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1990, Aramganj: A Novel
About the Book
A SEARING NOVEL ABOUT HOW SMALL-TOWN INDIA GOT POLARISED BY ADVANI’S RATH YATRA AND HOW THE SEEDS OF A MILITANT HINDU NATIONALISM WERE SOWN.
Mohalla Aramganj is abuzz with wild conjectures about the impending arrival of L.K. Advani’s Ram Rath. Folk who could barely rouse themselves for the anti-Mandal agitation are now astir—what does their love of Ram call them to do? Conversations change, relationships are strained, new animosities crop up. How does all this ferment affect the swashbuckling ‘Mohammadiya Hindu’ Ashiq Miyan, renowned Rambhakt and proprietor of the Two-in-One Tailoring shop?
In this astutely crafted novel, Rakesh Kayasth deploys a Greek chorus of people’s fears, arguments and judgements to portray the social conundrum of India’s heartland. A microcosm of India, Aramganj’s cast of small-town characters embodies caste pride, religious superstition and patriarchy, all of which have a hand in the grisly climax of this story.
1990, Aramganj is set in a watershed moment in Indian history, one that led to a rapid seeding of Hindu consciousness. A blistering novel by one of Hindi’s most inventive writers.
About the author
RAKESH KAYASTH has worked in various senior roles in print journalism and with news television channels like Aaj Tak, Zee News, Tez and News 24. For the past sixteen years, he has been working as a screenwriter, showrunner and producer. One of his highly rated early shows as a screenwriter was Movers & Shakers. He currently heads the non-live programming team at Star Sports.
Besides the bestselling Hindi novel Rambhakt Rangbaz, which featured on the Hindustan Times list of Best Indian Books across languages in 2022, Kayasth is also the author of two critically acclaimed political satires, Kos-kos Shabdkosh and Prajatantra ke Pakaude. He is also the author-creator of two popular audiobooks, Dil Local (stories set in Mumbai local trains) and Tuktuk ki Kahaniyan.
About the Translator
VARSHA TIWARY translates between Hindi and English. This is her first full-length work of translation.
A SEARING NOVEL ABOUT HOW SMALL-TOWN INDIA GOT POLARISED BY ADVANI’S RATH YATRA AND HOW THE SEEDS OF A MILITANT HINDU NATIONALISM WERE SOWN.
Mohalla Aramganj is abuzz with wild conjectures about the impending arrival of L.K. Advani’s Ram Rath. Folk who could barely rouse themselves for the anti-Mandal agitation are now astir—what does their love of Ram call them to do? Conversations change, relationships are strained, new animosities crop up. How does all this ferment affect the swashbuckling ‘Mohammadiya Hindu’ Ashiq Miyan, renowned Rambhakt and proprietor of the Two-in-One Tailoring shop?
In this astutely crafted novel, Rakesh Kayasth deploys a Greek chorus of people’s fears, arguments and judgements to portray the social conundrum of India’s heartland. A microcosm of India, Aramganj’s cast of small-town characters embodies caste pride, religious superstition and patriarchy, all of which have a hand in the grisly climax of this story.
1990, Aramganj is set in a watershed moment in Indian history, one that led to a rapid seeding of Hindu consciousness. A blistering novel by one of Hindi’s most inventive writers.
About the author
RAKESH KAYASTH has worked in various senior roles in print journalism and with news television channels like Aaj Tak, Zee News, Tez and News 24. For the past sixteen years, he has been working as a screenwriter, showrunner and producer. One of his highly rated early shows as a screenwriter was Movers & Shakers. He currently heads the non-live programming team at Star Sports.
Besides the bestselling Hindi novel Rambhakt Rangbaz, which featured on the Hindustan Times list of Best Indian Books across languages in 2022, Kayasth is also the author of two critically acclaimed political satires, Kos-kos Shabdkosh and Prajatantra ke Pakaude. He is also the author-creator of two popular audiobooks, Dil Local (stories set in Mumbai local trains) and Tuktuk ki Kahaniyan.
About the Translator
VARSHA TIWARY translates between Hindi and English. This is her first full-length work of translation.
282 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 21, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 13, 2024
I am a millenium kid and a political science post grad student. Though I theoretically know all Advani’s rath-yatra, the potent way in which this translated novel shows how Advani's call for Hindu Ekta supplanted the blooming bahujan consciousness helped by Mandal commission reccos, is incredible. Ashiq story is a container for showing the effect of new 'Hindu' politics.
This, when caste happily dictates everything, and an inter-caste marriage causes a massive earthquake!
Enjoyed!
Read Aramganj to get a feel of the real India. Misogynist, happily contradictory and casteist, but not yet nastily communalized in 1990. On the way to it
This, when caste happily dictates everything, and an inter-caste marriage causes a massive earthquake!
Enjoyed!
Read Aramganj to get a feel of the real India. Misogynist, happily contradictory and casteist, but not yet nastily communalized in 1990. On the way to it
December 13, 2024
What a book! it takes a slice of two-months in a small town mohalla that awaits the 1990 Rath-Yatra. A quirky small town with its orchestra of characters discussing politics over paan, squabbling, calling out one another, lots of leg-pulling. A feudal, casteist set who haven’t turned communal, just as yet. Our hero Ashiq is a tailor but he is so much more: a Bollywood dancer, a Ram-bhakt, a loyal friend, a man popular among the women, who admire both his looks, their chats and of course, the designer dresses he stitches. And then the Rath rolls by, laying the fodder is laid to set the mohalla aflame, a heart-searing chronicle of the time in history, in a way that only literature can: with humour, a big heart and an unflinching eye. Varsha Tiwary's translation is steady and evocative and it is all too clear how much she loves Hindi, the novel in hand, all of it. A great read, highly recommended
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews