Description

A classic from one of Indias greatest writers with a stunning new cover in water colour . In this sensitive portrayal of human nature, Anita Desai, one of Indias foremost writers, paints an intimate portrait of lives impacted by the quest for identity and purpose. Deven, a Hindi lecturer in small-town Mirpore, lives a humdrum existence. A chance to interview NurIndias g A classic from one of Indias greatest writers with a stunning new cover in water colour . In this sensitive portrayal of human nature, Anita Desai, one of Indias foremost writers, paints an intimate portrait of lives impacted by the quest for identity and purpose. Deven, a Hindi lecturer in small-town Mirpore, lives a humdrum existence. A chance to interview NurIndias greatest living Urdu poetoffers him an escape from his dreary life. But the Nur he meets is an enfeebled man, surrounded by clashing wives and preying sycophants. Devens decision to be the custodian of Nurs verse gives birth to an unusual alliance between the two. Stimulating and thought provoking, In Custody is a brilliant parable lamenting the gradual corrosion of culture and tradition in the face of modernity, and a dazzling study of the complexity of human relationships. About the Author Anita Desai is one of Indias foremost writers. She has written numerous works of fiction, including Clear Light of Day 1980, In Custody 1984, and Fasting, Feasting 1999all shortlisted for the Man Booker Prizeas well as Baumgartners Bombay 1988 and The Zigzag Way 2004. In Custody was made into a film by Merchant-Ivory productions, starring Shashi Kapoor and Om Puri. Her most recent work is The Artist of Disappearance 2011. A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in London, the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York, Girton College and Clare Hall at the University of Cambridge, and most recently Sahitya Akademi in India, Anita Desai has also been a Professor of Writing at MIT and has frequently been honoured with awards, among them the Alberto Moravia Prize for Literature and the Padma Shri. Born in Mussoorie to a German mother and a Bengali father, she was educated in Delhi, and currently divides her time between USA and Mexico.