Book description
In this, his fifth novel, one of India's most widely read authors
returns to territories he knows best: twentieth-century Indian history,
bogus religion and sexuality. After Nehru, Victor Jai Bhagwan is Mahatma
Gandhi's favourite Indian-a brilliant young man with the temperament of
a leader and fiercely committed to his country. Though Victor adores and
respects Gandhi, he disagrees with the Mahatma's vision for the future
of India. He returns from university in England determined to bring the
benefits of modern industry to the subcontinent, and within a few years
of India's independence, becomes the country's biggest tycoon. But this
is not the only ideal of Gandhi's that he defies: facing a midlife
crisis, he falls passionately in love with a tantric god-woman (who
keeps a tiger as her pet and has a dubious past). She introduces him to
the pleasures of unbridled sexuality, but also becomes the reason for
his downfall. Comic, tender and erotic by turns, Burial at Sea is
vintage Khushwant Singh.
