INDIAN WRITING IN ENGLISH

India has produced several great writers who have influenced a whole generation and continue to
inspire the coming generations by their writings. Their works vividly portray the picture of Indian
society. Indian writers have played a progressive part in the reform of Indian society. Rabindranath
Tagore is the first Indian to receive Nobel Prize in 1913 for his collection of poems called Gitanjali
(1912). Some of the prominent writers are:
Amit Chaudari
Amitav Ghosh
Amrita Pritam
Ananda C Coomarswamy
Ananthamurthy U R
Anita Desai
Anita Nair
Anjana Appachana
Aravind Adiga
Aravinda Malagatti
Ardeshir Vakil
Arjun Dangle
Arundhati Roy
Arun Joshi
Arun Kolatkar
Ashok Kumar Banker:
Baby Kambale
Badal Sircar
Bama ( Sangati, Karukku)
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
Balachandra Nemade
Balachandra Rajan
Bhabani Bhattacharya
Bharati Mukherjee
Bharati Subrahmanya C
Bipin Chandra
Chetan Bhagat
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Desani G V
Devanoora Mahadeva
Dilip Chitre
Gauri Deshapande
Gautam Batia‟s Panchatantra
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
Gieve Patel
Girish Karnard
Gita Hariharan
Gita Mehta
Gunasekaran K A
Hari Kunzuru
Hiriyanna
Indira Goswami
Jayanta Mahapatra
Jhumpa Lahiri
Jim Corbett
Kamala Markandaya
Kamala Das
Kancha Illaiah
Khushwanth Singh
Kiran Desai
Lalithambika Antherjanem
Laxman Gaikwad
Mahadevi Varma
Mahashwetha Devi
Mahesh Dattani
Malathi Chendur
Manil Suri
Manju Kapur
Manjula Padmanabhan
Manohar Malgonkar
Meena Alexander
Mukul Kesavan
Mulk Raj Anand
Naipaul V S
Namdeo Dhasal
Namita Gokhale
Narayan R K
Nayantara Sehgal
Nirad C Chaudhuri
Nissim Ezekiel
Nirala‟s “Breaking Stones”
Om Prakash Valmiki
Pankaj Mishra
Parthasarathy R
P Lal
Premchand
Prem Gorkhi
Rabindranath Tagore
Raja Rao
Raj Kamal Jha
Ramachandra Guha
Rama Mehta
Ramanujan A K
Rani Dharker
Rohinton Mistry
Romesh Chunder Dutt

Ruskin Bond
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Salman Rushdie
Santha Rama Rau
Sarojini Naidu
Sasthibrata
Shashi Tharoor
Sharankumar Limbale
Shashi Deshapande
Siddalingaiah
Shobha De
Sri Aurobindo
Sudha Murthy
Sudhir Kakar
Susan Vishwanathan
Tara Patel
Toru Dutt
Upamanya Chatterjee
Vijay Singh
Vijay Tendulkar
Vikas Swarup
Vikram Seth
Vikram Chandra
William Dalrymple
Some of the major writers and works have been discussed in brief.

AMRITA PRITAM
Amrita Pritam was a popular Indian writer and a leading Punjabi language poet. Amrita
Pritam, born on 31st August 1919, is considered as the first renowned poet, essayist and novelist of
Punjabi literature.
Awards:

She is the first woman in Punjabi literature to win the esteemed Sahitya Akademi Award for her
composition ‘Sunehray’.
In the year 1982, she also received the Jnanpith Award for `Kagaz Te Canvas` (The Paper and the
Canvas).
In the year 1969, she was awarded the Padma Shri Award
In the year 2004, she received the second highest civilian award of India that is the Padma
Vibhushan Award.
Works:

Novels

Pinjar
Kore Kagaz, Unchas Din
Doctor Dev
Rang ka Patta
Sagar aur Seepian
Terahwan Suraj
Dilli ki Galiyan
Yaatri
Amrita Pritam began her career as a romantic poet. She is widely remembered for her emotional
poem `Aj Aakhaan Waris Shah Nu’ (Today ) invoke Waris Shah – ‘Ode to Waris Shah`). )t was an
expression of her agony over the violent massacres that took place during the partition of former
British India. One of the most noted works of Amrita Pritam was ‘Pinjar’ (The Skeleton). This novel
portrays the violence against women and loss of humanity.
Her various works including her autobiography `Black Rose and Revenue Stamp` have been
translated into other languages like English, Japanese, Danish, French, Urdu and many more. Amrita
Pritam also published several autobiographies namely `Kala Gulab` (Black Rose), `Rasidi Ticket`
(The Revenue Stamp) and "Aksharon kay Saayee" (Shadows of Words). Feminism and
humanism are the main themes used by Amrita Pritam in her write-ups. Through her work she
always tried to portray the realism of society.
The most popular short stories written by Amrita Pritam are "Kahaniyan jo Kahaniyan Nahi",
"Stench of Kerosene" and "Kahaniyon ke Angan mein".
AMITAV GHOSH
Amitav Ghosh was born in 1956. He is a Bengali author as well as a literary critic in the field of
English language. Ghosh was born in Kolkata and was educated at The Doon School, St. Stephen`s
College, Delhi Delhi University; and the University of Oxford as well. He has acknowledged the
lasting influence of Rabindranath TAGORE and the Bengali literary tradition in his own writing.
His first novel, The Circle of Reason (1986). This and his next novel, Shadow Lines (1988), are about
the seamlessness of geographical boundaries, and much of the plot of Shadow Lines hinges on the
question of national identity. The main character suffers from a sudden identity crisis after he is
thrown into a situation where he must decide which country (India or Bangladesh) is his, which
culture defines him, and which place he can ultimately call his own. This novel won Ghosh )ndia’s
prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award in 1990. Many of Ghosh’s novels have been the result of years
spent in different countries while conducting field research for his college degrees.In an Antique
Land (1993), for instance, comes out of his research in 1980 while living in a small village in Egypt.
The Glass Palace (2000), tells the story of an orphaned Indian boy, developed alongside the story of
the royal family’s exile in )ndia after the British invasion of the kingdom of Mandalay (Burma) in
1885.
Ghosh refused the Commonwealth Writers Prize for this novel in 2001 in protest
against being classified as a “commonwealth” writer. Accepting the award, he said in his letter to
the Commonwealth Foundation, would have placed “contemporary writing not within the realities
of the present day...but rather within a disputed aspect of the past.” (is works reflect the elements of
universal humanity. The cross-cultural references he
Awards:

He has won several awards. Some of the awards are Prix Medicis Etranger for The Circle of Reason
(1986), the Sahitya Akademi Award for The Shadow Lines (1988), the Arthur C. Clarke Prize for
science fiction for The Calcutta Chromosome (1996), the Pushcart Prize for his essay, "The March of
the Novel through History: My Father's Bookcase”.
Works:

The Circle of Reason, The Shadow Lines, In An Antique Land, Dancing in Cambodia, The Calcutta
Chromosome, The Glass Palace
The Shadow Lines:

The novel is superb in the psychoanalytic element and shows a careful and neat workmanship in
this regard.
The Circle of Reason

The book is divided into three sections namely ‘Satwa’, which means Reason, ‘Rajas’, which means
Passion, and ‘Tamas’, which means Death.
The central character of the story is an eight-year-old boy, Alu.
This novel chronicles the adventures of Alu, a young master weaver who is wrongly suspected of
being a terrorist. He was chased
from Bengal to Bombay and on through the Persian Gulf to North Africa by a bird-watching police
inspector.
AMIT CHAUDHARY:
Amit Chaudhuri was born in Calcutta in the year of 1962. He brought up in Bombay.
Works:

His first book,"A Strange and Sublime Address" (1991), a novella and a number of short stories,
won the Commonwealth Writers and was short listed for the Guardian Fiction Prize.
His second book Afternoon Raag
(1993)
Freedom Song (1998)
A New World (2000)
Real Time (2002)

A Strange and Sublime Address

This book contains nine stories featuring an Indian boy who spends his school holidays at his
uncle`s home in Calcutta. Heatwaves, thunderstorms, mealtimes, prayer-sessions, shopping
expeditions and family visits create a shifting background to the shaping of people`s lives. This book
is mainly a colourful portrayal of life in Calcutta seen through the eyes of ten years old boy Abhi.
Afternoon Raag:

This is a first-person narration by a student about his days at Oxford.

Afternoon Raag` deals with the experiences and impressions of a young Indian student of English
Literature at the University of Oxford. Chaudhuri recreates the state of mind of a young man
coming to terms with loneliness, nostalgia and alienation in a unique way. A raag is a piece of
classical Indian music, which plays around a set of specific intervals to create a particular mood.
Afternoon Raag adopts the metaphor of Indian classical music, the Raag, to evoke the complex
emotions displayed by the narrator, a young Indian student at Oxford.
Freedom Song

It describes the life history of two interrelated middle-class Calcutta families.

The central characters of the story Khuku and Mini usually spend their time talking about family,
friends, health, and occasionally, Muslims and the Babri Masjid too. `Freedom Song` is totally about
the two person`s perspective about the Hindu and Muslims. The story starts with the loud music of
Muslim Prayer i.e. Azaan. They are totally disgusted and feel that the country is looking like a
Muslim country. They discuss about the fact that in earlier days many temples were demolished so
this is not a big deal done by Hindu nationalist party BJP. Khuku decides to vote for BJP as she
supports the action of the party.

A New World is the story of Jayojit Chatterjee, a divorced writer living in America and the visit he
makes with his son Vikram to his elderly parents` home in Calcutta.

ANANTHA MURTHY U R
U R Ananthamurty is a renowned Kannada writer who won the Jnanpith award in 1995. Samakara
is his first novel and is considered as a classic in Indian literature. Samskara, originally written in
Kannada was published in 1965. It was translated by the renowned poet A.K.Ramanujan in 1976.
The novel was made into a feature film which was initially banned by the censor board for
portraying sensitive caste issues. But later the film won the president’s gold medal for the best
)ndian feature film of 1971.
ANITA DESAI:
Anita Desai is an Indian novelist born on 24 June 1937. She is popularly known as a novelist, short
story writer, screenwriter as well as a children`s writer. She was born on 24th June 1937 at
Mussoorie. She considers Clear Light of Day (1980) her most autobiographical work. Desai
published her first novel, Cry, the Peacock, in 1963.

Awards:

She received a Sahitya Academy Award in 1978 for her novel Fire on the Mountain.
Three books of Anita Desai have been short listed for the Booker Prize: Clear Light of Day (1980), In
Custody (1984) and Fasting, Feasting (1999).
She won the British Guardian Prize for The Village by the Sea.
Padma Bhushan - 2014

Works:

Cry, the Peacock-1963

Voices in the City – 1965
Bye-bye Blackbird-1971
The Peacock Garden – 1974

Where Shall We Go This Summer –

1975
Cat on a Houseboat – 1976
Fire on the Mountain – 1977
Games at Twilight – 1978
Clear Light of Day- 1980
The Village by the Sea – 1952
In Custody – 1984
Baumgartner’s Bombay – 1988
Journey to Ithaka – 1995
Fasting , Feasting – 1999
The Zigzag Way – 2004
The Artist of Disappearance – 2011
She examined the nature of pilgrimage to India in her "Journey to Ithaca" in 1995.

Cry, The peacock – 1963

Anita Desai`s Cry, the peacock has been considered as "the first step in the direction of
psychological fiction in Indian writing in English".
Maya is the protagonist and Gautama is her husband.
Maya was grown up with love and care of her parents and soon married to Gautama. The marriage
was not fruitful and she turned into be an insane.

Voices of the City – 1965

This is a story of three siblings Amla, Nirode and Monisha and their ways of life in Kolkata.

Bye-bye Blackbird – 1971

The background of the story is set in England.
The novel clearly explores the feelings and sufferings of the Indians at that place.
The book is divided into three parts: Arrival, Discovery and Recognition, and Departure.
‘Blackbird` used in the title is none other than the immigrant, whom London says goodbye.

Desai highlights the physical and psychological problems of Indian immigrants and explores the
adjustment difficulties that they face in England.
Bye-Bye Black Bird explores the lives of the outsiders seeking to forge a new identity in an alien
society.
Dev arrives in England for higher studies. He stays with Adit Sen and his English wife, Sarah. Dev
gives up the idea of studying and starts looking for a job. Unable to find any, he thinks of returning
to India. But it is well settled Adit who decides to leave London. Meanwhile, Dev manages to find a
job and stays back. In this novel the common problem of England `Racism` has shown widely.

He hates being called a `Wog`, as Indians are humiliated in public and private places. England is said
to be full of Asians, but Dev`s visit to countryside changes his attitude towards England.

Fire on the Mountain – 1977

The story sets at the backdrop of the Simla hills.

Nanda Kaul, an elderly lady, decides to live a secluded life in Carignano in Kausali. She spends all
her life in the care of others, her three daughters and her husband. She never gets time to feel for
herself. Her own choice, her own world was gone somewhere. One day Nanda receives a letter from
her daughter Asha asking her to take care of her great-granddaughter Raka, a feeling of anger,
disappointment and loathing arises in her. She is just not bothered about the worldly matters. Raka
comes in Nanda`s life and things starts changing in different way.

The Zigzag Way: 2004

The novel is about an American academic and writer who goes with his girlfriend to Mexico and
rediscovers his passion for fiction writing.
Fasting, Feasting: 1999

It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for fiction in 1999.

The novel is in two parts.
The first part is set in India and is focused on the life of Uma who is the overworked daughter of her
parents. Finally she is made to leave school and serve her parents.
The story focuses on the life of the unmarried and main character, Uma, a spinster, the family's
older daughter with, Arun, the boy and baby of the family.
Ramu-Bhai a travelling bon voyeur who tries to show Uma a good time. He is banished by her
parents.
Mira Masi tells Uma all the tales of Krishna and takes her to the ashram allowing her to escape her
mother's domination for a time.
Uma's parents attempt to marry her off on two occasions; on the first occasion the chosen man fell
for Uma's younger sister, Aruna. On the second occasion a marriage took place but it turns out the
Uma's new husband already has a wife.
Anamika's (Uma's cousin), fails to please her husband by providing children. Eventually, she dies by
burning.
In Part 2, Arun is introduced in America and is unable to adjust to a culture different from his own.
He finds himself lost.
Two cultures are explored in this text, the Indian and the American.

Where Shall We Go This Summer- 1975

Sita, the female protagonist of the story.

Sita feels the frustration of the suffocative four walls is seen taking refuge from her marriage at the
utopian land of a magic island. Pregnant with her fifth child, Sita therefore desperately takes refuge
from the mundane realities of her marriage to the island, which happens to be the homestead of her
deceased father. The catastrophe of the story lies where Sita is seen perturbed with the very idea of
bringing another child, as it is indeed something more than what she can handle. She physically
escapes to the island and hopes to remain pregnant forever with the baby.
In Custody - 1984

It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1984.

Deven Sharma- he is a Hindi professor in Mirpore.
Murad- a friend of Deven who owns a publishing house in Delhi.
Nur- a famous Urdu poet who laments the loss of a beautiful language (Urdu), and thereby a culture.
Jain is a shop owner who gives Deven a second hand tape recorder and sends his nephew Chintu
with him to assist.
Deven earns a living by teaching Hindi literature to uninterested college students. As his true
interests lie in Urdu poetry, he jumps at the chance to meet the great Urdu poet, Nur. He buys a tape
recorder to conduct an interview

with Nur as suggested by his friend Murad.

When he meets Nur, he refuses to give an interview by saying that Urdu is now at its last stage and
soon this beautiful language will not exist.
Deven not only has no recording but also has to bear the expenses like payment demanded by
poet’s wife, nephew of Jain etc.

Baugmarten`s Bombay – 1988

Baugmarten is a Jewish boy who comes to see India. The story depicts that Bombay is seen through
Baugmarten`s eye.
Baugmarten’s Bombay opens with a lady called Lotte fleeing the scene of a murder. She`s just lost a
close friend, Hugo Baumgartner. When she gets back home, all that is left of Baumgartner`s life are a
few postcards sent by his mother during the Second World War. Consequently the story proceeds
towards the life of Hugo Baumgartner. The story starts with his childhood in Berlin. At the age of
about eight, his father, a Jewish furniture retailer loses his business, the Nazis ransack his store and
he is taken to a concentration camp. Baumgartner and his mother are forced to leave their
beautifully furnished apartment and hide in the former office of the shop. At school also
Baumgartner`s situation becomes unbearable. His relation with friends becomes worst. Eventually,
his survival in Germany becoming a matter of days, his mother agrees to Herr Pfuehl`s idea to send
his son to India, since he has a few connections there in the furniture production business. He
makes a living in India until his Indian supporter dies. After that at an early age he plunges into
poverty. He never gets over the death of his mother, who refused to emigrate. He is totally a passive
personality whose one joy is caring for stray cats in his small apartment. Not only is he a dull
protagonist, but also Desai withholds the few interesting parts of his life until toward the end. The
author may be investigating bigger themes by looking at the world and Indian society through the
eyes of such a character. Baumgartner arouses some feelings of empathy in the whole story. The
sights, sounds and smells of Calcutta and Bombay become prominent along with Hugo. These are
the positive points of this story. And moving too, the life of this pathetic and insignificant man
Baumgartner who does belong neither to Hitler`s Germany nor to India`s society. In India he is an
eternal ‘firanghi’, foreigner or a wounded survivor.
The Village by the Sea: an Indian family story –
It is based on the poverty, hardships and sorrow faced by a small rural, community in India.
Set in a small village called Thul in Western India.
The main protagonists are Lila, the eldest child who is 13 years old, and her 12-year-old brother
Hari. Bela and Kamal are younger sisters.
Hari and Lila have managed the family as their father was a drunkard and their mother was ill.

Although their father was earning money, he used to spend it to buy alcoholic materials. Lila is left
alone to take care of her family, and struggles to do so. Next to their hut there is a large country
house called Mon Repos which is owned by the de Silvas from Bombay and whenever they come on
holiday to Thul, Lila and Hari can earn some extra money by helping with the household or doing
work in the garden. But there is a rumour in the village saying that a large fertilizer factory will
replace the rice fields and the coconut groves very soon. The Government chose the location of Thul
for its closeness to the port of Rewas. So new highways and railway lines are to be build and the
villagers are worried about their future.

Hari leaves for Bombay to find work. Hari is new to the city and Jagu, pities him and gives him a job
to work in his restaurant. There, Hari builds a strong friendship with Mr. Panwallah, the lovable
watch repairer (Ding-Dong watch shop). He even gives Hari a vivid and inspiring future and teaches
him watch mending. Hari realizes that he could actually make a career as a watchmaker. After some
times, Hari returns to his village and shares his experiences with his sisters. They make a plan to
start new business in their village with the money saved and brought by Hari. As the novel ends, the
traveler highlights Hari and his sisters’ resolve to adapt and change in this growing and ever
developing world.

Clear Light of Day

Desai considers Clear Light of Day her most autobiographical work
The novel is split into four sections.
The story centers on the Das family.
It starts with Tara, the wife of Bakul,
)ndia’s ambassador to America, greeting her sister Bimla (Bim), who is a history teacher living in
Old Delhi. Their conversation eventually comes to Raja, their brother who lives in Hyderabad.
In part two of the novel, the setting switches to partition era India, when the characters are
adolescents in what is now Bim’s house. Raja is severely ill with tuberculosis and is left to
Bim’s ministrations. Aunt Mira (Mira masi), their supposed caretaker after the death of the
children’s often absent parents, becomes alcoholic and dies of alcoholism. Earlier Raja's
fascination with Urdu attracts the attention of the family's Muslim landlord, Hyder Ali,
whom Raja Idolizes. When he heals, Raja follows Hyder Ali to Hyderabad. Tara escapes from the
situation through marriage to Bakul.
In part three Bim, Raja and Tara are depicted in pre-partition India awaiting the birth of their
brother Baba.
Raja is fascinated with poetry. He shares a close bond with Bim, the head girl at school, although
they often exclude Tara. Tara wants to be a mother although this fact brings ridicule from Raja and
Bim, who want to be a hero and a heroine, respectively.
The final section returns to modern India and showcases Tara confronting Bim over the Raja's
daughter's wedding and Bim's broken relationship with Raja. This climaxes when Bim explodes at
Baba. After her anger fades she comes to the conclusion that the love of family is irreplaceable and
can cover all wrongs. After Tara leaves she decides to go to herneighbors the Misras for a concert
and she is touched by the unbreakable relationship they seem to have. She tells Tara to come back
from the wedding with Raja and forgives him.
The novel tells not just the story of the separation of a family, but also of a nation.

ANITA NAIR
Anita Nair was born in Kerala. She is a famous poet, short story writer and journalist. In Ladies
Coupe Anita Nair focuses on men and women relationship, marriage and divorce, social and
cultural, and psychological issues.
Ladies Coupe
This is her second novel.
Akhilandeshwari or Akhila for short is a 45 year old single Indian woman from a Tamil Brahmin
family who works as an income tax clerk.
In Ladies Coupé, the Brahmin heroine, Akhila, whose life has been taken out of her control, is a 45-
year-old spinster, daughter, sister and the only provider of her family after the death of her father.
Getting fed up with these multiple roles, she decides to go on a train journey away from her family
and responsibilities, a journey that will ultimately make her a different woman.
This is the story of Akhila, who happens to be the most subdued, rather crushed member of the
family. Akhila is like a catalyst whose presence is never noticed, never appreciated and yet whose
absence may make all the difference. Akhila is a woman lost in the jungle of her duties; sometimes
to her mother, at other times to her brothers and still at other times toher sister. She is expected to
be an obedient daughter, affectionate and motherly sister and everything but an individual. As a
woman Akhila has her dreams, her desires, but when her dreams come in conflict with the comforts
of her family it is she who has to sacrifice. She lives a life designated by the society or family.
Mistress
The novel explores the depth of relationship between Shyam and Radha. Radha rejects her
husband’s oppressive environment and she rebels against the false materialism and vulgarity of
society. She even virtually rejects her marriage. She distrusts love as a form of male possessiveness
and does not want love to be an aspect of male domination. Radha who had a pre-marital affair with
a married man, had an abortion, Later her post-affair with Christopher, she grapples for the true
sense of love, completely divorced from the sense of guilt. As she travels back to her uncle life she
confronts many harsh truths of her own past. To the agitated self of Radha who is fed up with ugly
life, she has a strong desire to find out an order. She tries to explore the past of her uncle, as
well as, Chrostopher who are so closely connect with her mysterious past. She wants to
understand the secret behind Christopher’s visit and her uncle’s procrastination to narrate his own
life story. She plunges to the past and many realizations occur to her. The shocking revelation that
Christopher, with whom she had extramarital affair is her cousin leaves her devastated. In the
process of knowing her past, she is transformed into a new being. This transformation gives her the
inner strength to submit to Shaym’s wish to take her back to home.

ARAVIND ADIGA
Aravind Adiga is an Indian-Australian writer and journalist. Being a person with flawless language
and great writing skill, it is no wonder that Aravind Adiga bagged Britain's most prestigious literary
award - The Man Booker Award for his book The White Tiger in 2008. He is the fourth Indian-born
author to win the prize, after SalmanRushdie, Arundhati
Roy and Kiran Desai. (V. S. Naipaul, another winner, is of Indian origin, but was not born in India.)
Works:

The White Tiger: A Novel- 2008

Between the Assassinations – 2008
Last Man in Tower – 2011

The White Tiger: A Novel

It represents a darkly witty perception of )ndia’s class struggle in a globalized world as recited
through a retrospective voice- over from Balram Halwai, the protagonist.
The White Tiger happens in India. The protagonist Balram Halwai is born in Laxmangarh, a rural
village in "the Darkness". In Laxmangarh, Balram wa s brought up in a poor family from the Halwai
caste, a caste that designates sweet- makers. Balram's father is a besieged rickshaw driver and his
mother died when he was young. Balram was initially referred to simply as “Munna,” meaning
“boy," since his family had not bothered to name him.
The boy demonstrated himself intelligent and talented, and was praised one day as a rare “White
Tiger” by a visiting school inspector. Regrettably, Balram had to leave his school to work
in a tea shop with his brother, Kishan. There, he added his education by snooping on the
discussions of shop customers. Balram believes that there are two Indias: the impoverished
“Darkness” of the rural, inner continent, and the “Light” of urban coastal )ndia.

ARJUN DANGLE
Arjun Dangle’s Poisoned Bread was the first ever attempt to anthologize Dalit writings in English.
ARUNDHATI ROY
Arundhati Roy is a popular writer, activist and novelist. She was born in Shillong, Meghalaya.
Awards:

Arundhati Roy won Booker Prize in 1997 for her first novel The God of Small Things.
She was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2006.
Works:

The God of Small Things.

The End of Imagination.
The Cost of Living. Flamingo
The Greater Common Good.
The Algebra of Infinite Justice.
An Ordinary Person`s Guide To Empire.
The Shape of the Beast:
Conversations with Arundhati Roy.
Walking with the Comrade
The God of Small Things –

It centers around a tragedy that rends a family apart and its lasting effects on the twins who were at
the heart of it.
In The God of Small Things , the predicament of Indian women is studied in depth along with the
plight of dalits (untouchables), lower class people, racial subalterns vis-à-vis global capitalism and
neo- imperialism masquerading as globalization.
Ammu is the most important female character in The God of Small Things. Baba is Estha and
Rahel's father. Ammu divorces him when the children are very young.
The story chiefly takes place in a town named Ayemenem now part of Kottayam in Kerala. The
story enters in the 1990s as the young woman named Rahel returns to her village to be reunited
with her twin brother Esthahappen whom she hasn`t seen in many years. Two of the lead
characters are the fraternal twins Estha and Rahel. They are bonded unusually close. They used to
called themselves as `Me`, and when separated as `We` or `Us`. The temporal setting shifts back and
forth from 1969, when Rahel and Estha, a set of fraternal twins are 7 years old, to 1993, when the
twins are reunited at age 31.
The day before Margarget and Sophie arrive, the family visits a theater to see "The Sound of Music",
where Estha is molested by the "Orangedrink Lemondrink man", a beverage vendor.
Velutha is an untouchable (the lowest caste in India), a dalit. His family has been working for the Ipe
family for generations. Rahel and Estha form an unlikely bond with Velutha and come to love him,
despite his untouchable status. When Ammu’s relationship with Velutha is discovered, Ammu is
locked in her room and Velutha is banished. In her rage, Ammu blames the twins for her misfortune
and calls them the "millstones around her neck".

ARUN JOSHI
Arun Joshi was born in Varanasi in the year of 1939. He attended schools in India as well as in
United States.
Works:

The Last Labyrinth

The Foreigner
The Strange Case of Billy Biswas- 1971
The Apprentice - 1974
The City and the River

The Last Labyrinth

It is the story of Som Bhaskar. He is a 25- year-old who inherits his father`s vast industrial wealth.
Som is married to Geeta who a devotional woman. But he is attracted by Anuradha also who is an
alluring and mysterious woman. She is also married to some Aftab, a businessman, but Som finds
her so irresistible. In the whole novel the way of getting her is described in a vivid manner. Her
conduct is beyond Som`s comprehension. She accepts, rejects, or flees from him without warning,
and he even suspects that she has some a greement with Geeta. The situation drives Som to the
brink of death from a heart attack, but he miraculously survives while Anuradha disappears
without a trace. After his recovery, he is hell-bent upon finding Anuradha. His frantic pursuance to
search Anuradha leads him through absurd situations. Som eventually learns that Anuradha had
consecrated to sacrifice her love for him in order to save him from death at the time of his heart
attack. Agnostic and proud, Som rejects this explanation and continues his vehement quest, which
eventually leads him to Anuradha`s haveli. In a desperate effort to again flee from him, she
disappears in the last labyrinth, leaving him in doubt whether she has committed suicide or has
been killed. Alone and exhausted, Som goes on addressing his thoughts to her in the form of a
prayer.
The Foreigner

The central character of the story is Sindi Oberoi and the story revolves around his loneliness and
feelings of anguish and anxiety born of his estrangement from his environment, tradition and
his true self.
In this story the young hero after experiencing life and love in America comes back in Delhi. And
evantually persuaded by a humble office worker that sometimes detachment lies in actually getting
involved. This Surinder Oberoi is detached, almost alienated man who sees himself as a stranger
wherever he lives or goes. He feels the same in every place e.g. in Kenya where he is born, in
England and USA where he is a student and in India where he finally settles.
The Strange Case of Billy Biswas
Billy Biswas is the protagonist.
Meena Chatterjee, wife of the protagonist Billy Biswas. Meena is an associate of the modern phoney
society, which is totally disliked by Billy.
ASHOK KUMAR BANKER:
Ashok Kumar Banker was born on February 7, 1964 in Mumbai. He wrote in different subjects like
fiction, mythology, fantasy science fiction and cross-cultural subjects etc. His first three novels were
crime thrillers. It is said, as the first written crime thriller novel by an Indian novelist in English.

BADAL SIRCAR
Badal Sircar was born inCalcutta, on July 15, 1925. Sircar made an entry into theatre with different
roles as an actor, director and also as a playwright. As a playwright, he started with comedies. Badal
Sircar’s career in drama started with quite light and humorous plays getting written from 1956 to
1960. These plays were titled as Solution X, Ram Shyam Jadu, Baropishimaand Shanibar. Sircar
wrote more than fifty plays throughout his career and widely known for developing the theatre
form of his own, the ‘Third Theatre’ and also for establishing his theatre group ‘Satabdi’.

BAMA
Her novels Karukku (1992) and Sangati (1994) are autobiographical literary narratives. Her third
novel Vanmam (2002) tells the story of the intra- community conflicts, caste hatred and resulting
violence among Dalit communities.

BANKIM CHANDRA CHATTERJEE

Kapalkundala

The rural milieu of 19th century, ingrained with tantricism presents Kapalkundala as a romantic
novel of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhya. The romantic amorous relationship between Nabakumar
and Kapalkundala is the heart of the novel. The zamindar Nabakumar once being shipwrecked took
refuge in a forest caped island, where he met Kapalkundala, lived in the shelter of a Tantric saint.
The passionate urge between each other ultimately finds expression in the marriage of Nabakumar
and Kapalkundala. Liberated from the shackles of the recluse, Kapalkundala, stated to survive in the
normal world as Mrinmoyee, the wife of zamindar. But the Tantric rediscovered the true face of
Mrinmoyee and bullied her to relinquish the family life. Finally to save her family and her beloved
Nabakumar, she committed suicide, to desert her family as well as her own life.

Kapalkundala, centers round the life and activities of the protagonist Kapalkundala, later known as
Mrinmoyee. The title truly signifies the sacrifice and penalty; she has to give being a poor prey of
religious extremism. Through a bold presentation of the heroine Kapalkundala, Bankim Chandra
represents the predicament of the entire womenfolk, who became the victim of the socio-religious
conventions.

BHABANI BHATTACHARYA
Being a novelist with a social purpose, Bhattacharya has depicted the social, economic and political
changes in India on the background of the contemporary historical events and social conditions.

Works:
So Many Hungers! (1947)
He Who Rides a Tiger (1952)
A Goddess Named Gold (1960)
So Many Hungers!
Bhabani Bhattacharya's first novel So Many Hungers! (1947) deals with poverty, hunger and
exploitation of the peasants in the manmade famine of Bengal during the Second World War. The
exclamatory mark with which the title ends denotes the writer’s bewilderment at the multiplicity of
hunger.
The story moves around two families. The urban family of Samarendra Basu in Calcutta consists of
his wife, two sons Rahoul and Kunal, Rahoul's wife Manju and father Devesh or Devata. The other,
a peasant family from a small village Jharana, consisting of Mother, her husband, her daughter
Kajoli, two sons and the son-in-law Kishore. These two families make the two strands of the plot. All
the poor are depicted as the exploited ones but not all the rich are the exploiters. While only one
member of the rich family is responsible for the exploitation of the poor, the other members on the
contrary extend their helping hand to the poor.
Devesh Basu, whom the villagers of Baruni call ‘Devata’, inspires them to participate in the Civil
Disobedience Movement. The police arrest Devata and Kajoli’s father. The villagers respond with
anger and set the post office on fire. The government imposes a collective fine upon the entire
village for the arson. The villagers set the rice grains to pay the fine. A number of villages at the
coastal area are taken into possession by the British army.
The disposed ones rush to Calcutta to earn their living.
He Who Rides a Tiger
The title of the novel He Who Rides a Tiger (1952) is borrowed from the saying “(e who rides the
tiger cannot dismount”. Kalo, the protagonist of the novel, rides the tiger of a lie to avenge himself
on the society but he finds it difficult to dismount.

Kalo, the blacksmith lives happily with his only daughter, Chandralekha, in a small town Jharana. He
falls victim to the havoc wrought by the man-made famine in Bengal. Leaving his daughter at
Jharana in charge of her aunt he leaves for Calcutta. While traveling in the train he is caught by the
Police for stealing bananas and is sentenced to three months rigorous imprisonment. Biten,
another prisoner, advises him to retaliate against the society.
No sooner is he released than he rushes to Calcutta. He is forced to become a pimp in a brothel to
earn his living. He decides to call his daughter only after establishing his own smithy. Atthis
juncture there comes a turning point in his life. He finds his daughter in the harlothouse protecting
herself from a sexual assault of one of the customers. He saves the honour of her daughter. The
miseries of his own life and sexual exploitation of his daughter make him hostile towards the
society. He decides to follow the way suggested by Biten. He makes Lord Shiva emerge from the
earth with the technique taught by Biten. He builds a temple with the financial aid by a number of
devotees. Lekha christians her father as Mangal Adhikari. A blacksmith turns into a Brahmin. Lekha
is married to Biten.
The Goddess Named Gold
Bhattacharya’s fourth novel The Goddess Named Gold (1960) is an allegory. Some critics call it a
modern fable of rural India.
The story opens with the meeting of the ‘cow house five’, a group consisting of five peasant women
and the Seth’s wife. They discuss the burning problem of their village Sonamitti. Being the only
shopkeeper, Seth Shamsunder creates artificial scarcity of cloth. Women are compelled to wear rags
and patched over clothes. The ‘cow house five’ take a procession of women to the shop,
demanding the sale of saris on moderate rates. But the Sethdoes not pay any heed to their demands.
Meera,the protagonist, belongs to a peasant class. She isshown rebellious by nature. She protests
against the economic exploitation by the Seth, but behaves like a submissive, superstitious peasant
girl before her grandfather’s magic trick. Being an illiterate, rustic girl she easily believes in her
grandpa's words and becomes an alchemist or Sonamai for the villagers. Due to her strong faith in
her grandpa she feels she can bring happiness to the villagers with the help of the touchstone. To
fulfill this dream she is carried away by the wordsof the cunning Seth.

BHARATI MUKHERJEE
Bharati Mukherjee was born on 27th July, 1940 in Calcutta. She began writing books along with her
husband, writer Clark Blaise, whom she married in 1963.They together produced two books, Days
and Nights in Calcutta in 1977 and The Sorrow and the Terror: The Haunting Legacy of the Air India
Tragedy in 1987. She deals with the themes of the Asian immigrants in North America, and the
change taking pace in South Asian Women in a new World.
Works:

The Tiger`s Daughter – 1972

Wife
Jasmine
The Holder of the World
Leave it To Me
`Darkness` by Bharati Mukherjee is a collection of twelve short stories about the difficulties that
Indian immigrants have in adjusting to life in Canada and the United States.
The Tiger’s Daughter – 1972

An autobiographical story
The central character of this fiction is Tara and the story revolves around her.
The protagonist having an Indian origin educated at Vassar College, New York.
Jasmine:

Jasmine is the central character of the novel.

Set at the idea of mixing of the East and West with a story telling of a young Hindu woman who
leaves India for the U.S. after her husband`s murder. In her path she faces many problems including
rape and eventually returned to the position of a health professional through a series of jobs. Here
in this context the unity between the First and Third world is shown to be in the treatment of
women as
subordinate in both countries. The story expanded as a story of a young widow suddenly widowed
at seventeen. She uproots herself from her life in India and re-roots herself in search of a new life
and the image of America as well. It is a story of dislocation and relocation as the protagonist
continually sheds lives to move into other roles, moving further westward. The author in some
parts of this novel shows some agony to the third world as she shows that Jasmine needs to travel
to America to make something significant in her life. And in the third world she faced only despair
and loss.
Leave It to Me:

It is the story of a child born in California.

An unwanted female child is dropped like a hot brick at the nearest orphanage, where she is called
Faustine. The child was later adopted by an Italian-American family, and christened as Debby
DiMartino. Despite the love and affection of her foster family, Debby grows up with the awareness
of being different, the feeling that she is an unwanted obstacle in a world that hurls on towards its
mysterious destinations. The feeling is sometimes haunting when everyone is surrounded but
someone is feeling alone. At the conclusion she comes to as she sets out in search of her past, her
origins, and the unknown "bio-parents" who had callously abandoned her. As the story progresses
with jerks and shocks in a picaresque fashion, bringing together a variety of characters who may or
may not help the protagonist in her search for her "bio-mom." The story mainly revolves around
that girl but at the same time takes some of the important aspect of life in a beautiful manner.

Wife

The novel centers on the character Dimple, who grows, matures, rebels, kills and finally dies in this
novel.
Dimple marries a person chose by her father and moves to New York.
At the end, she becomes frustrated and out of fear and personal instability she ultimately murders
her husband and eventually commits suicide.
Mukherjee deals with the complications that come from being thrown between two worlds and the
strength and courage it takes to survive and in the end live.
BHARATI SUBRAHMANYA C
The Indian writer of the nationalist period who is regarded as the father of the modern Tamil style,
Bharati Subrahmanya was a son of learned Brahman. He was killed by a temple elephant in Madras.
CHETAN BHAGAT
Chetan Bhagat is a famous Indian author who penned down novels that hit the market with great
success. All of them were bestsellers since their release and have been filmed by famous Bollywood
directors. Chetan Bhagat is considered a youth icon rather than as just an author.
Works:

One Night @ The Call Center

The story revolves around six people, three men and three female to be precise working in the same
group. They have six
different lives altogether but all of them were interconnected.
Five point someone-what not to do at IIT

The story is very interesting in the way that three hostel mates namely Alok, Hari and Ryan get off
to a bad start in IIT they messed up the first class grades. It`s sometimes hilarious to read how these
3 boys spend their 4 years inside the high walls of the Indian Institute of Technology. Alok is having
his family problems, Hari is somewhat a looser and Ryan is a flamboyant personality. In spite of
their varied personality they share a unique friendship and always spend their time in doing
naughty things except studying. Hari has lot to share about the ragging period and many other
incidents in the college. There are many happy and sad moments, which are narrated in an excellent
ways. They are just amazing.
Whatever they do ultimately they end up in the problem that is the actual comedy. Sometimes Alok
wants to study but the other two don`t allow him to do so. Hari gets drunk before the viva and
somehow manages to get caught by the professor. He also falls in love with the same professor`s
daughter. All of a sudden they decide to improve their grades but as they were against to hard work
in actual sense they decides to steal the papers for the exams. They eventually they were caught. To
hide from the shame Alok decides to commit suicide but he can`t do so. Ultimate prof. Veera helps
them and they end up in doing extra assignments and labour. At the end author add some
sweetness to the story as he narrated that Alok and Hari gets employed and Ryan begins his
research on his much loved subject Fluid Mechanism.
3 Mistakes of My Life

The 3 mistakes of my life is the saga of friendship. The tale of dreaming dreams, the story of chasing
the dream. The story revolves round three friends, Ish, Govind and Omi. Ish, the cricket lover, Omi
the son of a priest and Govind the protagonist. Govind is a Math lover and the dreamer. He dreams
of floating his own business. He wants to forget all his worries, fear, tears and agony and just wants
to start his own business to survive in the harsh world where dream shatters almost every now and
then. The three friends start a sports shop and it works. Things seem to be a lot better. Govind
experiences for the first time the taste of being the businessman. The story moves from one event to
the other. Ish finds Ali, a young cricketer with lots of talent and decides to coach him. Govind
besides being the businessman and math lover still falls for Ish`s sister and here on starts
committing his famous "three mistakes". The political turmoil, Ayodha issue, Gujarat earthquake all
contours the background of the plot whilst turning the dream of Govind, Ish and Omi into
nightmare. Yet to cherish the dream, to reach the goal, to attain everything that they desired they
had to face it all - religious politics, earthquake, riots and most importantly forbidden love and
above all, their own mistakes which life threw as if a challenge to them.
CHITRA BANNERJEE DIVAKARUNI
She deals with the immigrant experience, an important issue in the contemporary world. Arranged
Marriage is a collection of short stories, about women from India caught between two worlds. The
protagonist of The Mistress of Spices, Tilo, provides spices, not only for cooking, but also for the
homesickness and alienation of the Indian immigrant clients d frequenting her shop.
Desani G V
All About H. Hatterr
It was written in 1948.
H.Hatter stands for Hindustanwallah Hatter.
This novel is the comic record of the life of the protagonist who is constantly threatened, gulled,
robbed and bullied in life.
First of all, the thing that hits us as symbolic in this novel is the name of hero- H. Hatterr. The
despondent boy was adopted by the English Missionary Society. The name 'Hatterr' is pinpointing
ofhis hat that is very large for him which suggests his Anglo Indian environment. The hat may be
understood in the terms of Freudian signs. The hat can be a mark of both masculine and feminine
values.' Hatterr', the surname is prefixed with other term 'Hindustaniwalla', that adds a new sense
into it. Consequently, the long structure of his name 'Hindustaniwalla Hatterr' is ridiculously
indicates the identity of cultural hybridization. Hatterr's whole life occurs to be a great effort to
harmonize the two actually contradictory societies. The name Hatterr is clearly a symbol of the fight
between East and West that comes out to be a little comic and incongruous.
Hatterr has stolen three books from the Missionary Society may be interpreted like common
symbols of knowledge or understanding which he is in sought of. Even if Hatterr has ran away from
the Missionary Society, the books act as leftovers of his erstwhile evangelical living at a theoretical
stage.
Since Hatterr is not officially learned in school or college, he wants to attain his knowledge from the
University of Life. Hatter's desire to meet up the 7saints of different regions of India may be
interpreted as numerological symbolism. Number 7 is considered as a holy number in Eastern and
Western astrology and religion. "Seven is a holy number in various traditions. Because, according to
Hippocrates of Chios,it is associated to the lunar stages seven affects each and every Sub Lunar
things. Hepatic separation happens to be accepted the same as sacred and related with many
astrological and cosmic phenomenon. For instance, seven tunes of music, seven gates, worlds, steps,
spheres, seven pillars of wisdom are commonly famous. Number Seven is attached with the Hindus,
fire God Agni. His encounter to the seven saints of India is pinpointing of his search for saintly
knowledge, experience, perfection and godliness.
DILIP CHITRE
Dilip Purushottam Chitre is often described in epitaphs with titles such as 'legendary', "the rarest of
rare" and "all rounder", which had sat lightly on the unfazed shoulders of the man. And when one
reads the ideas and thoughts described in words that had flown out of his pen, the experience can
only be described as nothing short being impeccable.
GAYATRI CHAKRAVORTY SPIVAK
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak was born on 24th February, 1942 in Kolkata. She is a popular Indian
literary theorist and critic.
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak came into prominence with her subsequent translation of `Derrida`s Of
Grammatology`.
Her major works also include the translations of renowned Bengali author Mahasweta Devi and
critical analysis of American cultural studies.
Her work titled "A Critique of Postcolonial Reason" that was published in the year 1999 explores
the European metaphysics.
She is widely known for her essay "Can the Subaltern Speak?"
Works:

Myself, I Must Remake: The Life and Poetry of W.B. Yeats (1974)
Of Grammatology (translation, with critical introduction, of Derrida`s text) (1976)
The Post-Colonial Critic (1990) Outside in the Teaching Machine (1993)
The Spivak Reader (1995)
A Critique of Postcolonial Reason:
Towards a History of the Vanishing Present (1999)
Death of a Discipline (2003)
Other Asias (2005)
Imaginary Maps (translation of three stories by Mahasweta Devi) (1994)
Old Women (translation of two stories by Mahasweta Devi) (1999)
Chotti Munda and His Arrow (translation of the novel by Mahasweta Devi) (2002) GITHA
HARIHARAN (1954 ─)
Githa Hariharan is one of the most prolific woman writers of India. She was born in Coimbatore in
1954. She was brought up in Bombay and Manila and got her education in these two places besides
the U.S.A. She is a journalist by profession and based in

New Delhi. Her first book, The Thousand Faces of Night won the Commonwealth Prize for the best
first novel. Her other works include The Art of Dying (a collection of stories), The Ghosts of Vasu
Master, When Dreams Travel (both novels) A Southern Harvest and In Times of Siege.
Works:

Githa Hariharan published her first novel The Thousand Faces of Night in 1992 and was awarded
the Commonwealth writer’s prize in 1993. This novel was followed by The Ghost of Vasu Master
(1994). Her third novel When Dreams Travel appeared in 1999 and it was quickly followed by In
Times of Siege (2003). Her latest publication is Fugitive Histories which appeared in 2009. Besides
novels, Githa hariharan has also authored a collection of short stories, The Art of Dying (1993), and
books of short stories for children, The Winning Team which came out in 2004. A Southern Harvest
(1993) is a collection of short stories from south India translated by Githa Hariharan.
The Ghosts of Vasu Master – 1994

The novel is told in short chapters, alternating between events in the present.
Vasu Master feels quite uneasy after retirement. His farewell present from his students was a
notebook, and the other things related to jotting down observations, memories, and thoughts about
teaching. He also continues to teach a bit, becoming a tutor. He doesn`t have many students,
however, and eventually he is only left with one that is the most complicated and intractable case,
Mani. The boy is twelve when he comes to Vasu Master, but he was not up to the mark. He doesn`t
speak, either, and has been through numerous schools and doctors, without anyone being able to
draw him out. Vasu Master tries to change Mani and eventually finds at least one thing that seems
to keep him entertained and interested. And this thing was stories. Vasu Master himself wasn`t
brought up on proper stories but he tries a lot with his childhood experience and finds them useful
for himself too. Vasu master also tries to live in present and bring the past back in his life. His wife
who dies in earlier years, he brings back her in memory and thus tries to understand the present.
The Ghosts of Vasu Master is concerned with well being on all levels i.e. the soul, the mind, and the
body. Vasu Master`s physical ailments get some attention, while some want him to follow the path
to enlightenment. there is one more character and he is Vasu Master`s father, a doctor of the very
wise and understanding sort, who shows a variety of ways of healing. Vasu Master`s efforts to teach
Mani take the broadest meaning of teach`. He tries to teach him in all aspect like as psychologist and
also as educator.
The Thousand Faces of Night

The novel is woven around three generations of women Devi, Sita and Mayamma.
The first novel The Thousand Faces of Night describes the setup of a central south Indian Brahmin
family. Devi, the central character returns to Madras from America to live with her mother, Sita.
Initially, she is confronted by some difficulties in making adjustments with day-today realities.
Devi being a young educated girl with her "american experience‟ struggles to cope with her
husband Mahesh, who is busy with his business tours most of the time. This is when Devi feels
alienated in "her own "home. She searches for an identity and tries to free herself from the
bondage of marriage. Her emotional and mental incompatibility with Mahesh brings her close
to Baba. In this second part of the novel, she comes closer to Baba and he takes up the role of
Devi’s grandmother with stories “less spectacular” and defining the limits. Through Devi,
Hariharan shows how woman survives in male dominated society, facing all sorts of discrimination
but surviving with her inner strength.
When Dreams Travel

The novel is a retelling of the old story of Shahrzad and her sister Dunyasad. They are married to
two brothers, the sultan Shaharyar and Shahzaman, both of whom were earlier cuckolded by their
wives. To prevent this from happening again, the sultan marries a virgin each night, and then
beheads her in the morning. This grisly practice continues until Shahrzad, the Wazir’s daughter,
manages to keep death at bay by telling him stories for a thousand and one nights. Early in the story
Shahrzad dies mysteriously and much of the book concerns Dunyazad’s efforts to find out how and
why. The truth is revealed only in the last chapter's surprise ending. The deaths of Shahrzad and
Shahzaman and the wazir by no means preclude their frequent reappearances, either in dream
sequences or in incidents from the past.

GITA MEHTA (1943 ─)

Gita Mehta was born in 1943 in Delhi. He came off a family of freedom fighters her father Biju
Patnaik was an industrialist, flying ace and the most well-known political leader as well chief
Minister of Orissa. She based her creative writing on the theme of the country’s struggle for
freedom. She started her career as journalist.
Works:

In 1979 her first book Karma Cola: Marketing the Mystic East was published
Her first novel-Raj (1989)
Her famous work Snakes and Ladder (1997) is a collection of essays about India since
independence.
The Raj -1989

Published in 1991
The protagonist of this novel is Jaya Singh, the only daughter of the Maharajah and Maharani of
Balmer. Jaya Singh is the intelligent, beautiful, and compassionate daughter of the Maharajah and
Maharani of Balmer. She was raised in the thousand year-old tradition of purdah by her mother
and was educated exactly like her royal brother i.e. Balmer`s heir. This happened according to her
father`s decision. She learned to play polo, hunt tiger and wild boar, and how to govern and lead.
Jaya marries the jaded, westernized Maharajah of Sipur and finds herself in a history- making
position. After the death of her husband she took the regime and very successfully holds the power.
We witness Mahatma Gandhi march to the sea, with hundreds of thousands of his countrymen, to
break British laws against making salt. India`s struggle for independence and partition
A River Sutra -1993

Published in 1994.
This is the third book by Gita Mehta.
The story is interconnected with Narmada River in India
The river is the Narmada, one of the holiest in India; and, a sutra is both a thread, and a discourse
that constantly unwinds.
This novel is a series of short stories.
Theme is diversity within Indian society, both present and past.
Major themes are lust, religion, desire and love.
There are six stories: The Monk’s, The Teacher’s, The Executive’s, The Courtesan’s The Musician’s,
and The Minstrel’s.
The novel begins with the words of a 14th-Century )ndian poet: “Listen, O brother. Man is the
greatest truth. Nothing beyond.”
The story is told from the perspective of a retired government official.
Mehta tells the story of a retired government official who resides on one of the largest and holiest
rivers in India. In his working days the official was never a religious man, but now that he

has a chance to relax and observe his surroundings, he is able to take in the diversity around him
and start his own questioning about the spiritual side of life. Using this frame, Mehta illustrates the
official`s encounters with numerous characters who, each in turn, tell their stories to the retired
official. As the story proceeds he encounters many characters as for example a Jain mendicant, a
Muslim music teacher, a wandering ascetic, a courtesan seeking her kidnapped daughter, a genius
sitar player, and a tea plantation official who has encountered Nagas. Mehta uses each character to
explore different religious themes that are represented in India and weaves them all into a cohesive
search for spiritual truth. India is always a country of unity in diversity and the author has
successfully uses this trait.
The Monk story begins with Ashok who is the first of many people to tell the narrator his story of
love. The Jain monk is probably only thirty years old and he has already tired of a world that has
offered him anything he has wanted: extreme wealth, a loving family, and the opportunity to better
other people's lives through charity. The monk has decided himself to become a monk in a religion
where, as other monks tell him, he will suffer almost constant pain. Ashok believes these
sacrifices are worthwhile because in his renunciation, as the same monks tell him, he “will be free
from doubt.”
In the Teacher’s Story the narrator meets a man who accuses himself of being a murderer. It tells
about a man called Master Mohan who now gives music lessons. His wife has always taunted him
continually for his weaknesses and inability to make money. She also accuses him of the fact that he
is the reason she had lost her rich inheritance. Although he leads an unhappy life, his gentle nature
always ushers him to small acts of kindness. Master Mohan’s father developed a great love to listen
his son sing in recording studios. One day Master Mohan gets the chance to listen to a group of
travelling Quawali singers from Nizamuddin, who are famous for their Sufi traditional songs. He
stood spellbound to the voice of a young blind Muslim boy, Imrat. The singers have prodded him
and started two musical lines “) prostrate my head to the blade of Your Sword. O, the wonder of my
submission. O, the wonder of your protection.” (61) )mrat’s sister requests Mohan to take care of
her brother for a while. Mohan’s wife and children treat Imrat in a dreadful manner. He sings some
beautiful devotional songs to the joy of all the people around. Mohan knows \that the singing of
these songs will give him the endurance he needs to confront the indignities of his life. He grooms
him in music and discovers that the boy to be a prodigy. He instructs Imrat to sing songs of Kabir,
Mirabai, Khusrau, Tulasidas, Chisti and Chandidas. His singing becomes so popular and attracts the
attention of a music records company. Unable to bear the rude behaviour of his wife, Master Mohan
leaves the house for Imrat to continue his practice. It is Master Mohan’s wife, who wants to make
some money out of the Imrat, accepts the offer and receives five thousand rupees for a programme.
The boy is forced to sing and his singing fills the hall with ecstasy and mystic raptures. Whenthe
great Sahib rises, Master Mohan thinks the Sahib is going to dance to the music of the boy. The
gruesome incidence the death of the boy drives the Master to the verge ofmadness. He comes to the
banks of the Narmada in search of peace. He does not get peace because the story leaves him with
many questions unanswered. Tariq Mia’s explanation is that he does not know answer and it is a
story about the human heart. The bureaucrat questions himself whether police catch him or not
and why the Sahib kills the boy. Unable to come to a conclusion, Master Mohan commits suicide on
his way back.
The Executive’s story speaks about Nitin Bose, a young executive, works in a tea company in
Calcutta. He is a well-educated orthodox and committed to duty. Though his companions have
dreadful predictions, he opts for the tea estates as he could feel the monotonous of Calcutta and
begins to live a self-disciplined life until a young tribal woman, Rima, arrives while he is asleep. He
falls in love with her. Although he avoids women from him, he likes her and experiences her body.
The relation between Nitin and Rima is immoral so that he is afraid of the regulations of the society
because according to the society his act is a sin which is not excused by the people. Therefore he
buried his immoral act in his mind and the effect of his suppression resulted in his utter madness.
Afraid of society’s regulations he cannot admit his immoral act to anybody else so he confesses it in
his diary. Diary is one of the means of confession through which one can get mental relief. Nitin
Bose after writing his diary gets mental relief and is cured from amnesia. The story reflects the
Indian psyche and tradition in which these kinds of acts are not allowed and if someone did it
unconsciously then he is afraid to confess it. Nitin Bose as belongs to the same tradition
suppresses his desire and wants to hide the truth from people. The writer, before telling the story,
describes the myth of Kama, God of Love which is very helpful to create a suitable atmosphere.
The Courtesan’s Story is a tale of the love of flesh recounted by the courtesan’s mother and herself.
The Courtesan represents the particular group of courtesans which is neglected by the society. The
courtesans are not considered as human beings but they are used for entertainment only.
The courtesan’s daughter got a chance to perform at a large political gathering. Her tender voice
soothed the crowd into silence. The happiness was shattered as her daughter was kidnapped by a
bandit of Vindhyas, Rahul Singh, who has a notorious standing for robbing, kidnaps her because he
thinks that she has been his wife in so many lives before that one and keeps her in captivity in a
cave and forces her to yield, but she refuses to surrender to him. Rahul Singh tells her that she has
been his wife in many births before this one, but she does not believe him. He endures her hatred
and insults. But one night, when he touches her, she realizes that he is speaking truth. She spends
with him happily for a few days. She too falls in love with him and became pregnant. He was so
much in love with her that he became reformed but died trying to steal something for her from the
bazaar.
The Musician’s Story describes an ugly female musician, who learns to perfect her singing all her
life.
Tariq Mia tells The Minstrel’s Story to understand the bureaucrat about the Naga Babas. It is about
the Naga Baba, who rescued a girl of eight years old from the clutches of a prostitute and who later
became a minstrel.

GOURI DESHPANDE
Gauri Deshpande has an important position among the field of post-Feminist poets. Her poetry has
proved to be a milestone in the history of Indian women's poetry.
HARI KUNZRU (1969 ─) is a young author of English and Kashmiri descent, who shot into fame
with his novels The Impressionist and Transmission.
JHUMPA LAHIRI
Jhumpa Lahiri is a famous Indian American author of Bengali origin. Jhumpa Lahiri became the first
Asian to win the Pulitzer Prize when she won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her book
"Interpreter of Maladies". Jhumpa Lahiri belongs to the second generation of Indian immigrant
writers in United States. Lahiri concerns her writing with the consciousness of the need for
regaining roots in the tradition of India.
Awards:

Pulitzer Prize for Interpreter of Maladies in 2000.

The Lowland was published, which was longlisted for the Man Booker prize.
Works:

Short Story Collections -

“Interpreter of Maladies” – 1999

“Unaccustomed Earth” (2008)

Novels -

The Namesake- 2003

The Lowland

Interpreter of Maladies

It is the collection of nine distinct stories revolves around the first and second-generation Indian
immigrants and the idea of otherness among the country.
It is a multi-layered story about a second-generation Indian-American couple. In the story they
come to India to visit different places along with their three children and hire a tour-guide to see
the famous Sun Temple at Konarak. Their guide, Mr. Kapasi becomes curious about the couple who
looks Indian, yet dress like American tourists and speak with an American accent that he had heard
many times on American TV shows. The author illustrates the work of Mr. Kapasi elaborately as he
works as a tour guide only on weekends, and has another job during the weekdays as an interpreter
in a doctor`s office. There he translates the Gujarati spoken by some of his patients. Mina Das, the
wife proclaims his job as an interpreter of maladies as
`romantic.` Energized by this comment Mr. Kapasi, whose own marriage is wavering, looks at her
closely and begins to fantasize a romantic relationship with her. The whole story is told from
Kapasi`s point of view. The couple invites him to be included in the photographs they take; Mina
asks him for his address so they can send him copies from America. Again this
comment enhances his fantasy. During their journey to different places mina confesses different
facts of her life to Kapasi as her second child is fathered by her husband`s Punjabi Indian friend.
"The Third and Final Continent" is another one from this collection, which is a first-person story of
an Indian immigrant who looks back at his first few weeks in America, thirty years ago. As a whole
all the nine of the stories are a showcase of elegant craft.
The Namesake - 2003

The novel is a narrative about the assimilation of an Indian Bengali Family from Calcutta, the
Ganguli’s, into America, over thirty years (from 1968-2000); the cultural dilemmas experienced by
them and their American born children in different ways, the spatial, cultural and emotional
dislocations suffered by them in their effort tosettle “home” in the new land.The book spans more
than thirty years in the life of a fictional family, the Gangulis. The book is all about the generation
and cultural gap as when the parents, each born in Calcutta immigrated to the United States as
young adults. Their children, Gogol and Sonia, grow up in the United States. Both the parents were
from calcutta and their children brought up in US so there are huge differences between the childen
and their parents. One of the major themes of the book is Gogol`s persistent mixed feelings over his
identity, by the fact that Gogol is the last name of a noted Russian author.

This is also a novel about exile and its discontents, a novel that is as affecting in its Chekhovian
exploration of fathers and sons, parents and children, as it is resonant in its exploration of what is
acquired and lost by immigrants and their children in pursuit of the American Dream.
Towards the second–half of ‘The Namesake’ Gogol celebrates his twenty seventh birthday at his
girlfriend Maxine’s parents Lake house in New Hampshire without his parents.
Unaccustomed Earth – 2008

The eight sensitive stories of her second short stories collection Unaccustomed Earth (2008),
evokes the anxiety, excitement and transformation felt by Bengali immigrants and their American
Children.
The story is about Ruma and Romi and their father, who retired from his pharmaceutical company
after his wife’s death. Ruma lives in Seattle with her workaholic white husband Adam and byracial
son Akash. When the story starts we come to know that her single father is about to visit their home
for the first time and Ruma is distressed by the possibility that he might decide to live with them
permanently. But she also knows that her father needs no care and at the end of the story, she
realizes that he is not accustomed to her world, he likes to live it on his own. Her father, who, like
most of the book’s male characters, is strikingly, multidimensional, has his own

worries. Her father came to visit her and was affectionate to her son but he thinks that he does not
belong here.
The Lowland

In this novel, the main female protagonist Gauri falls in love with and marries UdayanMitra. Udayan
and his older brother Subhash are inseparable in childhood and generally regarded as “mirror
images” of each other. When Udayan meets Gauri, Subhash is in America, pursuing higher studies.
Udayan is caught up in the banned Naxalite movement and eventually is killed by the police in stark
view of his parents and wife. This earthshattering event permanently scars each one of them,
especially the two women, one the mother whose favourite son has been taken away from her and
the other, his young pregnant wife. Subhash, the elder brother returns to mourn the younger
brother’s death. On seeing the discrimination meted out to Gauri and the police and the
investigation agencies still harassing her with questions concerning her dead husband and his
comrades in crime, he decides to give her a means to escape. Against his parent’s wishes, he marries
her and takes her to America.
Gauri gives birth to a daughter Bela, but soon begins to feel suffocated in both the marriage as well
as in her role as a mother. She continues to be haunted by the memories of her first husband, the
real father of her daughter. When Bela turns five, Gauri is desperate to get out, finding time for her
after years of almost continuously staying at home and looking after the baby. But, Subhash refuses,
saying that on principle, he didn’t want his daughter to be looked after by babysitters
while Gauri joined classes at the university. Gauri begins to resent Subhash for this. She takes it as a
betrayal of what he has said when he’d asked her to marry him. This resentment continues to grow
with Subhash finally having to make peace and allowing Gauri the freedom to attend classes. Gauri
begins to cherish the time spent away from her daughter and her husband. Gauri continues to feel
alienated in her own home.
On his father’s death, Subhash visits Calcutta with his daughter Bela. On returning to America, they
find that Gauri has finally broken free. She has accepted a job, teaching at a university. All she leaves
behind is a letter in Bengali, leaving Bela to Subhash. On the face of it, the father and the daughter
have succeeded in picking up the pieces and moving on, but the fissures run deep. Bela’s grades
suffer and she is seen wandering alone in different parts of the area. Although Subhash resists it at
first, he is forced by the school Counselor to take Bela to visit a Psychologist. Gauri’s sudden
departure has left a permanent scar on the twelve year old Bela.
Throughout the novel, we see Gauri haunted by the memories of her first love, her first husband.
When Udayan is being rounded up by the police, before he is shot, he manages to look at her face.
Gauri’s final abandonment of her family comes as no surprise. She has herself seen abandonment
both at the hands of her parents and then at the hands of her husband. Betrayed by the man she
genuinely loved, betrayed into being a party to a policeman’s murder she loses faith in ties and the
bonds of love.

JIM CORBETT
Jim Corbett is a popular name in India and even today he is one of the widely read authors in the
wildlife genre. Jim Corbett was born on 25th July 1875, in British India. The original name of Jim
Corbett is Edward James. Jim Corbett is still remembered as one of the great wildlife
conservationists of India. He played significant role to establish India`s first national park that is
Corbett National Park.

Works:

Tree Tops:

The story is about the forest and about the treetop that is situated there at the jungle.
`Tree tops` is a story written by Jim Corbett, which is based on a real treetop. Now this is called as
tree top hotel. The treetop was built to accommodate 100 visitors near to a big water body where
the wild animals including tiger, buffaloes, and elephants come to quench their thrust. In this book
the description of treetop is given in a nice way that anyone can feel it in front of his or her eyes.
The balcony is at least 30 feet above the pool, and from here anyone can see the remains of the old
Tree Tops on the other side. It was burned down by the mau mau in 1954. It was built on a giant
ficus tree and accommodated five or six people one time. In this place in the month of February,
1952 princess Elizabeth arrived with her husband to spend the night, and Corbett was invited to
join them.
Man-eaters of Kumaon – 1993

Corbett gives the reason of why this particular tiger became a man- eater, often remarking that it
was a
result of a gunshot wound that disabled the tiger to hunt it`s natural prey. It was Corbett who called
tiger `a big-hearted gentleman`.
Kumaon hills in the Himalayan foothills are clearly depicted in the story.
The Man Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag
The story of man-eater of Rudraprayag tells the tale of a tiger which stays at the place called
Rudraprayag. Corbett ultimately kills the tiger. Here the tiger is the central character and the story
revolves around the triumphant killing of the tiger.
This particular book is about one leopard, which terrorized a large region for many years and
claimed about 420 lives as well.
There is an unforgettable chapter in the book titled `Terror` which narrates very vividly about the
village nightlife.
Jungle Lore

Lore means traditionally transmitted stories and so jungle lore means the stories of the jungle.
Jungle Lore by Jim Corbett is a sort of autobiography.
The story concentrates on the minute information about jungles, animals, classification of species. It
is also related to hunting story. The best thing about the novel apart from its length is that this book
is informative as well as educational.

My India

In `My India` Corbett talks about the people of the country in an excellent manner.
This book deals with the country as he said my India. He always felt India as his own country and he
believes in that way only.

KAMALA MARKANDAYA (1924 ─ 2004)

Kamala Markandaya,a popular Indian journalist and novelist. Kamala Purnaiya was born in a small
town in Mysore in the year of 1924. Markandaya attended the University of Madras, beginning in
1940, where she studied history. From 1940 to 1947, she worked as a journalist and also published
short stories in Indian newspapers. The works of Kamala Markandaya feature the modern
traditional and spiritual values of Indian societies. The novels of Kamala Markandaya are popular
for boldly depicting the cultural and traditional clashes of different societies.

Works:

Nectar in a Sieve (1954)

Some Inner Fury (1955)
A Silence of Desire (1960)
"Possession" (1963)
"A Handful of Rice" (1966)
"The Coffer Dams" (1969)
"The Nowhere Man" (1972)
"Two Virgins" (1973)
"The Golden Honeycomb" (1977)
"Pleasure City" (1982)

Nectar in a Sieve - 1954

The title "Nectar in a sieve" has an allusion to the famous poem by Coleridge "Work without hope".
The 13-14 lines of the poem "work
without hope" ("Work without hope draws nectar in a sieve, and hope without an object cannot
live.")
Hope stands as a very important attribute of the lives of the character thus aptly befitting the title.
It is a touching account of the life of an Indian peasant woman, Rukmani, her struggle for survival
and her abiding love for her husband.
This novel depicted the difficult life of an Indian peasant. It was written in a narrative style and
wonderfully depicted the clashes between the urban and rural societies of India.
Rukmani married Nathan, a tenant farmer whom she had never met, as a child bride. Even though
Rukmani was ignorant of the simplest of tasks, Nathan never uttered a single cross word or gave an
impatient look. He looked at her as if nobody had discovered her beauty. He never asserted his
rights to prohibit her from reading and writing. Though Nathan was illiterate he always shows
respect towards her literate wife. Misfortune seemed to have a tight foothold in Rukmani and
Nathan. The monsoon flooded the rice paddies where Rukmani worked side by side with Nathan to
wrest a living for a household of eight. No sooner had the monsoon tapered off than a drought
devastated the harvest. Hope and fear acted like twin forces that tugged at them in one direction
and another. Poverty-stricken Rukmani saw her daughter Ira become a prostitute, her 4-year-old
son Kuti died from hunger, her teenage son Raja caught stealing and beaten to death, her oldest
sons Thambi and Arjun set off to Ceylon to work in a tea plantation.
And yet, Rukmani survived. Ira, who exchanged her body for Kuti`s milk and food, had lost her
reason and given up her sanity rather than faced the truth. Far beyond its political context, the
novel is appealing to modern readers for its sensitive and moving portrayal of the strength of a
woman struggling with forces beyond her control.
Some Inner Fury – 1955

Some Inner Fury is a semi- autobiographical story.

This is the story of a young woman in love with an Englishman. The duration was the riotous time
of 1940s when India was fighting for independence.
In this creation she probed the east- west conflict through the dilemma of Mira, who was in love
with an Englishman.

KIRAN DESAI
Kiran Desai was born on 3rd September, 1971. Kiran Desai was born in New Delhi, India, and lived
there until she was 14.Then she went to England with her mother and finally she moved to the
United States. She took her early education in Massachusetts. Then she studied creative writing at
Bennington College, Hollins University and Columbia University. She is an Indian author because
she is a citizen of India and a Permanent Resident of the United States. Her mother is also a famous
writer Anita Desai.

Works: Her first novel Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard was published in 1998. Her second book
The “Inheritance of Loss”
published in 2006 has won the 2006 Booker Prize.

Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard -1998

It is set in the Indian village of Shahkot in Punjab.

Sampath Chawla is the protagonist.
Kulfi is Sampath’s mother.
The story depicts the exploits of a young man, Sampath Chawla, trying to avoid the responsibilities
of adult life. He gets fired from the post office for reading other peoples’ mails. He goes to guava
orchard after he feels fed up in life. He jumps up a tree and decides to stay there. The people
including his family starts believing that he has extraordinary powers and he is termed as god`s
messenger.

Inheritance of Loss: 2006

Won 2006 Man Booker Prize

Biju and Sai are the major characters
Mutt, a dog appears in the novel
The novel tells the story about the journey of Biju, an illegal immigrant in the US who is trying to
make a new life and Sai, an Aglicised Indian girl living with her grandfather in India.
The Gorkhaland movement is used as a historic backdrop of the novel.

‘
KHUSHWANT SINGH
Khushwant Singh is a senior prominent Indian novelist and journalist. He was born on 2 February
1915 at Hadali in British India that is now a part of Punjab in Pakistan. A significant post-colonial
writer in the English language, Khushwant Singh is known for his clear-cut secularism, humor and a
punitha
deep passion for poetry. He was a great storywriter, historian, political writer, essayist biographer,
translator novelist and journalist. He has been founder-editor of Yojna, and editor of The
Illustrated Weekly of India, The National Herald and The Hindustan Times. The Mark of Vishnu and
Other Stories is the first book written in 1950 comprises mostly ironic tales about faith and religion.
This selection includes ten of his best, bearing testimony to the author's remarkable range and his
ability to create unforgettable characters out of everyday lives.
Works:
Train to Pakistan, 1956
The Voice of God and Other Stories, 1957
I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale, 1959
Ghadar 1915: India`s first armed revolution, 1966
Black Jasmine, 1971
Tragedy of Punjab, 1984
Delhi: A Novel, 1990
We Indians, 1993
Women and Men in My Life, 1995
Uncertain Liaisons; Sex, Strife and
Togetherness in Urban India, 1995
Declaring Love in Four Languages, by
Khushwant Singh and Sharda Kaushik, 1997
The Company of Women, 1999
Truth, Love and a Little Malice (an autobiography), 2002
With Malice towards One and All
The End of India, 2003
Burial at the Sea, 2004
Paradise and Other Stories, 2004
Death at My Doorstep, 2005
Why I Supported the Emergency: Essays and Profiles, 2009
The Sunset Club, 2010
The Portrait of a Lady ( Short Story)
Delhi: A Novel

Khushwant Singh claims it took him almost twenty years to complete the novel Delhi and
dedicated it to his son Rahul Singh and Niloufer Billimoria.
It accounts the history of New Delhi from the eyes of an old Sikh guide named Mr. Singh. His
passionate romance with Bhagmati who is a hermaphrodite and a representation of Delhi is
beautifully paralleled. The story progresses with chapters divided in narrations by poets, sultans,
soldiers, white memsahibs, etc. The story is told from the viewpoints of various characters, with
different styles.
Delhi, the capital of India, was completely destructed and then reconstructed number of times as it
turned to be a city of culture, calamity, conceit, capability, poets, saints and politicians. His
protagonist is not any handsome rich dude but a bawdy, old, reprobate Sikh journalist.
The narrator guides his acquaintances through the ruins of the past that lay strewn all over the
historic city tombs, memorials, Durgahs and monuments. The story begins with one of the Mughal
emperors, Ghias Uddin Balban and spans from six to seven hundred years and ends with the
assassination of Indira Gandhi, leading to the massacre of Sikhs.
I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale - 1961

It is a story of a Sikh family in the days before India`s independence.

The story is set at the backdrop of 1942.
Buta Singh is the father in the story. He is the head of the family and is a magistrate who works for
the British, and after years of loyal service to the British Raj is expecting to be honored with a title
in the King`s Birthday Honours List. The son, Sher Singh is a hot-blooded young revolutionary,
but emotionally still a child. He has joined a band of terrorists and comrades and in order to
acquire the leadership has hatched a plan to disrupt arms supplies traffic on road and rail through
bombing, and all this rebellion is undetected by any member of the family. Hell breaks loose when a
ghastly murder of the village headman is reported and Sher Singh is arrested. All this sends an
earthquake through the foundations of Buta Singh`s house.
Train to Pakistan (Mano Majra) - 1956

It is a partition novel.
Also historical Novel
There is an interesting fusion of sex, humour, pain, agony and violence in this novel.
Mano Majra, the maiden name of the novel, was an imaginative peaceful abode of communal
harmony that witnessed a dark history of hatred and religious segregation. Its draft was completed
in three months.
Train to Pakistan opens in the fictional village Mano Majra and describes how the entire village
gets involved in the carnage during the partition.
Khushwant Singh has divided the novel into four parts and it is in the fourth part named ‘Karma’,
that he emphasizes the philosophy of ‘Karma’, that is, action, as described in The Bhagavad Gita.
In this section, the story reaches its catastrophic dramatic end with Juggut Singh sacrificing his life
to save the lives of his girlfriend Nooran and other Muslim refugees.
The Partition of India in 1947 marked a season of bloodshed that stunned and horrified those living
through the nightmare. Entire families were forced to abandon their land for resettlement to
Muslim Pakistan and Hindu India.
It was a horrible experience for all the human beings who were present there. Travelers clogged the
roads on carts, on foot, but mostly on trains, where they rested precariously on the roofs, clung to
the sides, wherever grasping fingers could find purchase. Muslim turned against Hindu, Hindu
against Muslim, in their frantic effort to escape the encroaching massacre. But the violence followed
the refugees. Almost ten million people were assigned for relocation and by the end of this bloody
chapter nearly a million were murdered. Women were raped before the pained eyes of their
husbands, entire families robbed, dismembered, murdered and thrown aside like garbage
until the streets were cluttered with human massacre. The situation cannot be explained in words.
The scenes from that era is so humiliating that till now it can bring tears to anyone`s eye. The trains
kept running. Those trains were used to carry the passengers including Hindu, Sikh, Muslim and
quasi- Christian. There had been rumors of the arrival of the silent `ghost trains` that moved quietly
along the tracks, grinding slowly to a halt at the end of the line, filled with slaughtered refugees.
When the first ghost train came to Mano Majra the villagers were stunned. Abandoning chores, they
gathered on rooftops to watch in silent fascination. With the second train, they were ordered to
participate in burying the dead before the approaching monsoons made burial impossible. But
reality struck fear into their simple hearts when all the Muslims of Mano Majra were ordered to
evacuate immediately, deprived of property other than what they could carry. The remaining
Hindus and Sikhs were ordered to prepare for an attack on the next train to Pakistan, with few
weapons other than clubs and spears. The soldiers controlled the arms supply and would begin the
attack with a volley of shots. When the people realized that this particular train would be carrying
their own former friends and neighbors, they too were caught, helpless in the iron fist of history,
save one disreputable dacoit whose wife sat among her fellow refugees. The dacoit was Hindu and
his wife was Muslim. The story builds impressive steam as it staggers toward destiny, begging for
the relief of action.
MAHADEVI VARMA
She is a well known Hindi poet of the Chhayavaad generation, the times when every poet used to
incorporate romanticism in their poetry. She is more often called the Modern Meera. She won the
Jnanpith award in the year 1982.

MANIL SURI
Manil Suri, the mathematician turned author become famous for his so far only novel, The Death of
Vishnu (2002)

MANJULA PADMANABHAN (1953 ─)

She is an author, playwright and artist. Her books include "Hot Death, Cold Soup" (1996), a
collection of short stories and "Getting There" (1999) a travel memoir. "Harvest", her fifth play, won
first prize in the 1997 Onassis Prize (The foundation has its headquarters in Greece) for theatre.
"Kleptomania" (2004), a collection of short stories, was published in 2004. She has illustrated 23
books for children including, most her own two novels for children, "Mouse Attack" and "Mouse
Invaders".

MAHESH DATTANI
Mahesh Dattani, was born in Bangalore on November 1958, is a prolific playwright and is regarded
as the first Indian English playwright to win the Sahitya Akademi Award for his play, Final Solutions
and Other Plays in 1998. His very first play Where There’s a Will deals with money as the central
theme of the play. Mahesh Dattani is a sensitive playwright who writes about issues like gender
bias, social discrimination of the girl child, etc.

Works:
Where there’s a Will
Tara - 1990
Bravely Fought the Queen
On a Muggy Night in Mumbai
Dance like a Man
Thirty Days in September Seven Steps around the Fire Final Solutions -1993

Where There’s a Will

This is a play about Hasmukh Mehta, one of the business tycoons in the city. Having been an
obedient son to his father all through his life, he expects the same from his son Ajit. He suspects his
daughter in law, Preeti. He is unhappy with his wife Sonal. His disbelief in his family members and
his unhappy sex life makes him to find the “right person” outside the family. Kiran Jhaveri, a
marketing executive in his company. He entrusts all his property to Hasmukh Mehta charitable
trust and makes Kiran the trustee before he dies. This shocking news is unfolded when Kiran enters
Mehta house with (asmukh’s will. The family members are taken aback by the bitter decision of
(asmukh Mehta. (asmukh’s decision of managing the trust for 25 years by Kiran Jhaveri until Ajit
turns 48 leaves the family to show the true colours about one another. But this plan of (asmukh‟s
tries to bring the family members together.

Dance Like a Man

Patriarchal authority has been brought out effectively through this novel. The Bharatanatyam dance
couple Jairaj and Ratna come under the pressure of patriarchy and Jairaj is worst hit by it. Jairaj
could not become successful dancer because his father Amritlal Parekh didn’t allow him to pursue
dance as his career. Jairaj himself admits this fact while conversing with Vishwas. Jairaj sees himself
as a failure partly because of Amritlal’s autocracy and partly due to Ratna’s ambition. Amritlal
Parekh who is a representative of the society of nineteen thirties and forties. He is freedom fighter
and a reformist, but he curtails the freedom of his son who wanted to
become a Bharatanatyam dancer. Jairaj suffers both as a dancer and human being.

Tara: (1990)

Major characters are Tara and Chandan

Tara is the daughter of an educated higher middle class family in Banglore. The story of the play
is about the twins who are born with three legs and blood supply to the third leg is from the baby
girl’s body. Only one of the twins could have two legs, and the other had to survive with only one
leg. It is decided to fix the third leg on to the male baby’s body so as to make male baby complete.
This decision was not on the basis of medical ground but due to gender discrimination in our
society.

Tara is a story of Siamese twins— one male and the other female. The play dramatizes how a
woman becomes perpetrator of the male chauvinistic ideas forgetting that her decision to prefer a
male child to female one may ruin the latter’s life. Having three legs, the Siamese twins, Tara and
Chandan who were conjoined at birth, had to go through a surgical operation to get separated.
Against the doctor’s opinion that the third leg would survive on the girl child, Bharati, the mother,
agrees to her father in conniving with the doctor to give the third leg to the girl child. The doctor
who is supposed to be the god for the patient forgets his all moral duties just for the sake of a few
acre land in the prime of the city and attaches the third leg to the girl child which goes rotten with
the passage of time and both, the boy child and the girl child become freaks.

punitha
The death of Tara has a more powerful impact than her existence. Just as the death of the Star gives
way to the Black Hole.
The handicap also symbolizes the predicament of girls in Indian families who are made to forsake
their chances of getting educated as the edification of the boy becomes a priority.

Bravely Fought the Queen:

It throws light on the home confined identity and exploitation of women at the hands of not only
men but also women and their resistance. The play also exposes issue of extramarital relationship
and touches upon the issue of homosexuality. Set in the world of consumerism, the play depicts
Alka, Dolly and Baa as women whose lives are defined within the four walls of the houses.
Revolving around the Trivedi family which consists of Jiten and NitinTrivedi, Baa, Dolly and Alka,
the play depicts the exploitation of women in the family. Indian society considers women as
uncivilized, rude, and ill-mannered needing to be polished. The process of the refinement of their
actions and their behaviour horrifies our eyes violence is the tool which is used for the socialization
of the women. Alka’s present condition is the result of this civilizing process which also creates a
rift between Dolly and Alka who are managed by their brother Praful. This play, like Tara, also
depicts women as the perpetrator of patriarchy. Dolly suffers in the hands of her mother-in-law
who provokes her son to beat her. Jiten and Nitin gratify their sexual desires with market girls. The
class-conflict also constitutes the theme of the play. Sridhar is humiliated by his masters Jiten and
Nitin who forces him not only to follow their eccentric views about campaign which ignores women
as consumer but also to work as a pimp just to manage a whore for Jiten. The issue of
homosexuality has touched upon in the play. Nitin has homosexual relationship with Praful.
Emotions and desires of women of the family have no significance for the male member of the
family and they suffer due to their husband’s degraded morality. )n the end of the play Alka and
Dolly both rebels against the male dominance and their husband’s realize their mistakes. Bonsai in
the play symbolizes the limited freedom of women.

On a Muggy Night in Mumbai

This discusses the plight of the sexually marginalized people—homosexuals and lesbians and the
effects of homosexual relationship on human ties. In the play, Kamlesh loves Prakash who fails to
face the social oddities as a homosexual and turns into a heterosexual. It breeds in Kamlesh a
perennial anguish. In trying to suppress his feelings for Prakash, Kamlesh becomes miserable, week
and helpless and, the only way to get rid of his obsession, is to be in Sharad’s company. The play
reveals double identity of men who live their private lives of homosexuality in the images of
heterosexuals. Sharad challenges Ed who has the mask of heterosexuality and considers
heterosexuals as a real man Bunny and Prakash/Ed enjoy homosexuality under mask of
heterosexuality. Bunny, who is a bisexual, is a hypocrite. He claims to be a perfect husband because
he loves his wife more than any heterosexual man does; his wife boasts of his work to the
neighbours as she has no problem with him; and his children who love him are popular in school.
But his confession about his homosexuality reveals dissatisfaction in his life. The play witnesses the
power of society due to which homosexuals turned into heterosexuals. But the play also highlights
women as victim of males’ hypocrisy. Kiran, Kamlesh’s sister, after her bitter realization in her first
marriage, finds some hope in Ed butthe revelation of his being a homosexual shatter her dream of
future life and she is filled with anguish and pain.

Thirty Days in September

The story revolves around Mala and Shanta, the play reveals the betrayal in blood relationship in a
country like India where even to think of such relationships is beyond imagination. Mala, sexually
abused by her maternal uncle, at the age of six has to suffer continuous sexual molestation which
leads her to the arms of any man whom she comes in contact with. She fails to marry Deepak
because she always realizes her uncle presence with her. In spite of his all attempts Deepak fails to
know the truth behind Mala’s erratic behaviou but in fit of realization of Deepak’s love, she reveals
her past life to him. And with his help, she becomes successful to fight against her exploitation by
refusing her maternal uncle’s gift of house. She holds her mother responsible for her plight. But in
end of the play Mala comes to know that her mother also has been the prey of the same fate. Shanta
does not dare to reveal the truth because she was financially weak and society does not permit to
hear such relationships.

Seven Steps around the Fire

Seven Steps around the Fire depicts the plight of the eunuchs in the Indian society shedding light on
the love and betrayal in human relationship.
Throwing light on plight of eunuchs, Dattani depicts that their position is better than women as
they are free to give vent to their desires in their domain. Uma, a research scholar in Sociology
working on the plight of the eunuchs, has no identity of her own as she is always addressed as a
wife of the Superintendent of Police and daughter-in-law of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, and
the daughter of the Vice-Chancellor of Bangalore University. When she visits the cell where
Anarkali is imprisoned for the case study she is overwhelmed perceiving the brutality the eunuchs
are meted out in the prison. Munswamy, her bodyguard addressed Anarkali with pronouns like it,
they which indicates that the eunuchs in the society are not treated as human beings instead as
things. He suggests her to leave the case as there are lots of cases dealing with such issues as
murder, rape etc. Suresh, her husband, also hates them and addresses them as castrated
degenerated men. The eunuchs are discriminated and hated in the society because of their inability
to produce children. But Suresh is also infertile. He does not go to the doctor, who declares Uma
medically fit for mothering a child, just for count sperm as it is against his male libido and will
uncover his true self. At Subbu’s wedding with the help of the eunuchs who during their singing and
dancing show him the photograph consisting of Subbu and Kamala in wedding dress Uma becomes
successful to get the real culprit behind Kamala’s murder. She is revealed that it is the Minister who
got Kamala burnt to death because of his false pride and prestige which was in danger as his son,
Subbu had married a eunuch, Kamala. In an utter longing for Kamal’s love, Subbu also shoots
himself with Suresh’s pistol. But Suresh for the sake of his promotion as a Commissioner of Police
hushes up the story as an incident and does not report it in the register. And thus, the eunuchs’
voices remain unheard.

Final Solutions

In this play particularly the issue of communal harmony is raised and what takes the play to a
punitha
different level is that the playwright tries to cater a solution to the problem by bringing the
followers of the two religions

MANJU KAPUR is a professor of English at the prestigious Miranda House in Delhi. Her first novel,
Difficult Daughters, received the Commonwealth Award. The book is set during India's
independence struggle and is partially based on the life and experiences of the author’s own
mother. Her other novel A Married Woman is a seductive story of love, set at a time of political and
religious upheaval within the country. Narrated with sympathy and intelligence, it is the story of an
artist whose canvas challenges the constraints of middle-class existence.
Awards:

Difficult Daughters won the Common wealth writer prize for the best book.
Works:

Difficult Daughters (1998) A Married Woman (2002) Home (2006)

The Immigrant (2008).

Difficult Daughters - 1998

Difficult Daughters is the story of a freedom struggle. While India fights for freedom from the
British Raj, Virmati fights for the freedom to live life on her terms.
Difficult Daughters is a story of a daughter’s journey back into her mother’s painful past.
Difficult Daughters is a story of three generations of women: Ida, the narrator, who is a divorcee.
Virmati, her mother, who marries an already married professor for love, and Kasturi, her
grandmother, who come to terms with a difficult daughter, Virmati.
Difficulr Daughters is set at the time of partition in Amritsar and Lahore.
Difficult Daughters begins with a daughter going back to Amritsar carrying her mother’s ashes to
meet her maternal family. The narrative then alternates between the past and the present with the
mother and daughter speaking to each other through places and events.
Virmati is the protagonist of the novel. She is a young Punjabi girl from a very conservative family in
Amritsar, falls in love with a married professor. Prof. Harish Chandra is a Professor at the Arya
Sabha College. Virmati was deeply enlightened by the Professor and considered him noble for his
concern towards woman's education. They both were in love with each other, but the path to love
never runs smooth. The social barricades and moral hurdles label their relationship as 'illicit'.
Virmati's mother was adamant and would not allow her to have her ways. Talks of marriage filled
the air and everybody in the house could think of nothing else but Virmati's impending marriage.
Virmati remained passive and silent, and every word fell on a deaf ear. Things began to get out of
control and Virmati contemplates suicide. She made a futile attempt at drowning. She was locked in
the godown but still remained silent and stubborn. The next few months passed by in great pain
and loneliness for both Virmati and Harish. They communicated through letters, exchanging every
minute detail of things happening. Finally, it was decided, although reluctantly, that Virmati would
go to Lahore for further studies. Virmati, as her name suggests was not only brave, but also
stubborn. The two persons who greatly influenced Virmati were Shakuntala (her cousin) and
Swarnalata (her room partner).
Virmati‘s daughter )da, who belongs to the post independence generation, is strong and
clearheaded. She breaks up her marriage as she is denied maternity by her husband. The forced
abortion is also the termination of her marriage. Ida by severing the marriage bond frees herself
from male domination and power and also from conventional social structures which bind women.
She has that strength which Virmati lacks. )da wants liberty and doesn‘t want to compromise as did
her mother.
Ida utters angrily at the end of the novel :―”This book weaves a connection between my mother
and me, each word-brick in a mansion I made with my head and my heart. Now live in it, Mama
and leave me be. Do not haunt me anymore.‖”.
A Married Woman – 2002

This is the second novel.

Astha is the protagonist in the novel.
A Married Woman deals with women‘s issues in the present context. It is an honest and seductive
story of love, passion and attachment set at the time of political and religious turmoil in India.
Driven by a powerful physical relationship with a much younger woman, the main character of the
novel risks losing the acquisitions of her conventional marriage and safe family. The novel raises
the controversial issue of homosexual relationship in a challenging way.
Manju Kapur frankly depicts the love affair between two women, but less attention has been paid to
the historical and political context in which that relationship develops.
Home - 2006

Nisha is the central character.

The Immigrant –

The Immigrant is story of two immigrants, Nina and Ananda.

Nina teaches English literature at Miranda House. She was not married till the age of
Ananda, who lives in Canada, wants to marry an Indian girl, and marries Nina. Nina goes to Canada
as an immigrant and her journey of life starts in a totally new environment. At the end of the
novel, she becomes a new woman, totally different from what she was before her marriage in India.
Nina said she loved The Second Sex, but she
couldn’t identify with much of it.

MANOHAR MALAGAONKAR
Manohar Malagaonkar was born in 1913 in a royal family. He was educated at Bombay University.
punitha
He served The Maratha Light infantry as an officer. He was a big game hunter, a civil servant as well
as a mine owner and a farmer too.
Manohar Malagaonkar`s works are as follows: "A Teller of Tales", "Distant Drum", "Combat of
Shadows", "The Princes", "A Bend in the Ganges", "The Devil`s Wind"` "The Sea Hawk: Life and
Battles of Kanhoji Angrey", "Chatrapatis of Kolhapur", "Spy in Amber", "Shalimar", "The Garland
Keepers", "Bandicoot Run", "Cactus Country", "A Toast in Warm Wine", "In Uniform", "Bombay
Beware", "Rumble-Tumble" and "Inside Goa.
MUKUL KESAVAN
His first book Looking Through Glass appeared in 1994. It became a best- seller and received
several critical literary acclaims.
Kesavan`s cricket based Men in White - was published by Penguin India in 2007.

MULK RAJ ANAND

Mulk Raj Anand is popularly known as an Indian novelist, short-story writer, and art critic. As he
used to write in English he was among the first writers to render Punjabi and Hindustani idioms
into English. Called the Zola or Balzac of India. Anand drew a realistic and sympathetic portrait of
the poor of his country. The author was also regarded as one the ‘founding fathers` of the Indian
English novel. Mulk Raj Anand's stories depicted a realistic and sympathetic portrait of the poor in
India. He spent World War II working as a scriptwriter for the BBC in London, where he became a
friend of George Orwell. He found a literary magazine called "Marg".

Works:

Untouchable (1935)
Coolie (1936)
Two Leaves and a Bud (1937)
The Village (1939)
Across the Black Waters (1939)
The Sword and the Sickle (1942)
The Private Life of an Indian Prince (1953)

Untouchable – 1935

His friend, E. M. Forster, whom he met while working on T. S. Elliot`s magazine Criterion, wrote the
introduction.
His first main novel, "Untouchable", published in 1935, was a chilling exposé of the day-to-day life
of a member of India`s untouchable caste. It is the story of a single day in the life of Bakha, a toilet-
cleaner, who accidentally bumps into a member of a higher caste. Bakha searches for comfort to the
tragedy of the destiny into which he was born, talking first with a Christian missionary and then
with a follower of Mahatma Gandhi, but by the end of the book he concludes that it is technology, in
the form of the newly introduced flush toilet that will be his saviour. While the toilet may deprive
him and his family of the traditional livelihood they have had for centuries, it may also liberate
them in the end by eliminating the need for a caste of toilet cleaners.
Coolie (1936)

Munoo is the protagonist

Two Leaves and a Bud – 1937

The story is about a poor Punjabi labor.
Gangu is the protagonist of the novel.
He is brutally exploited in a tea plantation and killed by a British official, who tries to rape his
daughter. This is mainly about the plight of the laborers in a tea plantation in Assam. The tea
gardens in Assam become a symbol of his slavery.
The novel describes an exploited peasant, who is killed while trying to protect his daughter from
being raped by a British colonial official.
The two leaves and the bud of the tea trees, the shade shrubs are the silent witnesses of this
oppression and agony of the poor Punjabi laborer who represent the oppressed class.
The novel explores the plight and sufferings of the tea laborers.
Reggie Hunt is the British Official who attempts to rape Gangu’s daughter and kills Gangu when he
tries to save his daughter.
Across the Black Waters

'Across the Black Waters' is an English novel by

the Indian writer Mulk Raj Anand first published in 1939.
Lalu is the protagonist.
It describes the experience of Lalu, a sepoy in the Indian Army fighting on behalf of Britain
against the Germans in France during Worl d War I.
It describes the experience of Lalu, a sepoy in the Indian Army fighting on behalf of Britain against
the Germans in France during Worl d War I.

NAIPAUL V S
Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul popularly known as V. S. Naipaul was born on 17th august 1932.
He is considered as the leading novelist of the English- speaking Caribbean, winner of the Nobel
Prize in literature in 2001.
Awards:

In 1971, he became the first Person of Indian origin to win a Booker Prize for his book In a Free
State.
Nobel Prize for Literature - 2001

Works:

A House for Mr Biswas (1961)

A Bend in the River (1979)
A Way in the World (1994)
An Area of Darkness (1964).
The Enigma of Arrival
The Mystic Masseur
Miguel Street
In A Free State
Guerrillas
The Loss of El Dorado
Among The Believers
India: A wounded Civilization
A turn in the South
India: A Million Mutinies Now
A House for Mr Biswas – 1961

Mohun Biswas is the protagonist.

HANUMAN House appears in this novel
NAMITA GOKHALE

Namita Gokhale is a well renowned writer of Indian literature. She was born in the year 1956 in
Lucknow, India. Namita Gokhale has penned down a total of five novels in English. She has also
done some non-fictional work in English literature. She has established her reputation as one of
India’s greatest feminist writers. Her interest in Indian mythology is well known. She felt indebted
to the great poet Kalidasa.
Works:

Paro: Dreams of Passion (1984)

Gods, Graves and Grandmother (1994)
Mountain Echoes: Reminiscence of Kumaoni Women (1994)
The Book of Shadows (1999)
The Book of Shiva (2000)
Love Them, Loathe Them (2004)
Present Tense, Living on the Edge (2004)
Shakuntala :The Play of Memory (2005)
A Himalayan Love Story (1996)
The Puffin Mahabharata (2009)

Shakuntala: The Play of Memory

This story is based on the story of the famous play Abhijnana Shakuntalam written by Kalidas. In
this novel Namita Gokhale has presented the story of a girl named Shakuntala who remembered her
past life. The writer has belief in rebirth and the Hindu mythology.
The novel opens with the picture of Kashi, the city of Shiva. The narrator is Shakuntala who
remembers her first sight of Kashi. She begins to dream of her previous birth. In her dreams she
sees many images and begins to think of the purpose of life. She remembers the story of Shakuntala.
After sometime Shakuntala was married to Srijan. Srijan knew her since she was a child. Shakuntala
was his third wife. His other wives were dead and had not given him any children. The married life
of Shakuntala was very decent and Srijan was very courteous to her. But she was not satisfied and
she had her own vision of freedom. She leads a happy life. Later, Shakuntala came to Kashi and
there she surrenders to a world of pleasure, travelling in the complete freedom from rules and
bonds that she has always desired. Now she was all alone, no one’s wife or mistress or sister. She
listened The Puranas from the mouth of a Brahmin. She saw different sights and great monks and
worshippers there. At that time she remembers Bhikkuni’s words and planned to go to a
monastery, a Buddhist Sangha and to follow the path of Srijan’s mother.
Namita Gokhale raised the question of the equality of woman with man. Shakuntala has the longing
to travel like man, but she is helpless. She wants to get religious knowledge like her brother. She
keeps her opinio ns to herself because she knows that scriptures are forbidden to women. Namita
Gokhale is indebted to Buddha’s principles. She asserts the influence of Buddha upon Shakuntala.
The book is mainly centered around Shakuntala who has her own vision of freedom. She is
endowed with great courage and zeal. Since childhood she wants to know about Dharma and
scriptures but she never told her opinions to her mother because the scriptures are forbidden to
women. Her curiosity can be seen when she used to hear the religious texts narrated by the tutorof
Guresvara. She used to discuss great philosophical facts with her brother but she never felt
satisfied.

The Book of Shadows

Rachita Tiwari is the protagonist.
It narrates the story of an English lecturer, Rachita.
Rachita gets acid thrown at her face in this novel.

NARAYAN R K

R.K.Narayan`s writing career began with Swami and Friends. At first, he could not get the novel
published. Eventually, a mutual friend, Purna, showed the draft to Graham Greene. Greene liked it
so much that he arranged for its publication. Greene was to remain a close friend and admirer of
his. After that, he published a continuous stream of novels, all set in Malgudi and each of it, dealt
with different characters in that fictional place. Narayan’s style of writing style is compared to
William Faulkner. He created the fictional town Malgudi. R. K. Narayan passed away on 13th May
2001.
Awards:

He won the National Prize of the Sahitya Akademi, the Indian literary academy, for The Guide in
1958. He was the first Indian English writer to win the Sahitya Akademi Award.
He was honoured with the Padma Bhushan, a coveted Indian award, for distinguished service to
literature in 1964.
In 1980, the Royal Society of Literature awarded the AC Benson Medal R. K. Narayan.
Works:
Swami and Frinds-1935 The Bachelor of Arts – 1937 The Dark Room – 1938
The English Teacher – 1945
Mr. Sampath – The Printer of Malgudi 1948 The Financial Expert- 1952
Waiting for the Mahatma – 1955 The Guide – 1958
The Man-Eater of Malgudi – 1961 The Vendor of Sweets – 1967
The Painter of Signs – 1977 A Tiger of Malgudi – 1983 Talkative Man – 1986
The World of Nagaraj – 1990
Grandmother’s Tale – 1992
My Days – 1974 (His Autobiography)

Swami and Friends:-1935

Semi autobiographical Novel

Swami and Friends is the first novel of a trilogy of novels written by R.K. Narayan. ( Other two in
trilogy are The Bachelor of Arts and The English Teacher )
The book consists of 19 chapters in total.
Rajam, Police Superintendent’s son,
who becomes close friend to Swami.
Swami and Friends ideally depicts the growing pain of an adolescent mind, the tears after getting
hurt and certainly the fears of losing a friend.
Mani, Somu (Monitor), Sankar, Samuel ( The Pea) are the friends of Swami in the story.
The story is about an adolescent boy of 10 years who was growing up at this time of pre
independence era. The story is about this growing of the little boy; about his tears and fears, about
his mischief and happiness and about his wonders and innocence.
Swami is the student at the Albert Mission School. Albert Mission emphasizes on the magnitude of
Christianity and stresses on the importance of English literature.
Rajam is the symbol of colonial power that drastically changes the Swami`s life.
punitha
They form a team called MCC : Malgudi Cricket Club

An Astrologer’s Day (1947)

‘An Astrologer`s Day’ was first published in the newspaper `The Hindu`
The An Astrologer`s Day is a collection of thirty short stories that purely describes life and different
aspects of life.
An Astrologer`s Day` is mainly a collection of stories about characters from every walk of Indian life
and that includes merchants, beggars, herdsmen, rogues, all of them in one place i.e. Narayan’s
make-believe village Malgudi.
The Bachelor of Arts - 1937

Written in 1937
It is the second book of a trilogy that began with `Swami and friends` and ended with `The English
Teacher`.
The story is set in a make-believe south indian town called Malgudi.
The time is pre-independence and it captures the spirit of Indians in sufferings of the freedom
struggle and also the east-west clash.
Chandran is the main character.
The Bachelor of Arts is the saga of a young mind gradually moving towards maturity. The story
illustrates the need of possessing a Bachelor of Arts degree and also portrays the dilemmas
associated with it.
The teacher `Gajapathi` who teaches Shakespeare in accented English, struggles with time table,
exams interpolated with secret cigarette smoking sessions and also watching films are described so
colorfully that anyone can experience of being at that time.
Chandran falls in love with Malti and after graduation when he tries to marry Malti; he got rejected
by her parents because of his horoscope. It says that he is mangalik and if he marries any non
mangalik girl she will die eventually. So this frustrates him a lot and he left in search of some peace
in his life which ends in making him a sage. During his adventure he meets many people and gets
enough respect by simple people. But after 8 months, he returns home and takes up a job as a news
agent and decides to marry. The story ends with his falling in love afresh with Sushila.
The Dark Room

First published in Great Britain in 1938

Feminist view of the contemporary South Indian society.
Savitri is the main character
Savitri is married to Ramani.
Ramani is an employee in Engladia Insurance Company.
Kamala, Sumati and Babu are the three children of Ramani and Savitri
Savitri, being a submissive housewife gives birth to three children. Her husband always dominates
her and whenever his tortures become unbearable to her she retires in a dark room in their house.
As the story progressed in certain distance her husband got engaged with another woman and in
order to set up her place he shifted many of their furniture from home. These include one of her
favorite furniture also. While shocked by the news of his relation Savitri tries to win back her
husband but cannot do so because of Ramani`s obstinate nature. During the course one day she
fights back and leaves home without thinking anything.
“Dark room” becomes symbolic
element in the story.
The story can be compared with “ The Doll’s (ouse”
The Man-Eater of Malgudi

The Man-Eater of Malgudi`, describes about the good and evil forces of the central character.
Narayan bases his story on the ancient Indian myth of a boasting demon BHASMASURA who
terrorizes the world and dies eventually.
The novel is a kind of an allegory.
It is a post-colonial tale.
Nataraj, Vasu, are the main characters.
Nataraj is owner of a small, friendly printing press in Malgudi. He is a very polite person with no
enemy as such. His life is tensionless till the day he meets Vasu. Vasu arrives at araj’s printing press
demanding
500 visiting cards.
Vasu is a taxidermist (animal stuffer). He depicted as a demonic one terrorizing the mankind. He
starts living in the printer’s stairs. Vasu was creating many problems to Nataraj`s life. Vasu never
gives him money nor does he sign any rent slip. During story`s progression Vasu encroaches
Nataraj`s life in all aspects. The story comes to an end when Nataraj decides to organize a function
on the release of a book of his friend. But very soon someone informs that Vasu is going to kill the
elephant at the procession. Nataraj decides to talk to Vasu for the last time but he finds him
sleeping. But on the next day Vasu was dead. Nataraj was being arrested and later gets a clean chit
from police. His friends start avoiding him. Shastri informs Nataraj that Vasu was not murdered but
he had damaged his nerves with his powerful hands while smashing a fly and died instantly.
Kumar is the name of the elephant.
Rangi is a prostitute who had an affair with Vasu.
Vasu is the Man eater of Malgudi.

The Guide

1958
Brought its author Sahitya Academy Award
The novel describes the transformation of the protagonist Raju, from a tour guide to a spiritual
guide.
Railway Raju is the nick name of the protagonist.
Raju is the hero of the story who grows up near a railway station and eventually becomes a
shopkeeper. Later he becomes a resourceful tourist guide.
Raju falls in love with a beautiful dancer, Rosie, the neglected wife of archaeologist Marco. Marco
does not approve of Rosie’s passion for dancing. With the help of Raju’s Marketing tactics, Rosie
becomes a successful dancer.
Raju is caught red handedly while forging Rosie`s signature to sell one of her necklaces. He stays in
jail for two years. After returning from imprisonment he decides not to go to Malgudi. He goes to a
village named Vellan where the people take him wrongly as a spiritual guide. They start offering
him food and some comforts. The irony of the story is a drought that occurs in the village. Raju
takes 12-day fast on people request. After many days of his fasting in one fine morning when he
goes to the riverside for his daily rituals his legs sag down and he feels it is raining in the hillside.
The ending of the novel is a bit confusing as it leaves an unfinished end of Raju`s death or end of
drought.
Open Ended

Mr Sampath - The Printer of Malgudi

First published in 1949
The central character is Mr. Sampath
Mr Sampath - The Printer of Malgudi is a story of relationships.
The novel portrays the journey of the central character "Mr Sampath
who was the printer of the newspaper "The Banner".
The protagonist of this story is Srinivas. He is a passionate editor of a newspaper that is run by only
one person. The name of the newspaper is `The Banner` and Mr Sampath is the printer there who
shoulders the financial burden of the newspaper. In this schedule he also makes uninvited editorial
comments. This relationship appears to work well for Srinivas until the paper closes down and
Sampath invites his friend to join him in the world of cinema or movie making. Eventually Sampath
falls in love with the heroin of the movie and this step makes his life difficult as well. Srinivas has
his problem of over responsibility. Due to some unavoidable circumstances Srinivas leaves the
studio and revive `the banner` with another printer. Sampath was not bothered about it. But at the
loss of the lady, money, fame, wealth, and peace he comes back to Srinivas. Sampath has learnt from
his past mistakes and found his true niche (place, position) in life.
A Tiger for Malgudi - 1961

‘A tiger for Malgudi’ is mainly a

story in a tiger`s version.
Raja, the tiger, is the protagonist.
This is a comic story that takes place by the narration of a tiger. It recounts its story of capturing by
a circus owner from where he escaped successfully. But again caught by a monk with whom he punitha
spends the rest of his life in a hill and realizes the inner meaning of life by spiritual knowledge.
Grandmother`s Tales

Grandmother`s tale is a narrative story where the author narrates his grandmother`s stories with
utmost tenderness. Naryan is writing his Grandmother`s story, a look into an India where child
marriage was normal and annas were still the currency. This book allows a reader to journey
through an old India, which is filled with ancient and family traditions. The life style at that time
was bit difficult but however it is Narayan depicts it with full grace.
Told by the narrator`s grandmother, the tale recounts the adventures of her mother, married at
seven and then abandoned, who crosses the subcontinent to extract her husband from the hands of
his new wife. Her courage is immense. But once her mission is completed, her independence
vanishes.
Waiting for the Mahatma

set amid the final years of India`s freedom struggle where Mahatma Gandhi also appears in the
novel.
Sriram and Bharti are the major characters
The central character of this story is Sriram. He is a high school graduate and lives with his
grandmother in the said village. Sriram is attracted to a girl named Bharati who is active in
Mahatma Gandhi`s Quit India movement. So consequently inclined by his love`s route he commits
himself to Gandhi`s Quit India campaign. Sriram gets involved in some underground activities that
take place in the countryside. He is new to the place and some misunderstandings takes place which
turns the story in a comic style. He goes to jail and after returning from there Sriram reunites with
Bharati. At the ending their engagement takes place with some of sour taste as this happens in the
middle of India`s partition in 1947.

My Days:
`My Days` is an autobiography written by the famous writer R. K. Narayan.
The book, `My Days` depicts all the happenings of author R.K.Narayan`s life as well his ups and
downs in his career.
The Financial Expert - 1952

This is a story in 5 parts

Margayya is the protagonist in the story and a proud money lender.
Balu is the son of Margayya and he marries Brinda.
Theme of the novel is Lust for Money
The rise and fall, the pain and agony of the main protagonist are aptly described in the novel. It is
the story of a financial expert who was once a proud one but later in his life lost almost everything
and had to start from scratch all over again.
He usually spends his time under a banyan tree in front of the Central Co-Operative Land Mortgage
Bank and distributes financial advice to those willing to pay for his knowledge.
He becomes rich but darkness comes in his own life as his son becomes spoiled. When he lost all his
money his son denies to sit under the banyan tree so at his old age he himself decides to sit under
the tree and starts all over again.
William Walsh hails Margayya as “probably Narayan’s greatest single comic creation”.

Under the Banyan Tree

`Under the Banyan Tree` is a collection of 28 short stories.

The character from the title story
`Nambi` is a unique character created by Narayan.
The English Teacher

The English Teacher is the third of the trilogy that began with Swami and Friends, and The Bachelor
of Arts.
The English Teacher is the tale of love; the saga of ceaseless passion of loving someone so very
dearly. The male protagonist at the beginning of the story is seen working as an English teacher in
the same school where he was once studying. The story deals with his life, love, happiness and
sadness.
The English teacher as an eternal saga of ceaseless love.
R.K.Narayan dedicates this book to his wife Rajam.
It is an autobiographical story.
Krishnan is the central character.

The story is a series of experiences in Krishnan`s life. These includes some joyful, and also some
sorrowful. The hero in this story was in complete love with his wife and after her death he plunged
into a period of `darkness` and was subsequently obsessed by the thought of communicating with
her. Krishnan undertakes an emotional, intellectual, and spiritual journey during the course of the
novel. At the beginning of the story he works as an English teacher in the same school where he was
once studying. While at the end he resigns from his post and begins work at a nursery school. His
life becomes unpredictable and it happens not as a result of any grand plan or ambition, but as a
result of his response to a series of challenging circumstances.
It narrates Narayan`s own happy days with his wife Rajam, who died because of typhoid just after
five years of their happily married life.
The Vendor of Sweets
The story illustrates the conflicts between two generations of father and son.
Jagan, the vendor of sweets and the central character
Mali, Jagan’s son
Narasimha, Jagan’s cousin
It is the story of a merchant, Jagan, who at the age of 60 still feels young at heart and makes good
punitha
profit out of his sweet shop. Jagan is depicted as the vendor of sweets in this story. Some waves
come to his life when his son, Mali, returns from America with his Korean wife. Jagan tries to cope
with the situation even with his conventional thoughts but finally fails to do so because of his son`s
nature.
Jagan starts feeling irritated all the time because of his son`s activity. But subsequently Jagan
develops affection for his foreigner daughter- in-law. He notices that Mali, his son, is not paying full
attention to his wife. Jagan gets scared as he did the same mistake with Mali`s mother because of his
involvement in freedom struggle movement. Jagan tries to talk to Mali but he denies. Mali needs
some money for his business but Jagan refused to lend him. As a result some friction takes place
and Jagan starts living isolated in his own family. The story turns to an ending point when Jagan
develops some urge to leave the worldly affairs and do some religious work. At that very moment
he is informed that Mali is in police custody and also has left his wife. Jagan gets shuttered. He
refuses to help his son but instructs Narsimha to help Mali`s wife to return to her homeland.
Talkative Man

Talkative Man is a local journalist in Narayan`s fictional town of Malgudi.

The central character in this story is the talkative man. Another important character is Dr. Rann
who comes to the village with some wicked thoughts. But he could not succeed in his plans as he
was caught by the talkative man. The story flows in a logical manner, which aptly echoes the
meaning of
the title with the nature of the protagonist.
He meets an intended doctor from the land Timbuktoo who has supposedly come to the town on a
mission for the United Nations. The talkative man has no real job and no visible means of support,
but is a dashing dresser and elegant man.
As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that he is a womanizing predator who seduces young women
and then abandons them without warning. The climax comes when Talkative Man attempts to
prevent the doctor from seducing a young Malgudi woman whom Talkative Man has known since
birth.
The Reluctant Guru:-

An autobiographical essay.
This is an effort of unveiling the true face of India to the people who thinks that India is only the
land of snake charmers and black magic.
The author himself becomes the Guru who visits and professes people.
The Painter of Signs

Published in 1976.
Raman is a sign painter in Malgudi
The Painter of Signs is the story of Raman and daisy. Raman is the painter and Daisy the female
activist who employs Raman to paint the different signs and symbols in regard to family planning.
Raman becomes infatuated with Daisy. Their relationship gets destroyed by some
misunderstanding and creates a hopeless tension. Finally, he returns to his own business life as a
minor artist that he was before, a painter of signs.
The novel deals with the contradictory impulses of family planning.
The World of Nagaraj

Nagaraj is the protagonist

Written in the form of dialogue.
`The World of Nagaraj` is a portrait of Nagaraj and the people around him and through them of the
town of Malgudi.
The story revolves around Nagaraj. He is a rich aristocrat belonging to the wealthy Kabir Lane. He
enjoys his time at home, lecturing his wife Sita or seated on the pyol watching people move around
in the mystical town of Malgudi. In his free time he works for free doing the accounts for his friend
Coomar`s sari shop, he eats in his favorite cafe, he gossips with his neighbour the Talkative Man,
and he plans to write a book about the sage Narada. He is forever planning snappy responses or
forceful actions he never finds the courage to carry out He is unable to stand up even to his wife
Sita, his brother Gopu, or his nephew Tim. Not even when Tim`s wife Saroja`s harmonica playing
destroys the peace of his home. His plans to write about Narada never come to much, between his
own worthlessness and the uncooperativeness of the pundits he has to work with.
NAYANTARA SAHGAL
Nayantara Sahgal was born in 1927 and is an Indian writer in English. Her fiction deals with India's
elite responding to the crises engendered by political change. She was the first female Indo-Asian
writer to receive wide recognition. Her novels try to highlight the independent existence of women
and their efforts to thwart attempts to isolate them from the centre- stage of human existence.
Awards:

Sahitya Akademi Award in 1986

Commonwealth Writers Award in 1987

Works:

Her first book Prison and Chocolate Cake was published in 1954.
A Time to Be Happy - 1963.
This Time of Morning(1965)
Storm in Chandigarh (1969)
The Day in Shadow (1971)
"Indira Gandhi: Her Road to Power" (1982) and "A Situation in New Delhi" (1989) were her two
political writings.
Her two novels were published in the US- Mistaken Identity in 1988 and Rich Like Us in 1985.
NIRAD. C. CHAUDHURI
He devoted his life to study India's relationship with Britain. Chaudhuri gained critical acclaim and
was one of the most successful writers of Indian origin, in English. His remarkable Bengali prose
pieces were "Atmoghaati Bangali" (Suicidal Bengali) and “Bangali Jivone Ramani" (Women in
Bengali Life). His other famous literary works are Continent of Circe, Three Horsemen in the New
Apocalypse and Autobiography of an Unknown Indian (his own). "Thy Hand, Great Anarch" is his
autobiographical work.
His friend the editor, historian and novelist Khushwant Singh commented as "The wogs took the
bait and having read only dedication sent up howls of protest".
Awards:

Sahitya Akademi award in 1975

Works:
The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian – 1951
A Passage to England (1959)
The Continent of Circe (1965)
The Intellectual in India (1967)
To Live or Not to Live (1971)
Culture in the Vanity Bag (1976)
Clive of India (1975)
Hinduism: A Religion to Live by (1979)
Thy Hand, Great Anarch! is an autobiographical sequel to The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian
Three Horsemen of the New Apocalypse (1997)
OMPRAKASH VALMIKI
He is a prominent figure among Hindi Dalit writers. He is a forerunner among the writers who laid
the foundation for Dalit literature in Hindi. Among his many published works so far, Joothan: A
Dalit's Life, his autobiography has been the focus of critical appreciation and debate. He was born
on 30th June 1950 at Barla District, Muzaffarnagar, UP to a low class Dalit family. He was the only
person of his family
who had ever gone to school. The country had become independent, when in July 1956 his father
put him in the village primary school. Those were the times when Dalit children were not allowed
to study in schools. He could remember all those teachers of his school who never addressed him by
name, but by his caste.
Joothan: A Dalit’s Life (1997)

It is an autobiographical account of Omprakash Valmiki's life as a Dalit.

Joothan: A Dalit's Life by Omprakash Valmiki is one such work of Dalit literature first published in
Hindi in 1997 and translated into English by Arun Prabha Mukherjee in 2003.
It begins by a detailed description of the poor living surroundings of the Chuhra community, where
poverty reigns supreme.
RABINDRANATH TAGORE
Rabindranath Tagore was an icon of Indian culture. He was a poet, philosopher, musician, writer,
and educationist. Rabindranath Tagore became the first Asian to become Nobel laureate when he
won Nobel Prize (1913) for his collection of poems, Gitanjali: Song Offerings (1912). He was
popularly called as Gurudev. Tagore wrote eight novels and four novellas.
Works:

Chitra is a one act play

The Home and the World - 1916

Originally written as Ghore Baire

The story The Home and the World is set at the background of the partition time of 1947.
Main Characters: Nikhil, Bimala, his wife, and Sandeep
Nikhil lives a happy life with his wife Bimala till the time his friend Sandip appeared. Nikhil was
definitely devoted to his wife and he tried hard to educate her and enable her to discover herself
not in the confinements of the four walls of the house but in the big wide world outside. Nikhil`s
friend Sandip is a revolutionist. He easily attracts the innocent and unsuspecting Bimala, creating a
love triangle as a whole. Although Nikhil figures out what is happening, he doesn`t reveal this his
wife. He is mature enough to do that and thus grants Bimala freedom to grow and choose what she
wants in her life. They had an arranged marriage and a huge age difference between them.
Meanwhile Bimala experiences the emotions of love for the first time in a manner which helps her
understand that it is indeed her husband Nikhil who really loves her. The novel ends with Sandeep
running away like a common thief after the communal seeds that he had sown in the once peaceful
community results in a bloody riot. Bimala loses both her home and the world as Nikhil almost dies
trying to quell the riot.
RAJA RAO:
Raja Rao was born on November 8, 1908 in Hassan, in the state of Mysore in Karnataka.
Works:

Kanthapura (1938 The Serpent and the Rope (1960 The Cat and Shakespeare (1965) Comrade
Kirillov (1976)
The Chessmaster and His Moves – 1988

Kanthapura 1938

Deals with Civil Disobedience Movement

Achakka narrates the whole story.
The story is narrated in the form of
“ Sthalapurana”
Kanthapura is a traditional Caste ridden Indian Village. The village is believed to be protected by a
local deity ‘ Kenchamma’.
Moorthy is the main character in the story
“(irakata”, a traditional form of storytelling was practiced in the village.
Hari Katha man, Jayaramachar, narrated a Hari katha based on Gandhi and his ideals.
Bade Khan, a police officer in the story
Skeffingston Coffee Estate is in this story.
Moorthy was arrested and women of Kanthapura took charge of the struggle for freedom under the
leadership of Rangamma.
It is mentioned that people of the village were settled in Kashipur and Kanthapura was occupied by
the people from Bombay.
The Serpent and the Rope 1960

A semi auto-biographical story.

The story is about the relationship between Indian and Western culture.
Ramaswamy, a young Brahmin studying in France, is married to a French college teacher
Madeleine.
Madeleine becomes Buddist in her spiritual quest and renounces worldly desires after the death of
their son Pierre. She leaves her husband to find his own true self and also metaphysics of death.
Ramaswamy is described by his wife as “either a thousand years old or three” and “the wisdom of
ages”.
The Cat and Shakespeare

It a Metaphysical Comedy
The cat represents the Hindu concept of karma.
Ramakrishna Pai is the protagonist and narrator.
Govindan Nair and Ramakrishna Pai are the two major characters.
Comrade Kirilov

The story depicts the Life and ideology of the protagonist Padmanabha Iyer.
Shows Rao’s interest in Marxism.
An Indian who ventured abroad when still young, Kirillov came to England in 1928 and settled
there. He is a seeker, and taken from the first by Marxism. Kirillov can excuse and justify the show-
trials, while at the same time denigrating Mahatma Gandhi and his efforts in India. The novella
covers the 1930s and 1940s, to Indian independence and beyond. As the narrator recognises,
Kirillov is torn between the Indian tradition that remains a part of him and the newfound ideology
that he has embraced. Indeed, even as he claims to be what amounts to the Soviet ideal, he sounds
like nothing
so much as the ascetics of his homeland. Kirillov eventually returns to India. At the end the author
offering a chunk of the diary of Kirillov`s wife, Irene, before the conclusion. It is the next generation,
Kirillov`s son Kamal, that is then the focus at the end, the author giving up on Kirillov. Kamal, soon
immersed in his past, offers hope for the future, while Kirillov is lost down this path he cannot
escape from, obsessed like the religious fanatic.
The Chessmaster and His Moves – 1988

Contains three books

In this novel Rao used the metaphor of the chess game to animate philosophical and psychological
ideas.
The Chess master is the story of an impossible love between Sivarama Sastri, an Indian
mathematician working in Paris, and a married woman. The story is full of uncertainty with no
ending and can only end in sorrow and desperation. To come to terms with its impossibility, the
protagonists turn inward in their search for answer and meaning, transforming the book into a
metaphysical exploration. Amidst this search they get involved in various search big or small.
Sastri`s love for the French actress, Suzanne Chantereux, or her beguiling, effervescent compatriot
Mireille, for instance, serves to underline the differences between the East and West; while the
latter seeks happiness in the world, Sastri is looking for freedom from the world itself.
RAJ KAMAL JHA
Raj Kamal Jha was born in 1966 in Calcutta, India.
Awards:

He won Commonwealth Writers` Prize for his The Blue Bedspread in 2000
Works:

The Blue Bedspread – 2000

If You Are Afraid of Heights - 2003
Fireproof - 2006
RAMACHANDRA GUHA
Ramachandra Guha is a prominent Indian writer who has written on different topics such as social,
political, historical, and environmental, also on the history of cricket. Besides this, he is a well-
known columnist who writes for The Telegraph, The Hindu and The Hindustan Times and is also an
Indian historian.
RAMA MEHTA
Rama Mehta, one of the prominent Indian women writers in English. She is well known for her
novel Inside the Haveli.
Rama Mehta won the Sahitya Academy Award for her novel Inside the Haveli.

Inside the Haveli - 1977

Geeta is a female protagonist of the novel. She was born and brought up in Bombay.
Ajay, Geeta’s husband , supports her
efforts
Inside the Haveli depicts the story of Geeta caught in a conflict between tradition and momernity.
At the beginning of the novel Geeta is not willing to accept the culture of the haveli. In the due
course of the time she gets attached with her family members but she cannot accept the purdah
system. Her mind changes and she thinks about the proposal of Vir Singh. Though she cannot
change the purdah system she gets success in bringing reformation in the haveli by educating Sita
and maid servants in the haveli. Thus the novel focuses on the themes of Geeta’s surrender and
compromise.
Haveli stands for tradition and convention. The winds of modernity blow into Haveli, when Geetha
gets married to Ajay, the only heir of a tradition bound family. In the beginning, Geetha was tossed
between the two opposing forces of tradition and modernity. She is fascinated by the grand and
gorgeous life styles followed inside the haveli.
Geetha finds the atmosphere of Haveli oppressive and suffocating not only because of the rigid
enforcement of customs and conventions but also because of the overwhelming love and protective
care and patronage of the patriarchs of Haveli. The concept of purdah was unknown to her before
marriage. But after marriage, she is forced to wear purdah and keep her face covered always, even
when there are no men in the vicinity of Haveli.
Geetha, in spite of being educated, has no identity of her own in the world of veiled women. She is
almost hidden and invisible within

punitha
the purdah. Most of the time, she struggles hard to breathe inside the purdah and feels like lifting it.
Education is the first strategic weapon that Geetha takes up for improving the plight of women n in
the havelies.
She takes over the voice of tradition by the end. Geeta changes tradition and her vision as well.
RAMANUJAN A K
Attipat Krishnaswami Ramanujan was born in 1929 in Mysore in the Indian state of Karnataka. He
was born to a Tamil family. He came to the U.S in 1959 where he remained until his death in July 13,
1993. He received his BA in English Literature and MA in literature from University of Mysore.
In his cultural essay "Is There an Indian Way of Thinking?" he established the notion "context-
sensitive" as opposed to "context-free". These are the terms from linguistics. To him "context-
sensitive" is an appropriate term of other`s view and reaction towards inconsistency, hypocrisy,
tolerance and mimicry of Indian tendency. In the context he cites the example of Said`s Orientalism.
"Context-free thinking" while gives rise to universal testaments of law such as in the Judeo-
Christian tradition, `context-sensitive` thinking on the other hand gives rise to more complicated
sets of standards such as the laws of `Manu`.
Works:

Speaking of Siva, 1973

Hymns for the Drowning, 1981
Poems of Love 1985
Folktales from India, Oral Tales from

Twenty Indian Languages, 1991

"Is There an Indian Way of Thinking 1990
A Flowering Tree and Other Oral Tales from India, 1997
The Striders – 1966

ROHINTON MISTRY
Rohinton Mistry is a famous Canadian writer with roots in India. He was born in Bombay. Rushdie
puts in; Rohinton Mistry is a "writer from elsewhere". He always advocates for the independence of
the women.
Works:

His short-story collection, “Tales from Firozsha Baag”, was first published in Canada in 1987
Such a Long Journey (1991) –
Commonwealth Writers Prize
A Fine Balance (1996)
Family Matters (2002)
Such a Long Journey and A Fine Balance were both short-listed in previous years for the Booker
Prize for Fiction, and Family Matters was short listed for the 2002 Man Booker Prize for Fiction.
Tales from Ferozshah Baag: -

The Tales from Faerozshah Baag is the story of the lifestyles of the inhabitants living in the
apartment named Ferozshah Baag.
Such a Long Journey: 1991
Historical fiction
Shortlisted for Booker Prize for Fiction in 1991
Characters: The central character of the novel is very hard-working bank clerk named Gustad
Noble.
He has Dilnavaz, his wife and three children in his family. His eldest son is Sohrab and the youngest
daughter is Roshan.
Dinshawji, Gustad’s close friend and
co-worker
The novel is set in 1971 during the time of the Indian Pakistan war. Gustad Noble is a bank clerk
and a family man, a vulnerable figure whose world is still haunted by the war with China in 1962.
The fate of Gustad`s family is closely bound up with that of the subcontinent during a time of crisis
and turmoil. The clerk`s daughter`s illness and his son`s refusal to go to college, are events that we
are encouraged to read symptomatically in Such a Long Journey. When Gustad receives a parcel and
a request to launder money for an old friend, the event`s ramifications are at once personal and
political. Throughout the novel, the wall outside Gustad`s apartment building symbolizes the larger
world of Bombay and parallels some aspects of Gustad`s own life. At the outset, it is used as a
latrine, breeding illness in the neighborhood. Gustad tries something to come out of this problem.
He persuades a sidewalk artist to paint it, and consequently he depicts scenes from all the religions
of India. In this way the wall becomes a holy place. Eventually the government decides to widen the
road and tear it down.
A Fine Balance: 1996

Historical` fiction
Shortlisted for Booker Prize for Fiction in 1996
The novel tells the story of four characters (Maneck, Dina, Ishvar and Omprakash) and the impact of
Indira Gandhi`s state of emergency on them.

Family Matters" (2002)

Shortlisted for Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 2002

Tells the story of an elderly Parsi widower living in Bombay with his step-children.
At the centre of the book is an old man, a Parsi with Parkinson`s Disease. Nariman Vakeel is a
retired academic whose illness places renewed strains on family relations.
Nariman, an English professor, compares himself to King Lear at one point
`Chateau Felicity` (Nariman`s former residence)
`Pleasant villa`(where he is forced to move by his scheming step daughter)
RUSKIN BOND
The Room on the Roof was written by him when he was seventeen years old.
RUTH PRAWER JHABVALA
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Born on 7th May, 1927, is a winner of the prestigious Booker prize. This
Anglo-Indian writer was born in Cologne, Germany. She enjoyed reading the works of Dickens. This
writer is very popular for her insightful and witty portrayals of the lives of the people of
contemporary Indian societies. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala started writing novels during the 1950`s
while she was staying in India.
Awards:

She won the Booker Prize, which is the most esteemed literary award, for her novel Heat and Dust
in the year 1975.
Works:

To Whom She Will (1955)

The Nature of Passion (1956)
Esmond in India (1958)
The Householder (1960),
Get Ready for Battle (1962)
Like Birds, Like Fishes (1963)
A Backward Place (1965)
A Stronger Climate (1968)
A New Dominion (1972)
Heat and Dust (1975)
An Experience of India (1971)
How I Became a Holy Mother and other stories (1976)
In Search of Love and Beauty (1983)
Out of India (1986)
Three Continents (1987)
Poet and Dancer (1993)
Shards of Memory (1995)
East into Upper East: Plain Tales from New York and New Delhi (1998)
My Nine Lives (2004)

SALMAN RUSHDIE
Salman Rushdie is one of the most famous Indian origin authors. He is best known for the violent
backlash his book The Satanic Verses (1988) provoked in the Muslim community. Iranian spiritual
leader Ayatollah Khomenei issued a fatwa against Salman Rushdie, calling for his assassination,
forcing Rushdie to go underground.
Works:

His first novel, Grimus, was published in 1975.

His second novel, the acclaimed Midnight`s Children, was published in 1981. It won the Booker
Prize for Fiction and in 1993; it won “Booker of Bookers” for the best novel for Fiction in the
awards 25th history.
His third novel, Shame (1983), was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction.
The publication in 1988 of his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses, leads to accusations of blasphemy
against Islam and demonstrations by Islamist groups in India and Pakistan.
Grimus - 1975

Science fiction
The story takes place in Axona in India.
The story follows Flapping Eagle, a young Indian who receives the gift of immortality after drinking
a magic fluid.
His mother died just after some seconds he was born and as a result he was outcasted. He is not
easily accepted, by the society. His sister "Bird Dog” protected him and presented him with the
elixir of eternal life and after that she disappears mysteriously from the land of the Axona.
Flapping Eagle is then exiled from his people, and wanders the world for centuries. Flapping Eagle
wanders the earth for 777 years 7 months and 7 days, searching for his immortal sister, Bird Dog.
Flapping Eagle explores identities till he falls through the hole in the Mediterranean Sea. He arrives
in a parallel dimension at the mystical Calf Island. Here he finds people blessed with immortality
yet bored with the sameness of life. However they are reluctant to give up their immortality and
exist in a static community under a subtle and sinister authority. Flapping Eagle is tired with the
mundane reality of immortality hence wants to get rid of the Grimus effect.
Midnight`s Children

The novel narrates key events in the history of India through the story of pickle-factory worker
Saleem Sinai, one of 1001 children born as India won independence from Britain in 1947.
SHASHI DESHPANDE
Shashi Deshpande is a well known name in the field of Indian literature. She was born in Dharwad
in Karnataka as the daughter of the renowned Kannada dramatist as well as a great Sanskrit scholar
Sriranga. She pursued her education in Dharwad, Bombay and Bangalore. Her novels are mainly
based on women lives and their problems perticularly in the Indian context.

Her stories were published in magazines like "Femina", "Eve's Weekly", etc. "Legacy" her first
collection of short stories was published in 1978, followed by her first novel, "The Dark (olds No
Terrors” in 1980. She is a winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award for the novel, "That Long Silence."
In 1996 her famous novel A Matter of Time was published and this is her first work to be published
in USA. The The Binding Vine was published in 2002.

Works:

The Dark holds no Terror-1980 If I Die Today – 1982

Come Up and Be Dead – 1983

Roots and Shadows – 1983 That Long Silence – 1989 The Matter of time – 1996 The Binding Vine –
2002 Small Remedies – 200 Moving On-2004
In the Country of Deceit – 2008
Shadow Play – 2013

Come Up and Be Dead

The story deals with the suicide of a school girl in an exclusive school. The Head Mistress is unable
to deal with the situation and specially when it is followed by rumors pointing at her brother. Two
more deaths follow, making the school a place of fear and suspicion. After an attempted murder,
Devayani, the Head Mistress cousin and housekeeper, glimpses a conspiracy behind it all. The story
is full of suspense with lots of variety in thoughts.
The Dark Holds No Terrors

The Dark Holds No Terror” has been translated into German and Russian languages.
Shashi Deshpande narrates the story in the flash back technique sequence.
Sarita is the central character.
Sarita is a successful doctor during the daytime; and at might a terrified and trapped animal in the
hands of her husband, Manohar who is an English teacher in a small college.
The central character of the story wanted to come out of the patriarchical society. The darkness, the
nothingness, the blackness therefore is no more a terror to the protagonist as she tries desperately
to find herself.
This is a story of a girl finding her inner self. Long time back, Sarita still remembers her mother`s
bitter words uttered when as a little girl she was unable to save her younger brother from punitha
drowning. Now, her mother is dead and Sarita returns to the family home, seemingly to take care of
her father. But as a matter of fact she wants to escape the nightmarish brutality her husband
imposes on her every night. In the lull of her old father`s company, Sarita wants to forget all her
grief.
She explains how her husband turns cruel when he realizes his career is going nowhere and that his
wife has overtaken him professionally. In his case a sort of male chauvinism worked out. As she
struggles with her emotions and anxieties, Sarita gradually realizes that there is more to life than
dependency on marriage, parents and other such institutions. And subsequently she resolves to use
her newfound truths to make a better life for herself.

This novel rejects the traditional concept that the sole purpose of a wife’s existence is to please her
husband. )t reveals a woman’s capacity to asset her own rights and individuality and become fully
aware of her potential as a human being.

Sarita, in this novel very boldly confronts reality and realizes that the dark no long holds any terror
to her.

Roots and shadows

Roots and shadows has won the Thirumathi Rangamal prize for the best Indian novel of 1982-83.
Indu, the protagonist is caught up in a conflict between their family and professional roles, between
individual aspiration and social demands. Indu, the journalist, is torn between self—expression and
social stigmas

If I Die Today

It is a detective fiction.
The narrator is a young college lecturer who is married to a doctor. They live on the campus of a big
medical college and hospital. The story gets a twist on the arrival of Guru, a terminal cancer patient.
After his coming the lives of the doctors and their families get disturbed. Old secrets are revealed,
two people murdered, but the tensions in the families is resolved after the culprit is unmasked. One
of the memorable characters is Mriga, a 14-year-old girl. Her father, Dr. Kulkarni, appears modern
and westernized, yet he is seized by the Hindu desire for a son and heir, and never forgives Mriga
for not being a son. Her mother being a weak person never lives according to her own wish. She is a
sad, suppressed creature, too weak to give Mriga the support and love. And evantually Mriga grew
up without a well balanced brought up. The story again concentrates on the patriarchical society in
a very delicate way.
That Long Silence

Jaya, who lives with her husband Mohan and two children Rahul and Rati.
It is the story of Jaya, the housewife who is seen always engaged in searching her own identity.
The story entirely revolves around jaya her married life and her role as a dutiful wife. She plays the
role of an affectionate mother, dutiful to her in-laws and her relatives. It gives a simple enchanting
scenes solely expressed by the author. According to the author husbands don`t give attention to
wives

emotions, likes and dislikes. Throughout the story she is engaged in searching her identity as an
individual.
Small Remedies:

Published in 2000
Madhu is the protagonist
Madhu was a writer. She lost her son in Ayodhya Babri Masjid bombing in 1992. To be out from this
pain, she travels to a town to write about Savitribai, a woman who decided to live with her Muslim
husband. While writing about Savitribai and living in Bhavanipur, she searches for the true meaning
of her life.
SASTHIBRATA He is well known for his My God Died Young, an autobiography.
SHASHI THAROOR
Shashi Tharoor, born on 9th March 1956, is a writer, journalist, columnist, human rights advocate
and Indian politician. Shashi Tharoor’s books have been translated into French, German, Italian,
Malayalam, Marathi, Polish, Romanian, Russian and Spanish.
Awards:

His book The Great Indian Novel won the Commonwealth Writers` Prize for the Best Book of the
Year in 1991
Works:

Fiction

The Great Indian Novel (1989)

The Five Dollar Smile and Other Stories (1990)
Show Business (1992)
Riot (2001)
Non-fiction

Shadows Across the Playing Field: Sixty Years of India-Pakistan Cricket [with Shaharyar Khan]
(2009)
The Elephant, the Tiger and the Cell Phone: Reflections on India in the 21st Century (2007)
Bookless in Baghdad (2005)
Nehru: The Invention of India (2003)
India: From Midnight to the Millennium (1997)
Reasons of State (1982)
Reasons of State – 1982

This is a Political Development and also India`s Foreign Policy Under Indira Ghandi.
This book has the capability to bring tears in reader`s eyes when Nehru dies in the story.
The Great Indian Novel – 1989
A Satirical novel
Tharoor beautifully entwined the different characters of Mahabharata in the book by different
name, which befits present day politics.
"Mahabharata"(maha "great"; Bhar ata "India").
The novel has 18 "books," just as the Mahabharata has 18 books
Tharoor shows us that ‘everything old is new again’.
Ved Vyas is the narrator
This novel is a re-interpretation of the Mahabharata framed in India`s struggle for independence,
and the political consequence of colonization.
Show Business – 1992
It is a postmodern satirical novel
It is a fictional work that tells the story of Ashok Banjara, a Bollywood superstar. Ashok Banjara is
critically injured while shooting for a film and his entire life in Bollywood flashes in front of his eyes
as he lies suspended between life and death in a hospital.
A young Ashok Banjara leaves Delhi and comes to Bombay to make his fortune and find fame in
Bollywood. He achieves the big league with his second film Godambo that establishes him as
an action star. Soon Banjara is known for playing the role of an angry young man fighting for the
poor and the helpless against the establishment his very own. A successful Ashok Banjara marries
Maya, a talented co-star and convinces her to stay away from films for the sake of family. Banjara
makes a film, Mechanic. This film is Banjara's first flop.
Banjara agrees to work in a mythological film called Kalki. It is on the sets of Kalki that Banjara
meets his accident.
SHOBHA DE
Shobha De is a prolific writer born in Maharashtra and brought up in Mumbai, India. She is a
columnist and novelist. She began her career as a journalist. She took psychology subject in her
graduation course, which has helped her a lot when she started her career in writing. She is known
as “Jackie Collins of India”
Works:
Socialite Evenings -1989
Starry Nights-1989
Sisters – 1992
Shooting from the Hip – 1994
Small Betrayals – 1995
Second Thoghts – 1996
Surviving Men – 1998
Speedpost – 1999
Spouse- The Truth about Marriage
Sandhya’s Secret – 2009
Shetji – 2012
Shobhaa : Never a Dull De – 2013
Small Betrayals – 2014
Socialite Evenings:

The story is set at the backdrop of Mumbai high society.

This is all about the lives of bored housewives of rich families whose husbands remain busy with
their work and wives choose the option of extra marital affair. Their husbands are often seeing their
wives as matter of respectability rather than their life partners.
Karuna, the central character of this story is bored with her life with husband and now she want to
get rid of her boredom by writing a memoir. Her memoirs become successful and she achieves a lot
of fame and pride in her new venture. She become a socialite and uses this prominence to get a job
of advertising copywriter or a creator of a television channel.
Anjali is Karuna’s friend

Starry nights:

Published in 1991
The novel portrays the story of Aasha Rani and Akshay that is based
on a real life love story of two pairs of film stars.
This is the story of a high-class society.
Portrays the dark corners of Hindi film Industry.
The central character in starry nights is Asha rani.
Akhshay Arora is Asha Rani’s lover
and abandons her after
Sasha is the daughter of Asha Rani whom she brings back to India to from New Zealand make her a
prosperous film Star.
Asha Rani is a dark sweet girl from Chennai. She tries hard to become a film star. Her mother
(amma) prompts her to be in the film world. When she was fifteen years she has to sleep with
Kishen bhai, one film producer to get the chance in film. He sponsors one film for her and also helps
her to get the appropriate persons to get the roles. In the process Kishenbhai falls in love with Asha
Rani but it is too late as she already gets engaged with Akhshay Arora who is a famous bollywood
star rather sex symbol. Asha Rani sends her mother back to Chennai. In later days Akshay gets
bored with Asha and as he was married returns back to his wife. The worst part is the actor reveals
in one of the leading magazine that Asha is a pornographic actress and he doesn`t want to do any
role with her. Eventually she gets attached to Sheth Amirchand, a Member of Parliament and starts
working under his control. After some days she goes to Chennai to do an art film. But her love for
Akshay is still there so she tries to rekindle it. But gets frustrated after knowing that his love for her
is only because of her high status. She attempts suicide but failed to do so. In the process she
marries a New Zealander named Jay and has a child with him. Eventually Akshay gets AIDS because
of his lifestyle. Asha returned to New Zealand and finally after many incidents decides to come back
to India and make Sasha, Asha Rani`s daughter a prospering film star.
Sisters:

The story is about the two sisters Alisha and Mallika.

They are the daughters of big time businessman Hiralal who dies at the beginning of the story. Out
of the two sisters one is legitimate and the other one is illegitimate.
The story revolves around the bad world of business in Bombay.
The story is full of suspense in some parts.
Second Thoughts:

Maya is the central character.

Maya is eager to escape her dull, middle class home in Calcutta for Mumbai.
She moves to Mumbai after marriage to Ranjan.
Maya wanted to be an ideal wife but, she discovers that she has been trapped herself.
She experiences loneliness in Mumbai.
She strikes up a friendship with Nikhil, leading to love and betrayal.

TORU DUTT
Toru Dutt was one of the greatest writers of English Literature. She was a poet, novelist, translator
and what not. Though she died at a very young age of twenty-one, she had left behind an immense
collection of prose and poetry. Toru Dutt was born on 4 March 1856 in the prosperous and
cultured Hindu family of the Dattas of Rambagan, Calcutta. Toru translated some sonnets of
deCramont and regarded him as one of the best of modern French poets.
Works:

Her poems include Ancient Ballads and other Legends of Hindustan, Baugmaree, France, The Lotus,
The Tree of Life, and Our Casurina Tree.
Her last poem" AMon Pere" is praised worldwide and is considered "faultless".
VIJAY TENDULKAR
Vijay Tendulkar made his place as a Marathi writer. Vijay Tendulkar is the most prolific and
controversial dramatist among the Post-Independence Indian playwrights. Vijay Tendulkar, one of
)ndia’s most influential playwrights, was born on 1928. His prolific writing over a period of five
decades includes thirty full-length plays, twenty-three one act plays, eleven children’s dramas, four
collections of short stories, two novels and five volumes of literary essays and social criticism.
Tendulkar stated his dramatic career with his well-known play Silence! The Court is in Session
(1967).
Arundhati Benerjee attributes, “Vijay Tendulkar has been in the vanguard of not just Marathi but
Indian theatre almost forty years”.

Works:

Silence! Court is in the Session (1967) Ghashiram Kotwal (1972)

“Sakharam Binder” (1972). (is Fifth Woman” (1972) The Vultures (1970)
Kamala (1981)
Kanyadan (1983) Encounter in Umbugland A Friend’s Story’ (2001) “The Cyclist” (2002)

Silence! Court is in the Session (1967)

Tendulkar, who acquired the epithet of “the Angry Youngman” of the Marathi theatre, has
expressed his annoyance with and raised his raucous voice against the established norms of the
society in Silence! The Court is in Session by depicting Leela Benare, the protagonist, as a challenge
to the executors or power in absentia, who aggressively transgresses the sexual norms of her
community. In the play, which consists of the play within play portraying a cross-section of middle
class society, Leela Benare, the protagonist, lives an independent life on her own will ignoring social
taboos. In the mock-trial the co- actors deftly reveals her illicit relationship with Professor Damle, a
married man having five children, especially the fact that Miss Benare carries his child. Professor
Damle remains absence during trial which signifies his shrinking of responsibility. Ironically
enough, the trial begins with the charges of infanticide laid on Miss Benare for society is not
prepared to accept a child born out of wedlock. Consequently, this pregnancy has to be aborted.
Tendulkar alludes to the existing hypocrisy when later Damle appears as a mere witness while
Leela Benare delivers a long speech in self-defense. Sukhtme, a lawyer, underlines Benare’s crime
by proclaiming the sanctity of motherhood. Benare’s speech of self-defense highlights that she, in
her prime of youth, had fallen in love with her maternal uncle, but her love could not result in a
marriage with him because it was against social norms.

As a woman craving for love, she diverted her love on another man who taking the advantage of her
emotional requirement abused her body and then deserted her. The ultimate verdict, which is very
heart rendering as it upholds power of society against the of motherhood, presents Leela Benare
pleading for the little bud within her to blossom, to have a mother, a father, and a good name, but
the society thwarts motherhood for the sake of its control over human life.
Sakharam Binder – 1972

The dramatist sheds ample light on Physical lust and Violence in a human being. Sakharam born in
a Brahmin family appears almost like ruffian who does not believe in refinement and sophistication
of personal relationship. He neglects his parents. He is not a married man but gives shelter to
helpless women who are either tortured by their husbands or turned out of their homes or simply
deserted by their husbands. It is a contract marriage, the contract ended by mutual consent. When
the play opens, he has already kept six women, Laxmi being the seventh one. As a male member of
society exercising power over these women, he never failed to remind them that they were
weaklings. It shows his straight forwardness. He has his own concept of morality which is against to
the established social norms. Portrayed as an ideal woman, Laxmi is loyal, docile, hard- working,
religious self-effacing and tender- hearted. At the same time, she fights tooth and nail for survival
when she finds Champa securing her position in Sakharam’s house, tactfully persuading Champa
to accommodate her in the same house in spite of Sakharam’s opposition to her presence. Being
confident her physical charms, Champa
least suspects that Laxmi will snatch Sakharam from her. Later, Sakharam exhibits his power over
Champa by killing her when he learns that she has been unfaithful to him. Champa has secret
associations with Dawood. This wounds the ego of Sakharam and so kills Champa. The play is
admirablefor its realism as Tendulkar exposed the bare realities of backward lower strata of
society.

Ghashiram Kotwal (1972)

Ghasiram, the protagonist of the play is a Brahmin from Kanauj.

Based on the themes of power and violence, Ghashiram Kotwal (1972), set in Poona of the Peshwas,
uses history to highlight the perpetuation of the conflict between power and violence. The
relationship between power and corruption, and power breeding oppression leading to the mocker
of law constitute the crux of the play. He bitterly criticizes those people who use their power to
achieve their selfish end. The representative of the Peshwa in Poona, Nana Phadnavis appoints
Ghashiram as a Kotwal of the city not on merit but because he helps Nana to find out his young and
beautiful daughter, Gauri, who manages to escape from her father trying to molest her. Reminding
Ghashiram of his subordinate position, Nana instructs him to keep his voice silence about the death
of his pregnant daughter. Finally, Nana orders Ghashiram’s death warrant as well.

The Vultures (1972)

It was published in 1971.

The play is focussed round the unorganised family of Hari Pitale
who cheats his own brother in business.
His sons Ramakant and Umakant and daughter Manik are greedy, ego-centric, cruel and wayward.
They have no morality of family and personal relationship. They even make conspiracy to kill each
other. Hari Pitale realizes that his family is no better than the vultures.
The play has the theme of sex, violence and sensationalism. The play depicts the avarice of
Ramakant and Umakant, the gross sensuality of their sister Manik, and the devilish nature of her
father. The intrinsic evil inherent in human nature is witnessed when the father is beaten up by his
two sons for mere sake of material gain, in the forcible abortion of Manik’s child, and in the
repeated attempt in creating hatred in the family. Ramakant and Umakant are as cruel as vultures.
Kamala (1981)

It was inspired by a real life incident-the Indian Express expose by Ashwin Sarin, who actually
bought a girl from the market of rural area and presented at a press conference.
It depicts the theme of subaltern subjectivity and resistance throwing light on the plight of a woman
as a slave in the family. The play delineates women as objects of commodity which can be
purchased, bartered and sold. Jaisingh Jadhav, a young journalist working as an associate editor in
English language daily, buys a woman named Kamala for Rs 250 in Luhardagga Bazaar in Bihar in
order to expose this racket. In spite of severe resistance from Sarita, his wife; Jain, his friend who
mocks his idea of purchasing a woman dubbing marriage itself as an act of buying as it enslaves a
woman; and Kaka Saheb, his uncle, Jai singh resolves that Kamala would stay in the house for
destitute women. At a night, a brief conversation between Kamala and Sarita develops a better
understanding between them and she becomes aware of her position in the family. Sarita arranges
a press conference to tell everyone about the predicament of women in the contemporary Indian
society. She confesses Kamala’s help to comprehend the master-slave relationship. A determination
to live on her own comes to her and any argument put forward by Kakasaheb fails to repress her
fury against male domination. Sarita emerges a woman who fights against her exploitation though
the right of equality is denied to her. The influence of state power also finds place in the play. When
Jaisingh Jadav becomes famous for his write-up on the plight of Adivasi, he is intimatedthat the
chief editor has dismissed him for the sake of the wishes of some state minister holding portfolio of
significance. Thus, Tendulkar has shed light on the conflict between power and violence in different
walks of life and also highlighted the exercise of power and violence on women.

Kanyadan (1983)

It depicts the life of a Dalit boy who marries a girl from the higher section of society.
Jyothi, a young woman, is the principal character in this play. She is the daughter of NathDevalkar
and Seva. They belong to urban middle class Brahmin family. Nath is an MLA and Seva, who is a
social
worker, is alwaysbusy in social service. Jyothi has one brother who is studying Msc. Jyothi takes a
decision to marry ArunAthavale, a Dalith young man who writes poetry. She has met him in the
socialists’ study group.(e is poor but eloquent. Jyothi informs her parents and brother that she has
decided to marry Arun. Her father agrees at once because his dream is casteless society and for
that he has been working. Seva is shocked. Seva speaks about possible consequences. Jyoti
dismisses her mother’s fears by saying that she can manage. Seva’ character proves that inspite of
modern thoughts she thinks like a traditional mother who takes caste, background, attitude,
character, economical position of the bridegroom. Seva and her son oppose at first but they also
agree for the marriage. Jyoti gets married to Arun. But later Arun comes home every night taking
alcohol and beats Jyothi as illiterates do in the backward society. Unable to bear this torture Jyothi
comes her maternal home from Arun not to return to him.
It deals with the theme of social upliftment underlining the chaotic consequences of disturbing the
existing social equations. Jyoti, a girl from upper section of society, decides to marry a dalit boy,
Arun Jathawali in spite of Jaiprakash, her brother and her mother, Seva’s resistances but he proves
to be a violent husband. Jyoti’s father, Devalikar is a man of progressive ideas as he has no grin
against Jyoti’s idea of marrying a dalit boy. When Jyoti being feeble to adjust with her husband,
comes back to her maternal home, Seva is stunned but he considers it as an individual’s choice.
Jyoti’s futile attempts to bridge the gap between two communities teaches her that the gap is
natural and everlasting and attempts on the part of human beings to disturb nature results in great
disaster. But after some times, Arun realizes his mistake and goes to Jyoti begging to come back to
his home and chopped off his hand. Being asked by Seva the reason behind beating Jyoti, he tells
that he has looked his father beating his mother since childhood. Jyoti knowing all those tries to act
her free will failing to understand the consequences. These words change Jyoti and she goes back
with Arun. Thus Arun misuses power to exhibit violence.

Encounter in Umbugland
It is a ‘Political Allegory’ was
produced in 1974.
The play opens with celebrations organised on the 60th anniversary of the coronation of King
Vichitravirya. On
the occasion the king delivers a speech expressing concern about his successor to the throne. The
king prefers to become a hermit after surrendering power as he is old and has been advised rest.
The king died. After the death of the king, there was a political crisis in the state because there was
no consensus among the five ministers on the issue of the succession to the crown. Finally they
made a resolution to give the responsibility of the state to the Princess Vijaya who was week,
feeble and ignorant. They wanted to make her a puppet queen.
Princess Vijaya is very fond of her attendant Prannarayan, an eunch. She appoints him as her
chief advisor. From him, she has learnt the ways and tricks of politics. Instead of being a puppet in
the hands of ministers, she made a
direct interaction with people. This attempt of Vijaya created confusion and discontent among the
ministers because it increased her reputation in the public. Cabinet ministers tried to arrange a
rebellion against her but they have no guts. Eventually, the ministers comprehend that she is “a
born dictator”, thereby surrounding meekly to her authority. The play ends with the grand
reception awaiting the queen due to the royal victory she scores over her cabinet ministers.
A Friend’s Story’ (2001)
Mitra is the central character of the play.
She is endowed with masculine personality. She is the victim of physical hormonal imbalance. As
she grows, she realizes that she is different from others. It bringsstubbornness in her personality
and she develops a rebellious attitude towards the conventions of society. She develops friendship
with Bapu and it brings consolation in her life. Bapu is attracted by her boldness but he fails to
stir her feminity. She becomes homosexual and develops infatuation for Nama, another girl. Nama’s
attraction becomes a passion in her life and in spite of all the warnings of Bapu, she fails to resist
herself. Nama was frightened of the power of Mitra exerted over her and surrendered to her
overtures easily. Bapu too, was forced to allow them to use his room. Nama tried her best to get out
of this intricate affair.When Nama’s marriage was arranged with somebody in Calcutta, Mitra’s rage
was beyond control. She travelled to Calcutta where shewas failing to meet Nama, she committed
suicide.
His Fifth Woman (1972)
This is the only play by the author that is written originally in English.
)t is a prequel to Tendulkar’s play “Sakharam Binder” that was published in 1972.
The man giving shelter to the destitute women is called Sakharam Binder, a man in his forties and
these helpless women are projected as the live-in mistresses of Sakharam who is a bachelor. The
title leaves sufficient scope of thought: four have preceded her and several may follow. The play
portrays two friends Sakharam and Dawood in conversation with each other sitting near the
mistress of one of them, fifth woman lying on her death bed, a destitute picked up from the streets.
Sakharam provides food and exploits her physically. Dawood, Sakharam’s friend has sympathetic
attitude towards destitute women and so he wants the proper burial to the mistress of Sakharam.
In this play Tendulkar tries to investigate the conditions that ‘flourish the life after death’. The
dramatist raises some relevant questions on the issue of morality and necessity of compassion
through the play. The message conveyed focusses on the fact that those claiming to uphold the
laws strictly are in reality the tyrannical hypocrites. Real justice results out of compassion and love
and not from hypocrisy, autocracy and selfishness. Sakharam is conscious of his responsibility
towards the patient and even towards the society. He becomes philosophical and expresses his
faith that all the accounts of human action are to be settled in the other world. The idea of
emotional modification and the justification of human existence after death make this play unique
in its own way. Its metaphysical structure echoes the vision of Tagore’s play “The King of Dark
Chambers”.

The Cyclist (2002)

Last play
The play analyses three journeys: an actual ‘global journey’ by the Protagonist, a ‘historical journey’
of the bicycle about its different phases of Manufacturer and a ‘psychic journey’ of the Cyclist
submerging into his sub-consciousness. The central character, an enthusiastic youth, sets off
on an itinerary around the world on his bicycle. Specific names of places and locations are kept
hidden, the idea conveyed being that the young man endeavours escaping from his present
location, liking forward to visiting distant lands, touring to exotic places enabling him to meet a
large number and a different variety of people en route. (ere the ‘Cycle’ symbolizes progress in spite
of the various obstacles encountered on the way.
Similarly, the cyclist wades through several difficult situations while travelling ahead compulsively
probing into human nature, discovering the extreme dehumanization that has set in. Hence the
journey is not merely physical but equally metaphysical in nature. The play exhales a breath of
existentialism with a positive inference that stoic stubbornness leads to success and that for a
determined person, life has no misery.
VIKAS SWARUP
He became famous by his debut novel, Q and A.
VIKRAM CHANDRA: Vikram Chandra was born in 1961 in New Delhi. The prominent author
completed most of his secondary education at Mayo College, a boarding school in Ajmer, Rajasthan.

Works: Red Earth and Pouring Rain is the first novel. A collection of short stories, Love and Longing
in Bombay (1997), his second book, consists of five long stories narrated by a retired Bombay civil
servant. It won the 1997 Commonwealth Writers Prize. His recent book is Sacred Games (2006).
Red Earth and Pouring Rain

The autobiography of James Skinner, a legendary nineteenth century Anglo-Indian soldier was the
inspiration for this novel.
It was published in 1995.
It won the 1996 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book
Sanjay is the main protagonist.
The main story revolves around the time from early colonial India to modern America.

Love and Longing in Bombay

It is a unique collection of five lengthy stories for which he won the Commonwealth Writers` Prize
for Best Book.
This novel is set against the backdrop of a smoky Bombay bar known as the Fisherman`s Rest. This
contains five stories that are narrated by Subramaniam who is a retired civil servant.

VIKRAM SETH
Vikram Seth was born on June 20, 1952 at Kolkata. His father, Prem, was an employee of the Bata
India Limited shoe company who migrated to post-Partition India from West Punjab in Pakistan.
Vikram Seth is better known as an Indian poet, novelist, travel writer, author, children`s writer,
biographer and also memoirist. He is often
compared with Salman Rushdie and Amitabh Ghosh.
Awards:

Sahitya Akademi Award for The Golden

Gate in 1988
Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall
Winner, Best Book) for A Suitable Boy In
1994
Padma Shri in Literature & Education
in 2007

Works:

The Golden Gate 1986

A Suitable Boy - 1993
An Equal Music - 1999
"Mappings" (1980) was Seth`s first volume of poetry
A Suitable Girl ( Upcoming 2016)
The Golden Gate: A Novel in Verse – 1986

A satirical romance
a novel in verse composed of 590 Onegin stanzas
It was inspired by Charles Johnston's translation of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin.
John Brown is the protagonist.
Set in San Francisco and is centred on the relationship of two professionals.

A Suitable Boy:

A Suitable Boy opens in 1952 with Mrs. Rupa Mehra’s words to her younger daughter Lata, on her
elder daughter’s (Savita’s) wedding day: “You too will marry a boy ) choose.”
Seth portrays the world culture, distilled out of his eclectic reading and moulded by his own
personality. A Suitable Boy (1993) created literary history with the book’s mammoth size and the
million copies sales – a story involving a widow’s search for a ‘suitable’ (in the )ndian context)
bridegroom for her daughter. It is a social novel, not an ‘)ndian’ novel in the sense that Seth does
not try to force his ethnicity on the reader. It chronicles a saga of four intergenerational and
interrelated families: the Mehras, the Chatterjis, the Kapoors and the Khans. It is the wedding of
Savita, the widowed Mrs.Rupa mehra’s elder daughter to Pran, a University lecturer and the son of
the State Revenue Minister, Mahesh Kapoor. The three other families are the members of the
anglicized Chatterji clan, the Khan family of the Nawab of Baitar. The plot centres round the
mothers search for a suitable boy for Lata. Rupa Mehra’s younger daughter Lata falls in love with a
handsome young Muslim student Kabir Duttani. Mrs. Rupa Mehra horrified by her daughter’s
rebellious art whisks her off to Calcutta to the home of her eldest born Arun Mehra who is married
to the daughter of a Bengali Judge, Meenakshi. Meenakshi’s brother Amit Chaterji falls in love with
Lata. Mrs. Rupa discovers Harish, a boy from Khan Caste working in a leather manufacturing
industry. Which of these three suitors will be the most suitable boy?. For Lata, marriage entails
stability and prosperity and she accepts Harish not at her mother’s behest or her brother’s but as an
independent decision.
The weddings of Lata and Savita are set in the Pul Mela, the raising of the Shiva-lingam. John Mee
analyses A Suitable Boy as a historical novel concerned with the transition of India from feudalism
to modernity.
Khuswant Singh hailed the novel by commenting, “) lived through that period and ) couldn’t find a
flaw. It really is an authentic picture of Nehru’s )ndia” (Qtd. in Wikipedia).
The novel is quasipolitical and quasi-biographical portraying historical and
political developments of the 1950s. The Mehras and the Kapoors represent the Hindu
middle classes of North. The Nawab of Baitar stands for feudal Muslim aristocracy, his two sons,
Firoz and Imitaz are lawyer and doctor respectively, their career marking the end of the feudal
structure. Haresh, a worker in the leather industry, considers his work as his religion and
disregards caste restrictions and he is the sign of modern ideas of economic progress.
The longest novel in English ever written having 1349 pages.
A sequel, to be called A Suitable Girl, is due for publication in 2016.
Set in Brahmpur, A Suitable Boy uses the taboo relationship between a boy and girl as a metonym
through which to explore the post- Independence conflict in India between Hindus and Muslims.
The novel centres on four families: the Kapoors, Mehras and Chatterjis (Hindus) and the Khans
(Muslim).

RUDHIA JUNCTION: It is a name of train stop in this novel. When Maan travelled in the train with
Rasheed to Rasheed’s native village of Debaria it was as if one was seeing the sights from the train
with one’s own eyes.
An Equal Music – 1999

An Equal Music which revolves around London and Vienna.

Michael
Holmes is the protagonist of An Equal Music and he is second violinist with the MaggioreQuartet.
The novel is based on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice that has haunted music lovers
through ages. Michael Holme, the narrator and main protagonist, is a violinist based in London. He
is in his late thirties and earns his income as the second violinist in the groups by teaching a
number of unwilling students. Ten years ago, as a student of the Swedish maestro Carl Kall at
Musikhochschule in Vienna, he was in love with a young pianist, Julia, the daughter of an Oxford
don and an Australian mother. It is well known that art and music are absorbed without effort or
explanation. They become lovers and together with a cellist, Maria, they set up a trio and perform
music. That time Michael is badly insulted by his professor’s apparent impatience with his style of
playing. Julia too supports the professor so betrayed by Julia, broken down physically, Michael flees
Vienna and Julia. He flies to London and lives like a fugitive. After two months, he enrolls himself in
music and manages to locate a recording of Beethoven: Opus 104 in a dusty drawer of a music shop
in London. While returning home, he looks up to find Julia sitting five feet away in another bus. His
impertinent cries do not reach Julia who is separated by twin sheets of window glass. Michael goes
off the bus chasing her in crowded streets in a taxi only to find her gone and he has left the precious
record in the cab. Once again, Julia makes her appearance at a concert by the Maggiore at Wigmore
Hall.
Towards the end, Michael learns to his immense shock that Julia has become deaf. She is acting
from auto immune disease that has affected her hearing. A musician going deaf in a novel about
music is a great idea. Seth weaves the novel in a realistic web of musicians, agents, critics, concert
halls, rehearsals, details about music and musical instruments. Love and music are the two
operating themes in the novel which run simultaneously and sometimes merge with each other,
yielding a perfect equilibrium. It is remarkable to note that Seth’s marvellous sense of place which
entails the ability to conjure up visual spaces through aural cues. London is represented by the
songs of robins in winter and blackbirds in summer. Vienna is conjured up by the sound of Vivaldi.
The description of London parks, Venice and Vienna convey the mercurial moods of love and of
music as is possible in words. The delicate love between Michael and Julia is bathed in the glow of
musical reference to Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Bach virtually all great musicians of music
because their love has their music which is a metaphor for their love. Seth reiterates his own
philosophy of family through music like string trio, quartet etc.
Romantic novel.
The book centres on two gifted musicians: Michael Holme and Julia McNicholl.
The beauty of the novel lies when this novel manages to convey music through language.
The plot concerns Michael, a professional violinist, who never forgot his love for Julia, a pianist he
met as a student in Vienna. They meet again after a decade, and conduct a secret affair, though she
is married and has one child. Their musical careers are affected by this affair and the knowledge
that Julia is going deaf.

UPAMANYU CHATTERJEE
Upamanyu Chatterjee, best remembered for his debut novel 'English, August: An Indian Story' is
one of the powerful and emerging voices amongst India's post colonial literary stalwarts. His novels
are written in a humorous style and are intended to go beyond the basic concept of comedy.

Works:

English, August: An Indian Story 1988)

The Last Burden’ (1993)
The Mammaries of the Welfare State (2000)
Weight Loss (2006)
Way to Go (2010)
The Mammaries of the Welfare State (2000) is a sequel to English, August: An Indian Story

English, August

Upamanyu Chatterjee problematises Agastya Sen’s alienation by making him an alienated hero.
Agastya Sen considers himself as misfit and wasting his life on the whole, he remains forced by the
unalterable realities of life and forces himself to stay in Madna. He hardly compromises but rather
regrets and is never content on any matter concerning his stay, job, place, people, food etc.
The protagonist Agastya Sen is a young civil servant. He is posted to Madna where he experiences
kitsch in all its forms like relics of the British Empire, temples, monsoons, Gandhi, savants and many
more. In his confusion he staggers towards the Hindu belief in the virtues of renunciation and an
uncertain, traumatic, self-knowledge. He is a character who is self-sufficient and self-sustaining.

The Last Burden

Jamun is the protagonist.

Jamun is a young man, who has no work. His father, Shyamanand, is old and his mother, Urmila, is
on her deathbed. As the novel opens the families are gathering for the inevitable parting. This is an
amazing book by the author unfolding different truth of life as the story proceeds and gets its pace.
Way to Go

The novel Way to Go is a sequel to

The Last Burden.
The novel is featured on the search of the nursing father Shymananda who is eighty five years old,
half paralysed and had disappeared. At this instant, his long time solitary friend, Dr. Mukherjee has
committed suicide and Jamun is trying very hard to tackle the situation. Jamun’s brother Burfi,
whohad long severed ties with his father, is only interested in investing money by the sale of his
father’s property. Jamun is entangled under the obsession of sexual relationship with the prostitute,
Kasibai who serves as a servant for him for many years. Jamun, is also the biological father of
Kasturi’s child, who had been his former lover. The novel focuses predominantly on the relationship
between a father and son. It also deals with perils of old age, agonies, despairs, inevitability of
degeneration and death.
Weight Loss

The novel portrays the life of Bhola, his youth and adulthood.