Where does the recollection of what one has consciously witnessed end? Where do memories of nightmares begin?
The question continues to search for an answer throughout the book. Agrawal's new book is a very powerful work and writing on the wall for the times that we are a part of. We are in the middle of it and there seems to be no means of an escape. The opening pages of this novel can fill the reader with a sense of terror. The metaphorical imageries play out in the open bringing one face to face with the demons at large. There is no running away. One is stuck and getting eaten bit by bit. The translation from Hindi is a collaboration between the author, Noor Zaheer and Ritambhara Agrawal and it shows how much hard work has gone into creating this work in English. I use the word “create” here, as translation is a creative activity. It captures the various moods of the novel and retains the integral parts of it that are necessary for a reader of English to understand and be a witness to. One of the thematic concerns that run throughout the novel is the idea of essentialism and how the politics of identity is tied up with it.