This is the story of the physical and mental damage done to a young Hindu man, following the sacking of the Ayodhya Mosque. He is haunted by events that he could not have prevented. We walk alongside him as he learns to live with the rising religious tensions in Mumbai, making friends across the religious divide - but at the same time, coping with the fanatics in his own family. It is both a riveting and heart-rending read.
The people in the cafeteria now stand apart as he walks down. For the last three years, they have stolen quick glances at his foot. And at his fingers when he types slowly. At least they can't see the scars on his back and thigh. They fall silent when he enters a room. They avoid talk of politics. Violence is in the news every few months - villages of lower caste Dalits set on fire; youth in Kashmir blinded by pellets fired by the Indian army; a girl brutally gang-raped on a bus in Delhi, an iron rod inserted into her privates, then thrown out on the highway, left to die. His colleagues discuss these passionately when he isn't around. He knows this because he has heard them before entering meeting rooms or common areas. But the moment they see him, they change the subject to IPI, cricket matches or the latest movie in the Golmaal series.
