Absurd comedy and grand horrors
I wanted
something light and fulfilling to read on a journey, and picked The Revenge of the
Non-vegetarian by Upamanyu Chatterjee from a teetering pile (a very patient
teetering pile) on my bedside. It turned out to be the perfect choice because I
thoroughly enjoyed every one of its well-chosen words. At the end, the jacket
blurb included this sentence in the author description: “He spent over thirty
calm and undistinguished years in the Indian Administrative Service; during
that time, he wrote six novels – when no one was looking.”
That was
inspiring – I got online looking for the other five. I remembered reading English,
August when it was new and enjoying it thoroughly as a work of literature
but being revolted by quite a bit of the story.
The
description of The Assassination of Indira Gandhi said that “In the
twelve long stories that comprise this volume, he investigates, as only he can,
the absurd comedy and the grand horrors of the human condition.”
‘Absurd
comedy’ and ‘grand horrors’ are indeed the fabric of what I’ve read of Upamanyu
Chatterjee. Perhaps not entirely of the human condition, but certainly of a
westernized IAS officer reigning supreme in rural India.
The
Revenge of the Non-vegetarian is one of those books that evokes vivid images and transports the
reader deep into its plot using tightly-packed and crisp prose. At one level it’s
a grotesque story of vicious murder followed by a ludicrous implementation of justice.
At another, it holds a mirror up to us as a people who exploit those weaker
than ourselves, make the wretched even more wretched, and then accuse and
incarcerate them of wretchedness. It is a brilliant parody of the truth that
comprises India and its administration.
