Fiction novels are not always based purely on imagination. More often than not, these novels depict some really harsh realities of human existence in this modern world. These social issues are embedded deeply in Indian society but may go unnoticed in day-to-day lives. Reading these literary works will only open your eyes to the atrocities faced by the people. So, here are a few handpicked recommendations from The Bombay Circle Press.
Made into a powerful, award-winning film in 1970, this important Kannada novel of the sixties has received widespread acclaim from both critics and general readers since its first publication in 1965. As a religious novel about a decaying brahmin colony in the south Indian village of Karnataka, Samskara serves as an allegory rich in realistic detail, a contemporary reworking of ancient Hindu themes and myths, and a serious, poetic study of a religious man living in a community of priests gone to seed. A death which stands as the central event in the plot brings in its wake a
plague, many more deaths, live questions with only dead answers, moral chaos, and the rebirth of one man. This novel portrays the interplay of gender and caste issues to the core of everyday existence.
An Arabian Dream is a story that falls through the crevices of pitiless anonymity, yet miraculously waits to be told…Shijukutty, a Malayali fisherman, leaves his tiny hamlet of abject poverty in a coastal village in search of his destiny in Dubai, that gleaming hub of fortune, like millions of his brethren. What unfolds is a stirring saga of hardship, exploitation, identity, and friendship, and the heartbreaking choices Shiju is often forced to make. What he sees is not what he experiences when he lands in a world of glimmering towers, fastpaced life, and unabashed opulence. Shiju’s life takes dramatic turns in the Dream City’s dark underbelly. But he holds his ground, drawing on the ancient instincts of his seafaring ancestry. To make matters worse, he is inexorably pulled into the canyon of global recession…Nikhil Ramteke weaves a captivating tale of migrant labourers, their struggles, their loneliness, and their dreams.
The year is 1969. In the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India, a skyblue Plymouth with chrome tailfins is stranded on the highway amid a Marxist workers’ demonstration. Inside the car sit two-egg twins Rahel and Esthappen, and so begins their tale. Armed only with the invincible innocence of children, they fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family—their lonely, lovely mother, Ammu (who loves by night the man her children love by day), their blind grandmother, Mammachi (who plays Handel on her violin), their beloved uncle Chacko (Rhodes scholar, pickle baron, radical Marxist, bottom-pincher), their enemy, Baby Kochamma (ex-nun and incumbent grandaunt), and the ghost of an imperial entomologist’s moth (with unusually dense dorsal tufts). The God of Small Things takes on the Big Themes—Love. Madness. Hope. Infinite Joy. Here is a writer who dares to break the rules. To dislocate received rhythms and create the language she requires, a language that is at once classical and unprecedented. Arundhati Roy has given us a book that is anchored to anguish, but fueled by wit and magic.
For young Meher, living in Dharavi meant a life full of possibilities. Things were going well until the Indian government announced the world’s biggest coronavirus lockdown. Soon, her parents are left jobless and stand to lose all – their home and their lives. As Covid-19 cases in the Mumbai slum soar, Meher and her family realize they have no choice but to leave for their village in Rajasthan. With the ban on public movement, it becomes clear that they would have to walk the 900 kilometres, facing barbaric police officers, searing heat, wild beasts and indifferent deities. A deeply moving story about family, survival and relentless hope, Homebound brings to the page the stark realities of those who have remained too long without a voice, which is now adopted in a movie.
If you liked these novels, follow The Bombay Circle Press’ bulletin for more such recommendations.