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Looking Through Glass
Suddenly transported back to India in 1942, where he journeys through Muslim neighborhoods, Hindu wrestling academies, and splendid colonial enclaves, an ambitious young photographer meets a change-mongering nationalist, a pioneering pornographer, and his own grandmother
374 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1995
12 people are currently reading
280 people want to read
About the author
Mukul Kesavan
10 books34 followersMukul Kesavan is an Indian writer and essayist. He studied History at the University of Delhi and later at Trinity Hall, Cambridge where he received his MLitt. His first book - Looking Through Glass (Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1994) received critical acclaim. He teaches social history at Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi. He's keen on the game of cricket[1] but in a non-playing way. His credentials for writing about the game are founded on a spectatorial axiom: distance brings perspective[2]. Kesavan's book of cricket,Men in White, was published by Penguin India in 2007. He wrote a blog by the same name on cricinfo.com. Later in the year he wrote, The Ugliness of the Indian Male and Other Propositions published by Black Kite. The book is a collection of essays on a wide variety of themes ranging from Indian films to Indian men to travel writing and even political commentary.
He is also the co-editor of Civil Lines, the widely respected journal of Indian writing in English.
His columns have appeared in The Telegraph[3], CricInfo and Outlook Magazine[4], among other places.
He is also the co-editor of Civil Lines, the widely respected journal of Indian writing in English.
His columns have appeared in The Telegraph[3], CricInfo and Outlook Magazine[4], among other places.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
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October 29, 2022It's unusual for me to not finish a book. Of the 1000 reviews I have written only eight were DNF. Another DNF for me was a couple of weeks ago. Of course I'm not counting probably another couple dozen over that time that I gave up on so soon I didn't bother writing a review to explain why.
This is pretty much a historical novel of Indian politics starting at about the time of Gandhi when India and Pakistan won their independence as separate nations in 1947. The book is not translated because it's written in English, the official language of India, but my first issue is you really need a good understanding of Indian history to follow the events because little is explained and there are no footnotes or introduction.
For example, even 50 pages in I discovered that the Quit India campaign was not in the context of Pakistani Muslims wanting to break away from mostly Hindu India that I had assumed; rather it refers to Gandhi's campaign meaning that the British should quit India and give it independence.
The book badly needs a glossary. I don't mind terms not defined when we can assume they refer to food or birds or types of trees, but most Indian words - and there are many - I had never heard of and too often I could not figure them out in context. Here are some: tehsilidar, serishtadar, pukka, mushaira, mawri, zenara.
The same thing is true with the many references to politicians and political movements. So when I read “Jinnah will have his Pakistan by the end of the decade,” OK I can assume that's some important Muslim figure wanting Pakistan to break away. But when I read ‘Jawaharlal’s face figured on the front page every day” I have no idea who that is.
The setup of the story is intriguing. A young man from Delhi wants to be a photographer and always has his camera with him (the title). His grandmother, who constantly talked about the events in Indian history that her family went through starting in the 1930s, has just died. He is taking her ashes to the Ganges. The train stops on a bridge for some obstruction and he goes out to take pictures but falls into the river.
He's rescued by a local family but he has amnesia from the fall. He discovers he's been taken back in time to 1942. We have to accept the premise that although the young man can't remember his name or where he is from, he remembers all the history he learned from his grandmother. The family he is with is very politically active and somehow the young man remembers what all the political outcomes of their actions will be.
One of these actions is that a young man in the family is leading a group that is going to try to derail a train. The planning for that event dragged on for 50 pages and I gave up on page 90. I tried! But I felt it was becoming a slog. Thus the DNF. I think some of these issues I mention are the reason why it has a relatively low rating on GR of only 3.6.
The author (b. 1957) is a history professor. This was his first book and it appears it was his only book of fiction. He has since written a half a dozen other publications that appear to be non-fiction history or collections of essays.
Top photo: Muslims fleeing Hindu India for Pakistan in 1947 from hindustantimes.com
The author from indianexpress.com
This is pretty much a historical novel of Indian politics starting at about the time of Gandhi when India and Pakistan won their independence as separate nations in 1947. The book is not translated because it's written in English, the official language of India, but my first issue is you really need a good understanding of Indian history to follow the events because little is explained and there are no footnotes or introduction.
For example, even 50 pages in I discovered that the Quit India campaign was not in the context of Pakistani Muslims wanting to break away from mostly Hindu India that I had assumed; rather it refers to Gandhi's campaign meaning that the British should quit India and give it independence.
The book badly needs a glossary. I don't mind terms not defined when we can assume they refer to food or birds or types of trees, but most Indian words - and there are many - I had never heard of and too often I could not figure them out in context. Here are some: tehsilidar, serishtadar, pukka, mushaira, mawri, zenara.
The same thing is true with the many references to politicians and political movements. So when I read “Jinnah will have his Pakistan by the end of the decade,” OK I can assume that's some important Muslim figure wanting Pakistan to break away. But when I read ‘Jawaharlal’s face figured on the front page every day” I have no idea who that is.
The setup of the story is intriguing. A young man from Delhi wants to be a photographer and always has his camera with him (the title). His grandmother, who constantly talked about the events in Indian history that her family went through starting in the 1930s, has just died. He is taking her ashes to the Ganges. The train stops on a bridge for some obstruction and he goes out to take pictures but falls into the river.
He's rescued by a local family but he has amnesia from the fall. He discovers he's been taken back in time to 1942. We have to accept the premise that although the young man can't remember his name or where he is from, he remembers all the history he learned from his grandmother. The family he is with is very politically active and somehow the young man remembers what all the political outcomes of their actions will be.
One of these actions is that a young man in the family is leading a group that is going to try to derail a train. The planning for that event dragged on for 50 pages and I gave up on page 90. I tried! But I felt it was becoming a slog. Thus the DNF. I think some of these issues I mention are the reason why it has a relatively low rating on GR of only 3.6.
The author (b. 1957) is a history professor. This was his first book and it appears it was his only book of fiction. He has since written a half a dozen other publications that appear to be non-fiction history or collections of essays.
Top photo: Muslims fleeing Hindu India for Pakistan in 1947 from hindustantimes.com
The author from indianexpress.com
September 26, 2007
I was really looking forward to reading this book because I came across it in a round about way while browsing the internet and read about the author and an interview with him. (Was it the Guardian? I don't remember anymore.) I read the book cover to cover in order to be sure that I was giving it a fair shake though about a quarter through, the author was already beginning to bore me. I'll tell you why. It is not that the idea of time-hopping wasn't good. The problem was in the execution. The hero is unconvincing and can't make up his mind about anything really and this seems to be a malady that he might have caught from the author. By waffling around as much as he does and concentrating at the oddest moments on his flatulence and excretions, he just paints a figure whom you really don't want to follow around in his next noxious adventure.
The story begins with promise and one feels that perhaps a coherent thread will emerge with a particular Dadi at the center of the struggle for the independence of India and the preceding and succeeding HIndu-Muslim tensions. By the end the protagonist will either have realized why Dadi was so critical of her own involvement in 1942 or in some other ways have come to grips with what transpired.
He, the protagonist, clearly wants to serve in the role of a witness when the book begins. But he is constantly running away from events and people. And even as he runs and stays away, he somehow only focuses only on those he can't see or feel. By the end you are left with a strange mish-mash of a pregnant-anglo-Indian-orphan-eventual mother of twins-"fallen"-woman, a completely undeveloped female-muslim-sister-peripheral character who turns lesbian with love for the former (a love that has no meaning or significance in the story it seems other than to say oh lesbian love not only existed in "those days" it even crossed religious boundaries), a mother who is forward-thinking and completely rooted in an identity defined by men and society, a son who is a recruitment poster (and just about as interesting), a dadi who gets 2 pages somewhere- all the while the hero, is developing pussy boils on his face, farting, shitting, and getting erections which he can't control (the reference to floating turds are many and all equally gratuitous and making one wonder if the author was trying to be Khushwant-esque in his directness. He only succeeds with regard to stools.) There is no coherence or heart to this story. And it ends as miserably as it lurches to that end. With no insight into anything.
The story begins with promise and one feels that perhaps a coherent thread will emerge with a particular Dadi at the center of the struggle for the independence of India and the preceding and succeeding HIndu-Muslim tensions. By the end the protagonist will either have realized why Dadi was so critical of her own involvement in 1942 or in some other ways have come to grips with what transpired.
He, the protagonist, clearly wants to serve in the role of a witness when the book begins. But he is constantly running away from events and people. And even as he runs and stays away, he somehow only focuses only on those he can't see or feel. By the end you are left with a strange mish-mash of a pregnant-anglo-Indian-orphan-eventual mother of twins-"fallen"-woman, a completely undeveloped female-muslim-sister-peripheral character who turns lesbian with love for the former (a love that has no meaning or significance in the story it seems other than to say oh lesbian love not only existed in "those days" it even crossed religious boundaries), a mother who is forward-thinking and completely rooted in an identity defined by men and society, a son who is a recruitment poster (and just about as interesting), a dadi who gets 2 pages somewhere- all the while the hero, is developing pussy boils on his face, farting, shitting, and getting erections which he can't control (the reference to floating turds are many and all equally gratuitous and making one wonder if the author was trying to be Khushwant-esque in his directness. He only succeeds with regard to stools.) There is no coherence or heart to this story. And it ends as miserably as it lurches to that end. With no insight into anything.
April 1, 2011
Talented indian writer capable of unpretentious prose. Doesn't hurt that his politics are sound.
September 8, 2019
I read this book for the second time, as I recall it blowing me away the first time. I was not disappointed. An unexplained phenomenon results in the protagonist being sent into the past, a few years before the Partition of British India. The curse of Cassandra prevents him from talking too much about the future, but he settles into life in 1942 anyway.
Although there were some rather tedious chapters where nothing much happens, the book is a great way of getting a feel from a first-person perspective of the times of mutiny in India, up until the partition. National politics, and especially the treatment of Muslims by both Hindus and by the Congress Party, are given a thorough inspection - but from a personal perspective. This made partition and a few of the events leading up to it more real and plastic than a general essay on the topic.
Although there were some rather tedious chapters where nothing much happens, the book is a great way of getting a feel from a first-person perspective of the times of mutiny in India, up until the partition. National politics, and especially the treatment of Muslims by both Hindus and by the Congress Party, are given a thorough inspection - but from a personal perspective. This made partition and a few of the events leading up to it more real and plastic than a general essay on the topic.
June 30, 2019
A good story... historical fiction account of a man's experience during Partition... some fantastical time travel was a bit of a distraction thrown in, but otherwise good description and character development.
August 24, 2025
A strange and thoroughly entertaining tale that takes place mystically in the final years of British rule in India. Lots of melancholy humor that keeps the story lively and charging to its uncertain, preordained conclusion.
March 6, 2025
Read it a few years ago now. It was difficult for me to keep myself engaged with this book and it took me around 5 months (if my memory is right) to finish this, even in the peak of the pandemic lockdown. However, it has had a lasting impact on me and I find myself sometimes thinking about this book, its characters, and the locations in a way that very few books do. Just had to put this out there lol
January 14, 2008
Lent from Autumn.
I enjoyed time traveling in India with this book.
I enjoyed time traveling in India with this book.
April 25, 2017
Read it ages ago. Stays in my head still.
April 8, 2017
The protagonist does not have a name but he pulls it through even with hindsight as a company. Not a famous book, but well written.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews