A saga of outsiders By Randeep Wadehra

The inheritance of loss by Kiran Desai

Penguin. Pages: 324. Price: Rs. 395/-

This is a saga of loss. And there are so many losers. Jemubhai the judge lost his pride when he joined the Indian Civil Service. The ignominy of having to pretend being equal to his British colleagues when in fact they looked down upon him, and, ignoring the second, and sometimes third class, treatment – violent racist attacks et al – to his compatriots in England. Worse, the attempts to keep up the pretense of belonging to the elite class deprived him of conjugal happiness and filial love. The independent India only compounded his agony when Gorkhaland activists raided his house in Kalimpong, took away his weapons and treated him with contempt. Finally, he loses his sanity when his dog is stolen, triggering off an emotional explosion that had remained suppressed in his breast.

Then there is Sai who not only loses her parents and is brought up in a convent but also faces the realty of reluctant acceptance by her grandfather, the judge. Later on she finds love in the person of her tutor, Gyan, but loses him to the separatist movement. The judge has a cook who has nothing much to lose barring the dream of seeing his son prosper and settle down, which he eventually loses. His son Biju is an illegal immigrant in America where he loses his identity, and, exploited by his employers, his sense of dignity too. Later on, when he returns to India, he is deprived of his belongings – including whatever he was wearing – by thugs among the activists. Finally, Kalimpong loses its serenity, its colonial exclusivity and attendant perquisites to the insurgents.

Interestingly, all the characters are outsiders in one sense or the other. They are strangers in the changed, post-colonial scenario, with little understanding of the aspirations of the increasingly assertive locals. Gyan too is an outsider to the stratum Sai comes from, and also to his own people whose belligerence he is unable accept fully.

Despite the overwhelming aura of loss, the narrative does not become heavy for there is comic relief in the form of the Banerji sisters’ and Mrs. Sen’s desperate attempts at remaining colonial. They have company in the forms of such anachronisms as Uncle Potty and Father Booty who too lose something – their hitherto uninterrupted, taken-for-granted stay in India.

Diligent research, original metaphors and innovative syntax make this volume a compelling read. My grouse? An ending that is a bit too pat.