Author: Siddhartha Deb
Publisher: Picador India
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 227
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0330489224
Description
Set in the last decades of the twentieth century in the remote north-eastern hills of India, this is the moving and beautifully written story of a father and a son. Dr Dam and Baby have lived for years without ever really knowing or understanding each other. It is only as his father weakens and wearies of life that Babu is drawn closer to him; and, by understanding at last some of the stories of his father’s quietly extraordinary life, Babu begins a journey into the complex and passionate history of his own country.
REVIEWS
Ambitious and moving, the figure of Dr Dam, faithful government servant and lifelong stoic, stands out memorably from the narrative, effectively pulling together the stands of turbulent Indian history.
-Sunday Times
A remarkable journey of insight and understanding, A coming-of-age story not just of one young man, but of a nation, this subtle novel asks questions about authority, patriarchy and how people are damaged by power.
-Independent on Sunday
Brilliantly and fiercely rooted in a past all but lost in official history, in a locality all but extinguished by cartographic boundaries.
-Times Literary Supplement
Contents
PROLOGUE: 1987
ARRIVAL
The Pension Office: 1986
Highway Journey: 1984
The Minister’s Chambers: 1983
Wedding Season: 1982
Foreign Visitors: 1981
A Tale about Tigers: 1980
Blackout: 1979
DEPARTURE
New Year’s Eve: 1987
Learning to Walk: 1988
Night Journey: 1988
TERMINAL
Home Town
Maps
History
Ships
Memories
Travellers
Drams
Airport
TRAVELOGUE
Learning to Run
The Local Archive
A Lesson in History
Leaving Home