Masks We Wear

IN THE PRETENDERS, AVTAR SINGH TURNS THE ISOLATION OF THE PANDEMIC INTO A MIRROR FOR HUMAN CONNECTION AND FRACTURE

- Aditya Mani Jha

In perhaps the most stunning first act I have read in a recent Indian novel, Avtar Singh's The Pretenders begins with Rahim, a Muslim man, carrying his dead Hindu friend Umakant's corpse around Delhi, looking for a crematorium and a Brahmin to conduct the last rites. Rahim's day takes a dark detour when he stops to catch his breath underneath a tree at a park-and is promptly yelled at, asked to leave immediately, and called a "sister-fucking purbiya" for good measure (in the derogatory context, 'purbiya' is directed at people from Bihar and eastern UP).