in Syria by choice. She has one life line – a second mobile phone she failed to surrender when ISIS confiscated cell phones and insisted they surrender their passwords to social media. The story takes shape around this situation.There are moments when the danger of the situation is effectively accentuated. One of those is the description of the ultra slim phone Zahi surreptitiously uses to send messages to her brother. This pink, girlie, child-like accessory contrasts strongly with the stark, primitive and dangerous environment Zahi now finds herself in.The novel uses a real event as its inspiration and this gives it context and realism. The Maldives is a tourist mecca promising relaxing sun-soaked holidays. But there is another side to all this beauty and author Shirish Thorat lifts the cover on that not so idyllic life.He writes in a way that is accessible without resorting to cliché or generalization. He allows the story to evolve without allowing his own opinions to overshadow the story.Thorat tells the story well and the writing has a journalistic quality which makes understanding the reason ISIS rose out of the dust a lot easier.

Thorat is a good writer. His style is engaging. Unfortunately, this work suffers from three egregious weaknesses: poor editing, the author’s lack of knowledge about the Maldives, and the failure to cite sources. Here are some examples of poor editing. The story starts on the fictitious island of Kaalinidhoo which the section heading puts it in “Nonoo Atoll” (Location 164), but the text puts it in “Gaanu Atoll” (Location 168). Even with fictitious names, there should be consistency. Try to parse this sentence: “…he had managed to put recharge (sic) her SIM card through a friend…” (Location 1146). There is an organization called “One World Group”, but in a letter from that organization we find out that its name is “One World Firstly” as in the sentence, “I am operations director of One World Firstly (sic)...” (Location 1103). Some suicide bombers made a video for a family member in which they “extorted (sic) him to continue the jihad” (Location 2529). Of course, readers can figure out what these phrases should have come out as, but really they shouldn’t have to do that. This book clearly wasn’t ready to be released.Regarding the second flaw, Thorat’s lack of knowledge about the Maldives is obvious to anyone familiar with that country. He wrongly identifies the national language as “Dwivehi”. Its real name is “Dhivehi”. (This isn’t just a typo. “Dwivehi” shows up in several places.) Thorat relates a proverbial saying that the Maldivian protagonist calls to mind, “These persons are like the mongoose one has in the backyard to take care of the snakes” (Location 287). The problem is that the Maldives doesn’t have mongooses, and only has an occasional sea snake. In describing the virtues of the heroine of the story Thorat said that she “had not demurred when a husband had been chosen for her” (Location 2270). The Maldives is not India. Women do not have husbands chosen for them. They have what Indians refer to as “love marriage”. More importantly, however, Thorat doesn’t seem to understand what motivates some Maldivian young people to become jihadi fighters. He doesn’t seem to appreciate that there were some who genuinely felt that it was their moral and religious duty to go to Syria and help defend their Muslim brothers and sisters from being killed by the Assad government. For Muslims who take the Quran and the Hadiths seriously, such arguments are compelling, and the Maldivian government has had difficulty challenging them on religious grounds. That is disturbing, and doesn’t bode well for possible future Maldivian involvement in other Islamic-related conflicts in the world.Finally, I was disappointed to see Thorat use the research of others without giving them due credit. In one section of the book, an FBI agent is given a brief on the Maldives. This gives Thorat the opportunity to describe Maldives history and relevant current events. It’s an engaging way to do that, and is a very good summary. He just fails to cite his sources. Thorat’s dependence on Wikipedia is obvious. For example, here’s a paragraph from Wikipedia’s article on the History of Maldives:“Following the Islamic concept that before Islam there was the time of Jahiliya (ignorance), in the history books used by Maldivians the history the introduction of Islam at the end of the 12th century is considered the cornerstone of the country's history.”Compare this with what Thorat wrote:“Adhering to a typically Islamic concept, that before Islam there was a period of jahiliyya, or ignorance. The history books used by the Maldivian educational system tout the introduction of Islam at the end of the 12th century to be considered as the cornerstone of the country’s history.” (Location 1443)This section of Ticket to Syria uses other uncited sources as well. For more recent political developments in Maldives, Thorat draws heavily upon Dr. M. Samatha’s article “Political Developments in the Maldives” published in the 26 March 2015 Issue Brief of the Indian Council of World Affairs. Thorat summarizes much of what Dr. Samatha wrote, and also uses sentences extracted from the article which are only slightly altered. Here is what Dr. Samatha wrote:“Mounting pressure for democratic reforms and multi-party elections since 2004 led President Gayoom to embark on democratic reforms, which helped in recognising political parties and adopting a new constitution with guarantee for judicial and police reforms, freedom of expression and assembly and establishment of the Human Rights Commission.” (Page 2 of "Political Developments in the Maldives")Compare this with Thorat’s re-working of the same:“Come 2004, there was mounting pressure for reforms and multiparty elections led President Gayoom to embark on democratic reforms which assisted in recognizing political parties and adopting a new constitution that guaranteed judicial and police reforms, freedom of expression, assembly and establishment of the human rights commission.” (Location 1469)Thorat does this without giving any credit where credit is due. There is no citation of sources. Sad to say, but this looks very much like plagiarism to me, and it is inexcusable.Had Thorat properly cited his sources, cleaned up the obvious errors, and had based his story on a country he knows something about, this could have been a good book. I enjoyed the story as a story, and Thorat is talented. Unfortunately, the shortcomings were certainly both a distraction and detraction from what otherwise would have been a good read.

Interesting read, the rescue part is a thriller, loved " the contact's personality". Will there be a part 2 of the story?

“Trump urges Turkey to limit military actions in Syria.” These were the headlines that caught my attention when I picked up today’s newspaper. Yes, it was all about Operation Olive Branch. Now you might ask me; Was that Necessary? Just talk about the book. Well, I would say, YES! That’s the point where I picked up this book. A Ticket to Syria is indeed an Eye-opener. When I first read the blurb: I was expecting some political dramas, Mercy less Terrorist – killing thousands of people, bomb blast etc. But I was wrong, not totally though. It turned out to be something else, I liked the way it has been structured by the author.The book starts with, large number of people heading somewhere and undergoing many security screenings. Is it some Escort operation? Where are they heading to? You got lots of questions running in your mind. As you continue reading you will get a better picture. But not completely. I was tussling with the starting few pages. It took me some time to know about the characters and the things happening around. The book is divided into smaller chapters, which was easier to follow the story.Zahi, the newly married bride with the high hopes heads out for a family Vacation. Little does she knows the truth. Things now bring storms in her life. She got betrayed by her own people, Munsiu her husband have signed up for the Jihad along with the whole family.Sameer Ibraheem, trying to figure out what has happened to his siblings soon he learns that his whole family had left the country to participate in the jihad in Syria. Somehow he wants to contact them so that he can convince them to change their decision.Ahmed Idris, gets a message from his sister Zahi and at any cost he wants her to get out of this mess. With the help of his friend, he somehow manages a bridge of communication with his sister. He relies on his friend for the rescue operation.Everything is narrated in an apple pie order. Especially the episodes of the character “Contact” and his efforts in helping his friends. The descriptive narration is so intriguing, and every facts, that’s mentioned will blow your mind. Nothing is clichéd, it is so naturalistic. The film making episodes; Life in the Khilafat. The author has treated all the characters equally, the story does the justice to the readers. And most importantly it, ends exhaustively. Overall, this book is definitely a good read. And I would give 4.2 out of 5 star.

The book articulately portrays a lucid narrative of the grandiose scale and disciplinary life of the recruits of the Jihad. A tragic portrayal of Zahi’s holiday that turns into a nightmare as her husband, his three siblings and their families have signed up for Jihad. The story reflects the faith and sentiment of Zahi’s husband’s family that have unflinchingly staked their lives, wealth and progeny for the Jihad.A parallel story of grit and determination runs through the book as Zahi’s brother struggles to bring her out of Syria. His faithful friends have resolutely staked their lives to help Zahi out. Two of his friends have close encounters with death but narrowly escape!The book is extremely well researched and I congratulate the author Shirish Thorat for presenting the reality of the situation with an unerring clarity of thought!I would highly recommend that you book – A Ticket to Syria.

Book: A Ticket To SyriaAuthor: Shirish ThoratPublisher: BloomsburyGenre: ‘Upsetting’ ThrillerIn One Line: The great escapeCharacterisation: The story is about Sameer Ibraheem. He is a doctor who comes back to Maldives only to find that all his other siblings have for Syria for jihad. The next important player in this story is the businessman Ahmed Idris. His sister is married to one of Ibraheem’s brothers. It took me a bit of time to get the hang of things and I had to flip back and forth between the initial few pages. But one does get the hang of things after a while. The story is the aforementioned two characters’ interplay and all the hostilities that they face as they try to get their family back. While these have been given a decent amount of flesh and blood, the one that really hits centre-stage is a character called “Contact”. His rescue operation is worth a read. Why he does what he does however, is left vague. Maybe on purpose?Language: It is not a difficult to read book. But, with the minute detailing, don’t expect to leaf over it quickly. The author’s narration is descriptive and when it comes to telling about the surroundings, he does manage to paint quite a picture. Here is a line I liked “a flying fish erupts out of the insignia hundred yards ahead.”Plot Setting: The plot moves across various countries – right from the US to the Middle East, from India to Maldives. And within each country the author introduces characters like deceiving security men, those causing anarchy, the FBI, businessmen with ‘connections’ everywhere, filmmakers who are jihadis, corrupt politicians etc. This makes the story fast paced, but sometimes keeps the reader wanting to know more about the place.Book Cover Art: The map and the black-and-white white picture of the burkha clad girl (that my interpretation) worked well. What caught my attention more was the way the title has been written – as if someone was writing graffiti on a wall with blood. Intelligently done.How’s the Title: The title reminded me of the song “Never Land” by The Sisters of Mercy. It has a stanza that goes like this –“I had a face on the mirrorI had a hand on the gunI had a place in the sun and aTicket to Syria”I don’t know if the author was inspired by this song when he named his book, but given the premise of the tale, it does justice adequately.Is The Blurb Catchy: I think the blurb has tried to reiterate the fact that the stories are ‘real’ once too many times. When I read it I thought it would read more as a non fictional novel.Learning From The Story: A lot of information has been shared about the rising Islamic situation in Maldives and what’s happening around the world with respect to Jihad. Quite mind boggling!Areas Of Improvement:Found the tenses a little awry in some places. It could be that the author does this on purpose since he seems to be one with a good command of the language. However, a reader, might find it a little disconcerting.Sometimes I felt that there was an information overload and that the story was reading more like a research article rather than a story. Maybe, spacing out the research that the author has done in the entirety of the book and sometimes being a little subtle might have helped.What Is ‘Said By Not Saying’: A true friend will always be there to save your back.

A Ticket To Syria reads like the perfect Know IS 101 or Inside IS for Dummies. That’s how clearly and succinctly the author, Shirish Thorat, glides between Maldives where the story begins and Syria & US where a lot of the action is.It’s difficult to believe Thorat in his previous avatar was a policeman. He refrains from officialese mumbo jumbo anywhere in the book but rather his writing reminds one of James Hardley Chase; incisive, racy and knowledgeable at the same time. This book based on real life events of an educated and wealthy Muslim family from Maldives lured into taking up the cause of jihad for IS toggles between places in Maldives, Syria, US and the middle east.While tracing the tale of the Ibraheem family he recounts in detail how the Islamic State in its mission of implementing the Sharia law uses all means to reunite foot soldiers who willingly or unwillingly are roped in, trained, indoctrinated and let out to carry out the tasks assigned to them. These recruits are like lambs to the slaughter, only they think they are God’s chosen ones!The launch of this book could not have been timed better with Maldives in the news for its political turmoil and power struggle intertwined with religion, army and the common folks. The characters including Zahi, the main protagonist, the Contact, Mike of the FBI, Sameer Ibraheem, Ahmed Idris, are so finely etched out that towards the end the reader can predict how each one will behave. The suspense is gripping and one gets a peek into how Agencies and countries work today in tackling jihadist activities around the world.My favorite characters are Zahi and the Contact, who does not have a name. Both maintain calm, provide and give information when required and come out looking so competent!A Ticket to Syria will linger in your memory for a while and the daily news currently could make a lot more sense. A must read for folks who are curious about how religion is used by politicians and fundamentalists for their own narrow misguided goals.I loved reading this book and rate it 5/5 for Shirish’s first solo attempt.