Prayaag Akbar explores identity, work, social media, polarisation, climate change and more in his latest Mother India

Taking off from this question, Akbar explores questions of identity, work, social media, and polarisation.

Running parallel are stories of Mayank, a former gig worker for a delivery company, who now finds himself doing research and editing work for an acerbic Youtuber named Vikram Kashyap, and Nisha, a salesperson at a premium Japanese chocolate store.

Like Akbar’s previous book Leila (2017), a work of dystopian fiction in a totalitarian India of 2040, Mother India too is sharp in identifying the aggressions that characterise the country today.

For instance, an actress complaining of firecrackers scaring her dog during Diwali receives the all-too-familiar whataboutery about other religions and festivals. The words of a student leader from the Jawaharlal Nehru University are twisted out of context and blown out of proportion. As is expected, he is labelled “commie” and faces the ire of a well-oiled media machinery.

But the book stretches itself too thin, going through a list of topics in quick succession. Climate change, refugee crisis, bureaucracy, corrupt politicians part of a land-grabbing cartel — all of this and more is addressed in a slim book of 168 pages.

A scene at a Bangladeshi refugee camp in Delhi, followed by one at a police station almost feels out of place in the context of the book and does not have the intended effect.

Since AI and social media propel the narrative, there is a lot of commentary on the nature of media consumption. Tech giants from Paolo Alto controlling the world, trolling, the performativity of living a double life on the Internet, and the gendered nature of that experience are touched upon. But nothing comes off as particularly revelatory.

There is also very little that delves into the psyche of Mayank and Nisha as they navigate life as 20-somethings. What is their individual relationship with the Internet? How do they inhabit it? What do they watch during their free time?

At a certain point, the commentary becomes excessive.

When Nisha gets unexpected attention across social media because of an incident, she has conflicting emotions about it. But those never fully come through. Instead, there are academic passages about image making and historical symbols such as the Lady Liberty of the French Revolution, David of the Old Testament and more recently, the iconic image of a boy holding the Palestinian flag and a slingshot.

The characters are almost used as vehicles for talking about all of the big ideas that concern us. But rarely do they come across as well-rounded and real people navigating life with all its complexities and nuances.

Certain parts of the such as the interactions between Nisha and her sister, her relationship with a co-worker and Mayank’s bond with street dogs are written with care. But these are few and far between and are shadowed by long and preachy deliberations. In his previous work Leila, Akbar was able to create a strong emotional core — the bond of a mother and daughter — even in a work of dystopian fiction. That is the missing piece in Mother India.