Book Name : The City Of Devi
What is it about : In this work of fiction, the city of the goddess Mumba Devi, Mumbai or alternatively, the city named by the Portuguese as "Good Bay", Bombay would be destroyed in four days by an atomic weapon launched by India's fierce neighbour. Amidst the chaos of religious fervour and racial tension, a thirty-something Sarita set out amongst the bombed ruins, fallen buildings and wrecked trains in search of her husband, Karun, armed herself with the only pomegranate she could buy from the market, a symbol of her love as well as the cure and aphrodisiac for Karun's apparent impotent performance on the marital front. Sarita was joined by Jaz, a self-confessed homo-predator where all men with swinging buttocks, regardless of creed and belief would be his potential prey. Jaz, prided himself as the boinker and since his teenage initiation during a wrestling match with his cousin, Jaz had boinked his way around the world; men of all professions and nationalities had all been his boinkees. Karun happened to be one of these boinkees. Unknowingly, Sarita set out with Jaz in company, to search for their common lover.
Some thoughts after having read the book : Extremely good characterisation which left the readers in no doubt of where Sarita, Jaz and Karun stood in their respectively emotional corners. My personal favourite was the campy and colorful Rahim (Auntie), the all-so-gay cousin of Jaz, he was endearing, sophisticated and made a corner-stone impact on the story; the way he teased Jaz by dropping names like Jaz-mine and Jaz-Bond were some of the funniest moments in the book. Having said that, the promising start for the first two-third of the book with delicate and deft descriptions of the bi-sexual love triangle, somewhat degenerated into a farce - when Sarita and Jaz were taken up close to the human-goddess, Devi ma, a deformed eight-year-old with three limbs, to attend the goddess's little fireworks-filled fanfare of a religious celebration; yeh sure man, in amongst the bombed ruins and hungry masses just outside .... ha hum ... not exactly believable.
Would I recommend this book to you : Strictly PG Certificate with explicit and graphical scenes depicting debauchery and decadence. Plus one more warning for the homo-phobic and religion-minded readers, your stomach might just turn at reading a few of the set-pieces; the last third of the book was hard-going with the Bond-Villain theme and would be better off with a tragic-comedy ending. Otherwise, the book exuded wit, humour, street-wisdom and an engaging original story line. I would recommend the book on the basis for its odd and unique story line as well as foreseeing or offering a glimpse of our present "post-truth" information era - filled with half-truth, fake news and "alternative facts". PG Certificate.
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