Bodhi Banerjee is a small-time real estate developer, a promoter, who is always pondering the big moral question of all time—howto do good and be right and win at the same time? Bodhi’s life unravels as he unwillingly becomes the central figure in a struggleto preserve a heritage building. His descent is assisted by a large cast of characters. Neera, the woman of Bodhi’s dreams, who keepsdropping hints that she may be in love with someone else. Baba, his father, who wants Bodhi to dream of someone else. Cookie,his business partner, who has several disturbing tendencies. Chhotomama, Bodhi’s communist uncle, who instigates the fightover the historic house. And a family of fallen tycoons, including a deceased philandering patriarch, his delusional widow, their twoworthless sons and their wives and an almost-forgotten bastard son. These characters collide with increasing velocity over twomonths of farce in sweltering Calcutta. Can anything survive these collisions of muddled men and their desires?
Sanjoy Chakravorty has written several books of nonfiction on subjects like inequality, industrialisation, immigration, and land. His last book (The Price of Land) was shortlisted for the 213 Crossword Award. The Promoter is his first work of fiction. It was written in Philadelphia and Calcutta, the gorgeously crumbling twins born a decade apart, where he spends most of his time.
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