I remember reading THE VILLAGE BY THE SEA when I was ten !
Ten years since then landed up now in IN CUSTODY !
Written in 1984, the book is about a small town teacher ,Deven Sharma who teaches Hindi at school but his love remains for Urdu ,the language and its poetry.His childhood friend Murad, who is a publisher of an Urdu magazine in Delhi comes looking for him,to the town of Mirpore.Murad wants Deven to interview Nur Shahjehanabadi, a famous poet in his times and a favourite of Devan's for his magazine.Deven who feels Urdu poetry is a means of escape from his unsatisfactory life, in which he expresses his frustration by barking at his wife, takes the opportunity. Nur,who is now improvised, couped into two wifes who are dominating, and Nur himself who had lost his poetic touch, and prefers to squander away his money, is no longer the idol he was.He spends his time chatting with his so-called fans, and brings in no money.
Devan tries to have a talk with Nur about the interview. He does manage to do so,by getting his college to put up money for tape recorder.The tape recorder is a second hand version, which he must record within the few days that he manages to get the poet, away from home. A series of goof ups and mistakes following this, turning it into a hilarious rigmarole.
In Custody , has poetry and melancholic touch of loneliness and sadness. Blending all these with a touch of humour is Desai's effective touch to the novel.
Until the publication of ' IN CUSTODY' one might have said that the subject of Anitha Desai's novel was solitude. Her memorable characters in some of her early works like Cry ,the peacock, were unique isolated figures. The book is thus a remarkable piece of work as Desai chooses to write not just of solitude but of friendship,the pros and perils of friendship !
I aim to tell the truth about any subject, not romance or fantasy, not avoid the truth - ANITHA DESAI
