Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's new book, An Uncommon Love: The Early Life of Sudha and Narayana Murthy, offers a detailed portrayal of the early years of Sudha Murty and Narayana Murthy, including their romantic courtship, the opposition they faced in their marriage, and the development of Infosys, the multibillion-dollar company co-founded by Narayana Murthy. It will be launched at Jaipur Lit Fest 2024
This novel about the myth of Ahalya turns the traditional seduction narrative on its head
Author Koral Dasgupta shifts the focus to another sexual relationship altogether. Detail from a painting of Ahalya by Raja Ravi Varma. | Public Domain
An important trend in Indian-English writing, post-millennium, has been the reincarnation of mythology as bestsellers, thanks to writers like Devdutt Pattanaik (who is also an illustrator) and Amish. There have been retellings by other gifted writers of fiction as well: Chitra Banerjee Divakurani’s
The Palace of Illusions: A Novel (2008) and
The Forest of Enchantments (2019) immediately come to mind. However, none of them featured Ahalya as a protagonist. Enter Koral Dasgupta.