Ayush lives in a posh London suburb with his partner, Luke, and their twin children. Ayush, who comes from India, experiences dissatisfaction with his life and its surroundings, expressing concern about the environment and the legacy he intends to leave to his offspring. One evening, Emily boarded a taxi and became involved in a hit-and-run situation. She fails to report the young man driving the taxi, who contacts her the following day and their lives become intertwined. Subita and her two children live in a little village in India, and they can never fill their stomachs. As part of a program to help poor people, they get a cow. But it’s just more work and worries and doesn’t improve their lives. These three very different stories, linked by concerns of the future, poverty and environmental worries, are all quite anguishing. A beautiful and fluid writing that I will go back to.
“Ayush has got his teeth and jaws into efficiency and he won’t let go. How quickly everything that begins as an innocent discussion, a basic human need to talk, exchange information, use the facility of language to deepen and enrich social bonds, becomes a conflagration, bringing down the roof and the walls.”