Sunday, May 26, 2002		Books

Of sin and spirituality
Priyanka Singh

Arresting God in Kathmandu
by Samrat Upadhyay. Rupa & Co. Pages 191. Rs 195.

THE leitmotif of carnal compulsions and spiritual inclination runs parallel to the theme of an anxious search for consciousness driven by inherent paradoxes and latent desires all through Arresting God in Kathmandu.

Society in constant flux; the ugliness that stems from hypocrisy and the nullity that has its source in desperate circumstances are central to all the stories.

Though the author is a non-resident Nepalese—he migrated to the USA at age 21—the honesty in his attempt to portray modern-day Nepal, more specifically Kathmandu, and its people in the midst of changing social mores and ethos is evident.

The Limping Bride reflects the dilemma and complex emotions of a widower who much against his wishes finds himself attracted to his daughter-in-law, affected by a pronounced limp. His guilt grows with the story as does the realisation that it was bound to happen.

The Good Shopkeeper is about Pramod, an accountant, who loses his job but considers it infradig to run a shop to support his family. He soon loses hope to ever find one and following couple of promiscuous encounters with a servant girl, he decides to be a shopkeeper after all. The transformation is striking as is his acceptance of his situation.

Deepak Mishra's Secretary has a subtle element of humour and is a dramatic account of Deepak Mishra who wants to reunite with his estranged foreigner wife but at the same time can't help having an affair with his unattractive secretary, Bandnaji. His confusion and indecision take a toll on his life; he loses them both.

Infidelity is at the centre of During the Festival. Ganesh is suspicious of his beautiful wife's loyalty but can't get himself to confront her. the story ends with him still not sure whether she has a lover, but chooses to forget about it for the moment as the Durga puja festivities get to him.

The man with Long Hair is about one man’s strange and strong sense of affinity with a theatre actor.

Arresting God in Kathmandu is an engrossing collection of nine stories, each written in a style that is sensitive and detached in equal measure.

Samrat Upadhyay’s work has also appeared in The Best American Short Stories and The Best of the Fiction Workshops. He teaches at a college in Cleveland.