Feb 18 2023 to Feb 18 2023 6:30 p.m.

EVENT HAS ENDED

Where

Atta Galatta Bookstore

178, 5th Main Rd, Binnamangala, Hoysala Nagar, Indiranagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560038

Event Description

Speaking Tiger Books & Atta Galatta cordially invite you to the launch of Song of the Golden Sparrow by Nilanjan P. Choudhury ­ Sat, Feb 18th, 6:30 PM Atta Galatta, Indiranagar, Bangalore The author will be in conversation with Sumeet Shetty, President, Literati

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK "In this brilliant satire on modern India, Nilanjan Choudhury mixes fact and fiction with the skill of a master storyteller. Song of the Golden Sparrow is the story of Manhoos and Mary, and mirrored in their tumultuous lives, is the history of free India from 1947 to 2022." - DECCAN CHRONICLE

‘Nilanjan Choudhury is a master of magic surrealism. A tour de force involving mythical beings and real-life figures, the narrative sweeps like a tornado through the history of modern India from Independence to the present day.’ – JUG SURAIYA, Columnist, The Times of India

‘Nilanjan P. Choudhury mixes history, mythology, current affairs, and humour to create a fearless book. Song of the Golden Sparrow is a brilliant satire.’ – HANSDA SOWVENDRA SHEKAR, Sahitya Akademi Award Winner

ABOUT THE BOOK Guilty of the crime of sleeping on the job, the lowly yaksha Prem Chandra Guha, is banished to India on a punishment posting. During his stay here, he must write a sufficiently riveting history of the land of his exile. Prem Chandra arrives in India on the first dawn of her independence and fate brings him to Netarhat, an obscure town near the forests of Chhota Nagpur. It is here that he meets Manhoos, an orphaned urchin who repairs motor vehicles for a living, and his friend Mary, a feisty tribal girl from the nearby Santhal village. Assuming the shape of a common sparrow, Prem Chandra turns into an unobtrusive observer and follows the fortunes of Manhoos and Mary as they travel to Calcutta, and then to Rishikesh, Bangalore, Ahmedabad… As they plunge from one adventure to another, a series of figures play key roles in their lives: the Naxal leader Charu Majumdar; Satyajit Ray, in his crisp dhoti and clipped accent; the ever-giggling Maharishi Mahesh Yogi; the powerful business magnate, Ameer Premji; and even a mysterious man with a 56-inch chest... On the broader canvas of India, other events are playing out. Indira Gandhi declares an Emergency; a new party, the Jana Sangh, is formed; Siddhartha Shankar Ray cleanses West Bengal of Naxalism and Jyoti Basu brings in thirty years of Communism; somewhere, a dam is built, and hundreds of tribals are rendered homeless, elsewhere, a masjid falls, and a deadly virus rises…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nilanjan P. Choudhury’s most recent novel is Shillong Times, a coming-of-age story set against the ethnic conflict in Shillong in the 1980s. It has been widely praised as a significant contribution to North-east literature. His debut novel, a mythological thriller entitled Bali and the Ocean of Milk, was a best-seller. His subsequent writings include The Case of the Secretive Sister, a contemporary detective caper set in Bangalore and two plays on science history—The Square Root of a Sonnet and The Trial of Abdus Salam, which received wide critical acclaim and have been staged across multiple cities in India and the US. Nilanjan studied at IIM, Ahmedabad, and IIT, Kanpur. He grew up in Shillong and now lives in Bangalore with his family.