Absolute Jafar
Brighu's world has shifted. Where martial arts once defined him, badminton now fills his afternoons. The sharp edges of rage have dulled into something closer to weariness. His pace has slowed, his metabolism labours, yet certain habits cling stubbornly: the refusal to hail a taxi, an unease with the digital realm, a creeping dread about what lies ahead. So he wanders. Restlessly, across familiar and foreign streets alike, as aimless as a private investigator with no client. A romance kindled between India and Pakistan endures through years of bitter nationalism, only to fracture when transplanted to European soil. Jafar emerges from this union, burdened by a past he never chose. Growing up in Berlin, he becomes the keeper of his father's nostalgia. Brighu, clinging to memories of a homeland that fades further with each passing year, shares tales at bedtime: fantastical sultans, shape-shifting spirits, street vendors hawking their wares, beloved oddballs scattered across Delhi, Calcutta and Karachi. Sarnath Banerjee weaves something quietly profound here, a story about how geography, politics and bureaucracy quietly remake us. It's simultaneously tender and unsentimental, anchored by surprising humour and genuine compassion, exploring what it truly means to belong when home itself becomes a question without answers.
- Author: Sarnath Banerjee
- Publisher: HarperCollins India
- Genre: Travel Writing & Guides
- ISBN: 978-9369897025
- Pages: 272 pages