Author: Preeti Singh
Publisher: Hodder & Stughton
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 503
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0340820284
Description
A debut novel of great sensitivity.
Despite his grandmother’s gloomy prophecy, Rattan grows up leading a charmed life – first in Delhi, surrounded by his affluent, adoring family; then at Boston University where he acquires a cosmopolitan sophistication.
When he returns to Delhi, and the family business, Rattan is happy to fall in with his presents’ plans for an arranged marriage; his young bride is somewhat dazzled by the splendor of her new home, but her new husband is handsome and the prospects look good.
Then tragedy strikes. Needing to put the past behind him, Rattan takes a job in Cairo.
Contents
PART ONE
Prophecy
Ennui
‘Sahayata’
Two Women, Sour and Sweet
The Nether World
A Walk through the Door
A Woman Dead
PART TWO
Nalini on the Nile
Letters from Home
An English Breakfast
A Scar in Cairo
Meeting under a Flag
Kasr-El-Nil
PART THREE
A Letter Delivered
Shadow Play
Panna the Fakir Revisited
Afloat in Felucca
The Festival of Lights
PART FOUR
A Dip in the River
The Red Serviettes
Single Parent
Convalescence
Commitment
PART FIVE
Snowflakes in Garhwal
Cafeteria confusions
Two Friends in Cairo
Heart to Heart
Sons and Mothers
PART SIX
From the Floors of Memory
Adrift on the Nile
The Tombs of the Dead
The Aftermath
A Truth Told
The Meeting
In the Shadow of the Pyramids
Glossary of Indian Words