On the Shelf

The US pretty much runs the world and, funnily enough, its territories include Australia and the UK. The basic plot centres around the ‘‘brilliant’’ marketing strategy of killing off low-income kids to drive up the sales of a new brand of shoes. Jennifer Government is an agent who relentlessly tracks down the bad guys, not just to see justice prevail but also because she is on a personal quest. She’s a single mother and a gutsy professional to boot, so it’s impossible not to root for the good guys in this book.

The Moth-Eaten Howdah of the Tusker
By Indira Goswami
Rupa & Co
Price: Rs 395

Indira Goswami has translated her Une Khowa Howda from the Kamrupi dialect. She paints a vivid picture of the world of a sattra (Vaishnavite monastery) in Assam, where the social hierarchy is clear-cut. The divisions are based on the lines of caste — the Gossain brahmins are at the top of the social scale and their word is law. But the story is set in 1948, when India is waking up to her independence, and it seems the old rules no longer apply. Used to being worshipped and respected, the Gossain brahmins are suddenly teetering on the edge of the unknown… the region is crawling with opium addicts, poverty is rampant, communists are agitating the peasants on their lands.

The social fabric is being pulled apart and the tragic heroes of this story don’t quite know how to deal with it. The protagonists, Indranath and the young widows, Giribala, Saru Gossainee and Durga, all yearn for forbidden fruit, in different ways. Giribala, married off to a womaniser seems doomed to an empty life like Durga, until she meets Mark Sahib, a Christian researching stories of the area. Indranath, the future Gossain, falls in love with a brahmin of humbler birth who has already reached puberty, casting shame on her family. Saru Gossainee is a strong character who secretly loves her faithful Man Friday.

There may not be any happy endings, but the story’s definitely poignant.