The Temple-Goers

by Aatish Taseer

A young man returns home to Delhi after several years abroad and resumes his place among the city's cosmopolitan elite - a world of fashion designers, media moguls and the idle rich. But everything around him has changed - new roads, new restaurants, new money, new crime - everything, that is, except for the people, who are the same, only maybe slightly worse. Then he meets Aakash, a charismatic and unpredictable young man on the make, who introduces him to the squalid underside of this sprawling city. Together they get drunk and work out, visit temples and a prostitute, and our narrator finds himself disturbingly attracted to Aakash's world. But when Aakash is arrested for murder, the two of them are suddenly swept up in a politically sensitive investigation that exposes the true corruption at the heart of this new and ruthless society. In a voice that is both cruel and tender, "The Temple-goers" brings to life the dazzling story of a city quietly burning with rage.

Genres: Fiction, India, Novels, Literary Fiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published March 5, 2010

About the author

Aatish Taseer has worked as a reporter for Time Magazine and has written for the Sunday Times, the Sunday Telegraph, the Financial Times, Prospect, TAR Magazine and Esquire. He is the author of Stranger to History: a Son's Journey through Islamic Lands (2009) and a highly acclaimed translation Manto: Selected Stories (2008). His novel, The Temple-Goers (2010) was shortlisted for the 2010 Costa First Novel Award. A second novel, Noon, is now available published by Picador (UK) and Faber & Faber (USA). His work has been translated into over ten languages. He lives between London and Delhi.

Reviews

[Saif Hasan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Extremely disappointed. What new voice are we talking about? The language is self-conscious, the plot and sensibility borrowed. Apart from two rivetting moments this one is a prtentious loser.

[Elaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is basically a default 3, because I felt many of this book's subleties and observations were inaccessible to me, and not meant for me, and that therefore I am not well positioned to judge it. The Temple-Goers is a very detailed exploration of the interplay of class and caste in contemporary India, and while the dynamics of class, new money and old, poverty and mobility, are universal enough, the Temple-Goers explores several uniquely Indian phenomena-- including the important role of caste, which is unrelated to class (the central figure of Aakash is poor and uneducated yet Brahmin, and thus in some sense superior to the extremely wealthy families that employ him), language divisions (much is made in the book of Hindi-speakers versus English-speakers, and also of the role of Urdu -- to a non-Indian, it is not easy to decode the issues arising from the ability and inability of characters to use these various languages), and the role or absence of religion (one divide, mirroring rich and poor, but not completely, is between the temple-goers, the adherents to traditional Indian values and the "green card folk", who are Americanized or Anglicized in their distance from religion).

All this is a lot for a young writer to chew on, and I felt that at times the book was static, opaque or slow, but I also understood that there was a lot being addressed. I felt though that Taseer's conversation was Indian to Indian -- he wasn't trying to help me get "caste" and, frankly, I don't, and I missed a lot of the book's allusions, religious symbolism and geographical hints. For example, the societal structure is represented physically for Taseer in Delhi's streets and neighborhoods -- but the coding (what it means that a person lives in Lutyens' Delhi...or the "old city") is not readily available to an outsider.

On an emotional level, the main plot line, which is about the narrator's desire for and infatuation with Aakash, his handsome, Brahmin, but lower class and uneducated, physical trainer, is interesting but slow at times. The most compelling emotional content in the book is the narrator's (named, like the author, Aatish) strong but repressed homosexual feeling -- one of the many phenomena of modern India that we learn about in the book is that gay culture is prevalent among the green card set, but violent prejudice is still strong in traditional society. But while the book lavishes attention on erotic descriptions of Aakash's lips and abs and nipples (and includes one fairly shocking and graphic scene in which Aakash has sex with a prostitute while embracing Aatish), the narrator remains resolutely un-self-aware throughout the book, making the book somewhat frustrating from a plot development perspective.

So, overall, an intriguing but, to an outsider, somewhat frustrating read.

[Anu Warrier · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I liked this book. I desperately wanted to like it. After all, I'd read Aatish Taseer's Stranger to History: A Son's Journey Through Islamic Lands and liked it quite a bit. So, when I came across this by chance, I picked it up. It'd had rave reviews in The Independent: '...the sharpest and best-written fictions about the country...'; it had VS Naipaul's endorsement: '...a young writer to watch'; it was shortlisted for the Costa award... this must be the first book in a long time that has taken me more than a month to finish - I struggled through the last few chapters, having completely lost any interest in the characters, or their dilemmas.

Straddling two worlds, the protagonist is the novelist himself, not merely in voice, but by name - Aatish, a struggling writer. (Naipaul puts in a thinly-veiled appearance as himself, though he's only referred to in hushed terms as 'the writer', complete with adoring wife and condescending remarks.) The female characters, in particular, are stereotypical - the manic pixie girlfriend, Sanyogita, who alternates between being cloyingly possessive and 'independent'; Akaash's girlfriend, who's the poor little rich girl; Akaash, himself, a gym trainer, seemingly comfortably straddling his world of sweaty gym attendees and Aatish's world of the hip and cool arty crowd in Delhi - they are all tropes. Just that. None of them have a personality that can fit into the cap of the fountain pen that Aatish uses.

I don't know if he intended it to be this way (and I lost interest in analysing it) but Akaash, as a character, is often the most confusing. If the intention was to give voice to the 'other', it failed, miserably. Throw in the political machinations in the nation's capital, the bohemian arty circles in which his girlfriend moves, the sweat and blood among the lower economic classes whom he condescends to visit because of his friendship with Akaash, homosexuality, class struggles, even a murder, and the narrative loses its core completely.

In one part of the book, Aatish is in London, having sent his manuscript to his agent. She sends it back with a note from the person who read it, prior to it being accepted for publication. The note reads: Although Tasser can write with fluency an intelligence at times, An Internment is a seriously flawed novel. ... There are so many awkward and over-elaborate sentences. I'd encourage Tasser... to stop trying too hard - and to work on developing clarity and simplicity in his style...

That, in a nutshell, is exactly my view of Aatish Taseer's novel.

[Khwab Sanghvi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely senseless book. The author is extremely confused and more than a fictional story the books seems like a day in the boring life of the author. It disjointedly moves from a writer's dilemma to random moral questions about religion. added to this confusion is homosexuality. You never realize whether the author wants to talk about how homosexual experiences cause emotional turmoil in an individual or whether it is just a peripheral aspect of the story. If the former is the actual motive of the author, then he fails miserably by not delving deeper into the issue. He treats a serious concept rather lightly, using it just to move the narrative and nothing more however if the latter is the author's motive then it poses a greater question. What is the story of the book ?

[Kiran Watwani · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's like The Temple Goers is the question Taseer contemplates and answers in The Way Things Were. I definitely see the growth between the two and having read the recent release first I was oddly proud of him.. to see where he'd grown from. His references, the way he contextualizes things by attaching them to milestones in our recent history. It's like an all nighter with an old friend. In fact it IS an all nighter (because I get so immersed in his books) with a peer... because I think Open magazine is right. He is indeed the 'definitive voice of his generation', atleast for "our (his) class of people". I'd be a bit worried to know this man. But to read him is delightful in a confessional, validating kind of way. Excellent book about all the things the other reviewers have described.

[Saurabh Bhowal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Am confused. I liked the fluid writing in parts, the sexual confusion of the writer was also well put and the pages kept me glued with aatish and aakash, but the other characters were too stereotypical and under developed. As a reader something seemed missing and that's where the book fails. I want to read more and more of Tasseer though.

[Achab_ · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading the prologue I was not really convinced by the book and thought that it might not be very interesting to read. But I changed my mind after starting the first chapter. Aatish Taseer brings us with him in his discovering of modern India, from the cast system to the violence and riots we're following his double in the book, named after him. Aatish meets Aakash. And here starts his plunging into real India, not the India of tourists or the one of english-speaking indians like Aatish. Apart from the main story the book is very interesting for it's giving a glimpse of modern India's tensions and dilemmas. A country torn between its colonisation by England and it's long and rich past that still exists through religion and traditions. A country that needs to recreate itself, find its own way.

[Natasha G · Rating 1 out of 5]

Taseer tries to gauge the pulse of what he thinks of as the 'real' India - the India of the autowallahs - polished over with effort in his upper class lifestyle (read air-conditioned travel, man-friday, etc). The protagonist befriends his gym trainer and lets himself get more than involved in the trainer's life (at one stage relaxing in a hot tub in their birthday suits).

The problem with Taseer's writing is that he does not succeed in his motive. While the book falls in the White Tiger category, it lacks authenticity; Taseer is too comfortable in his shoes to step out and feel what the person in front of him might. Observant as he is and coming to this book from Stranger To History, I was forgiving. However one is let down not so much as by his writing but by the sense of what this book could have accomplished as compared to what it is.

[Gautam Kamath · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the clear realistic writing. Can identify with much of what taseer feels when confronted with some of the contradictions of India. The blurb made this sound like a murder mystery, which is why I wasn't very pleased when my wife picked it up for me knowing my fondness for indian writing. The book turns out to be much deeper than that, and the murder is just incidental to a larger story of caste and class differences in an India that's difficult to love or hate.

[Manish · Rating 1 out of 5]

Totally disappointed with this debut fiction novel by Aatish Taseer. A budding writer gets 'involved' with the personal life of his gym trainer resulting in him losing his own girlfriend's trust. The involvement includes sex, liquor, parties and finally a murder too. Boring stuff!

[Radhika · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author wants to talk about a lot of changes happening or that have happened in India but the writing is very ordinary. I wasn't involved with the book at any level. Honestly, I had much high expectations!

[Maneesha Chadha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having read his earlier book, I was expecting a lot more from the author. Unfortunately this one sounds very much like the various other books that portray a divided india, hypocrisies in society etc.

[Chaitali · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the book is okay. I could not connect to the plot/ the locations.

[Vinita · Rating 2 out of 5]

Absolutely nothing special about it and it in fact disappointed me in its depiction of Delhi - very predictable. I did not like this book at all.

[Linas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful book with dull story. Maybe India literature isn't for me.

[Karnail Singh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very average.

[Alka · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite ordinary. The story, characters, pace, emotions were all staid. I have little regard for the author and have not enjoyed his other works either. There is nothing to pull up the novel.

[Asit Misra · Rating 1 out of 5]

Senseless writing. Very fictional in nature. Ideas do not relate to each other. Don't waste your time and money on this bogus book.

[Miranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Dora Okeyo · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were a lot of things happening in this book. In a way, I am glad it was written in the first voice because then I could relate to Aatish (who is the narrator).
He returns to Delhi and finds himself delving into the past while in the present trying to reconcile the good and the downright ugly. He experiences India through his new friend Aakash and the discrimination based on caste and the injustice and corruption.

The pace calls for patience. You could mistake Aatish's observations for foolish outsider views while he is trying to make sense of what is happening in India.

However I cannot help but wonder what would happen if the story were to start from chapter twenty two where the pace shot straight into the climax of the story, would it be a very interesting read? Maybe. Most probably.

[Bharti · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story definitely shows one face of the magnanimous Delhi.

[Harleen Arneja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eloquently written, it is a treat to read Aatish Taseer's gripping juxtaposing of the "old" and the "new" Delhi.

[P K · Rating 4 out of 5]

i rarely pick up authors i have not read before and this book is a pleasant surprise . a debut novel set in Delhi which is my city and true to the charms of the place .The protagonist , entitled , vain and confused is portrayed well . and the best part is the Temple goers , people, who , for centuries have visited the Indian pilgrimage sites across the country exploding the myth that there was no India as such but just a collection of kingdoms . Of course the book is set on contemporary India . a must read

[Rakesh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very fluid writing style in first person but the message the books wants to send is obfuscated in contradictions. For an I Dian author it has a phoney tone and one can't relate to the narrator even if is from the privileged lot in Delhi. One can give this a miss.

[Viju · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the fact that this book was both direct and quite sly at references! Easy read. Oscillated between great writing and ‘where does this feature into the narrative?’

I personally like Aatish as a non-fiction writer!

[Sonia Date · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aatish expresses his confusion as a person caught between cultures, and hankering for some roots. His obsession with Aakash is unexplicable. And sometimes the reader is irritable with it. I've always loved his style and his description border on prose.

[Aarathi Ganesan · Rating 4 out of 5]

one of the most insightful texts on what it means to be 'Indian', when from a class/caste that has discarded much of the concept's implicit connotations. A must read

[Lucy Honan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved it

[Vishal Manve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-written! Not a fan but can't complain. The characters, narrative style and intermittent linkages to real-life parallel narratives were thought-provoking, to a certain extent.

[George Ilsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can see why reviews are mixed for this book. It is not the typical novel from India, more "White Tiger" than "A Fine Balance". At times a harsh depiction of caste, class, corruptions and morals, The Temple-Goers is a completely contemporary take on multifaceted India. Much detailed exploration of homo-social behavior (homo-social, not homosexual, although that is also touched on) which probably confuses western readers who have never seen guys walking down the street in India with linked pinkie fingers or draped all over each other. A murder frames the narrative, but a reader who craves resolution will put the book down unsatisfied. Readers who enjoy the neo-realism of rambling ambiguity will be thoroughly rewarded. The meta-narrative put me off a little, being a book about a writer (named Aatish) who is writing a book.