'India still battles woes Alexander the Great did'

If Greek conqueror Alexander the Great was to visit India nearly 2,500 years after his first incursion into the country, he would find it beset with 'similar issues', says Aniruddha Bahal, whose novel, The Emissary, was launched here.

'If Alexander visited India to take stock of the last 10 years of history, he would find that the nation is spending its resources on the same things that cannot be contained -- wars, flood and disease -- problems that he had to overcome to conquer the plains of Punjab and the frontier provinces,' says veteran journalist and novelist Bahal.

Bahal's novel, launched in the capital Wednesday, is a historical fiction set in Macedonia and Olympia in ancient Greece during the time of Alexander the Great. It is narrated through the voice of Seluecus, the son of Nicanor, who learns to cope with treachery at a young age.

Seleucus's father Nicanor, an ace chariot racer, is run over by his own horses commandeered by rival charioteer Argus at a practice session. A distraught Seleucus vows to avenge his father's death and soon masters the art of deceit. His journey from a renegade citizen to a powerful public figure is testimony to his skills.

Full report here Sify