Roots

Increasingly possessed by a yearning to escape the ennui of an indifferent marriage and the empty but comfortable lifestyle of a bureaucrat, Raghu decides to visit the small patch of ancestral property in his native village. As he relives the past, old grudges are aired, exposing the faultlines in relationships but also subliminally forging bonds with the land and his people. The novel moves between the two worlds—the past and the present—with pungent, earthy humour and sharp insights. The narrator’s voice as he recounts the sights of his land and his experiences is powerful, sensuous and direct and moves inexorably to the apocalyptic moment when he finds his roots.