The Dogfight and the Lone Peacekeeper by Suyog Ketkar

“As a man on a mission, Here he was, a soldier, not a weeper! Armed with weapons, wits, and words alike, stood tall this lone peacekeeper.”

Some of us have read about wars, some of us also witness a war, but all of us have heard about wars one and another way. And in every war, opposite parties soldiers, fight, to win?

No, they fight, not only to win, but for the ones they love, for the ones they respect, for the land they called their nation. Same in this book, Author Suyog Ketkar introduce you to Wing commander Vasant Kale, who was one of the top performers at the flight school and was primarily responsible to train the Junior Officers for flight manoeuvres at the time of WWII.

The plot of story begins with an attack on Vasant’s blackbird (his Hurricane) during a training session and a suspicious suicide of Vasant’s close aides’ in a squadron. Vasant had been already suspicious of something wrong in squadron before the training session so when the attack was there at Vasant’s hurricane, he decides to lead that attack far from the airbase.

So this dogfight began and Vasant leads the enemy aircraft far from the airbase but blackbird crashes and Vasant get captured by the enemies. And being captured by enemies can only guarantee a risk of death for a nationalist like Vasant Kale. But Vasant needs to save his whole squadron and many more lives from the attackers plan. While Vasant’s fighting and trying hard to save his squadron, this book unfolds a backstory, backstory of his companion and friend he lost, Prabhat and the girl, Vasant is in love with, Shakuntala.

The whole story is connecting. Shakuntala, a strong wisdom girl who stands side by side of Vasant and helps him to unfold the mysteries of the attack and saves him from death also. But the end of this book can only answer what was the reason behind Prabhat suicide? What Vasant will do to protect everyone? And whether Vasant be the lone peacekeeper amid dogfights?

Reading this book is a heartwarming experience, and it brings out a love story, a true companion story, and a nationalist story. The author, Suyog ketkar, has done a remarkable job with this book and I love the fact that this book of his is actually inspired by his maternal grandfather, Vasant Kale and maternal grandmother, Shakuntala. I really enjoyed reading this book.

p.s.- This book is filled with thrills and love. Happy reading! Interesting Read.