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Mistaken Identity
Mistakenly jailed for treason, Bhushan Singh, the son of a minor Raj, describes his privileged world to his Communist cellmates.
- GenresFictionIndian Literature
204 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
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134 people want to read
About the author
Nayantara Sahgal
48 books63 followersNayantara Sahgal is an Indian writer in English. Her fiction deals with India's elite responding to the crises engendered by political change. She was one of the first female Indian writers in English to receive wide recognition. She is a member of the Nehru family (not the Nehru-Gandhi family as she so often points out), the second of the three daughters born to Jawaharlal Nehru's sister, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit.
She was awarded the 1986 Sahitya Akademi Award for English, for her novel Rich Like Us (1985)awarded by India's National Academy of Letters.
She was awarded the 1986 Sahitya Akademi Award for English, for her novel Rich Like Us (1985)awarded by India's National Academy of Letters.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 19, 2014
What an unexpectedly excellent book. I bought this in Barter Books, a second hand book shop in Alnwick that I went to on my birthday this year. My birthday is in June, and it's sat on my TBR shelf for quite a long while. When I got it, I'd never heard of the writer or the book, and all I know now I discovered since reading the first page. I don't know what Mistaken Identity as a title suggests to you - I think I was expecting something involving spies, maybe I've read too much Ken Follett, or maybe I read the first three pages and completely ignored the blurb on the back of the book. At any rate, I was completely blind-sided by what I actually got.
So it turns out, Nayantara Sahgal has had one hell of an interesting life, and I'm really glad I've now heard of her. She was born in 1927, part of the Indian political elite, and so very self-aware about her circumstances that it comes through in her writing. She has quite an elegant writing style, very spare, and it seems to zoom in on her characters and pin them out like butterflies for you to look at. Which, given the actual content of Mistaken Identity is ideal. An ideal writer, writing an ideal story, about a subject I know very little of, and now I want to know more.
Ignore the one-line Goodreads description of this book, for heaven's sake, this is not "a fable concerning the implacable workings of Karma". In 1929, with India torn apart by riots, and the Russian revolution still very fresh in the world's mind, Bhushan Singh is arrested and put in prison. He's grown up privileged, the son of a minor rajah, but he insists he's completely uninterested in politics and that he has no direction, very little purpose. Is that plausible? I still wonder if he might not be telling the whole truth. But from there the plot splits: backwards through his adolescence, his family history and the influences of his parents and acquaintances, the mistakes he's made and forced on other people, how he became so directionless, if that's even what he is; and forwards, to the prison he shares with eight other men, all of whom are working class revolutionaries, strikers, intent on having their voices heard by the ruling elite, but with too varied and fragmented a collection of voices for them to be heard properly.
It's a curious book. On the one hand, it deals with politics that are extremely relevant, even while it's placed dead set in 1920s India (and, by the way, I really, really need to venture further in that direction with my reading material in future). On the other hand, Singh skips so lightly over the politics he finds himself in, constantly declining to engage until he backs into them, and that's somehow reflected in Sahgal's writing. There's never a solid driven-home point, she doesn't beat you about the head with politics, and it's a little bit disconcerting, or maybe it's just that that's not what I'm used to, and while I was reading this, my partner was sat next to me working his way through The Hunger Games (with added ooh-you'll-like-this-bit commentary from yours truly). Anything seems subtle next to that.
It's light, it's clever, it's a souffle of a book and I wolfed it all down in one sitting. Try it, if you can find it. I'd love to be able to discuss it with you.
So it turns out, Nayantara Sahgal has had one hell of an interesting life, and I'm really glad I've now heard of her. She was born in 1927, part of the Indian political elite, and so very self-aware about her circumstances that it comes through in her writing. She has quite an elegant writing style, very spare, and it seems to zoom in on her characters and pin them out like butterflies for you to look at. Which, given the actual content of Mistaken Identity is ideal. An ideal writer, writing an ideal story, about a subject I know very little of, and now I want to know more.
Ignore the one-line Goodreads description of this book, for heaven's sake, this is not "a fable concerning the implacable workings of Karma". In 1929, with India torn apart by riots, and the Russian revolution still very fresh in the world's mind, Bhushan Singh is arrested and put in prison. He's grown up privileged, the son of a minor rajah, but he insists he's completely uninterested in politics and that he has no direction, very little purpose. Is that plausible? I still wonder if he might not be telling the whole truth. But from there the plot splits: backwards through his adolescence, his family history and the influences of his parents and acquaintances, the mistakes he's made and forced on other people, how he became so directionless, if that's even what he is; and forwards, to the prison he shares with eight other men, all of whom are working class revolutionaries, strikers, intent on having their voices heard by the ruling elite, but with too varied and fragmented a collection of voices for them to be heard properly.
It's a curious book. On the one hand, it deals with politics that are extremely relevant, even while it's placed dead set in 1920s India (and, by the way, I really, really need to venture further in that direction with my reading material in future). On the other hand, Singh skips so lightly over the politics he finds himself in, constantly declining to engage until he backs into them, and that's somehow reflected in Sahgal's writing. There's never a solid driven-home point, she doesn't beat you about the head with politics, and it's a little bit disconcerting, or maybe it's just that that's not what I'm used to, and while I was reading this, my partner was sat next to me working his way through The Hunger Games (with added ooh-you'll-like-this-bit commentary from yours truly). Anything seems subtle next to that.
It's light, it's clever, it's a souffle of a book and I wolfed it all down in one sitting. Try it, if you can find it. I'd love to be able to discuss it with you.
June 30, 2015
This book has been sitting in my book almirah for close to eight years now. I was supposed to have read it all those years ago for my M.Phil which had a course on Indian English Literature. At the last minute, the syllabus was changed and another of Nayantara Sehgal's book was prescribed- " Storm in Chandigarh", which I enjoyed much more than this one. I had already purchased the books for the old syllabus and that's how this book happened to come to me. Why I am giving you a history of this book is because I think it's important when a book is read and how it comes to you. As one character in the delightful " The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society" says -" Books have a homing instinct." Basically, books know when to come to you.
Now about the book itself : I have a basic problem with the plot. It is too slow moving and only the flashbacks draw you in. The court proceedings and the jail house narrative is not that appealing. Granted that it gives a compelling portrayal of the Indian freedom movement but it would have been better if the protagonist actually tried to be a little " political" and not so lacklustere. The romance(s) also are just that - lacklustre. The two stars are for the flashbacks and the language which is extremely metaphorical and poetic. All in all an OK read. " Storm in Chandigarh " was much better.
Now about the book itself : I have a basic problem with the plot. It is too slow moving and only the flashbacks draw you in. The court proceedings and the jail house narrative is not that appealing. Granted that it gives a compelling portrayal of the Indian freedom movement but it would have been better if the protagonist actually tried to be a little " political" and not so lacklustere. The romance(s) also are just that - lacklustre. The two stars are for the flashbacks and the language which is extremely metaphorical and poetic. All in all an OK read. " Storm in Chandigarh " was much better.
April 2, 2023
I think Nayantara Sahgal is an underrated author who needs to be acknowledged for her scathing wit, sharp observation of the great Indian hypocrisy, and a fearless thinker who does not flinch from challenging prevailing social evils , most of which we see, live and breath but do not dare question. Above all, she has a vast personal and political knowledge of global politics, a great memory and the ingenuity to weave together violent history from Tsar’s Russia to Mussolini’s Italy to right-wing politics of India - all are woven together with threads of different colours creating one unique design in which the entire humanity seems to be getting suffocated.
July 17, 2017
3 1/2 stars
July 25, 2016
My review at the time I read it:
"This book jumped out at me from the shelf while I was looking for another book. And as luck would have it, I loved it! It is set in post WWI India.
"The title refers to the hero's arrest and trial for conspiracy - a baseless charge from a threatened British Empire. But it also refers to, I believe, an obsession/quest that was central to his identity.
"The book was well-constructed, mixing jail/court scenes with memories of youth, and ending with a series of surprises.
"The author was good with imagery, for example 'if we all spat together, the sovereign power would drown' (page 38)."
"This book jumped out at me from the shelf while I was looking for another book. And as luck would have it, I loved it! It is set in post WWI India.
"The title refers to the hero's arrest and trial for conspiracy - a baseless charge from a threatened British Empire. But it also refers to, I believe, an obsession/quest that was central to his identity.
"The book was well-constructed, mixing jail/court scenes with memories of youth, and ending with a series of surprises.
"The author was good with imagery, for example 'if we all spat together, the sovereign power would drown' (page 38)."
January 17, 2012
(1989 notebook - I'm guessing that I would have given it 4 stars, maybe 3 and a half):
a rich playboy in prison with political prisoners at a time of Gandhi's marches and hunger strike and imprisonment (1920s). A wonderful book. Beautiful and funny. I'd like to read it again.
[but I haven't. Might do now though].
a rich playboy in prison with political prisoners at a time of Gandhi's marches and hunger strike and imprisonment (1920s). A wonderful book. Beautiful and funny. I'd like to read it again.
[but I haven't. Might do now though].
July 31, 2009
It was very boring. It is about a spoilt son of a Raja during colonial times and has the backdrop of the Meerut Case.
August 5, 2012
Practically unreadable.
January 21, 2015
Really loved this book! Reading fiction after a long time. This book is sharp, witty and uproariously funny!
September 22, 2016
stopped around p62
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews