STORM IN CHANDIGARH

by Nayantara Sahgal ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1968

Vishal Dubey, an idealistic middleaged civil servant in modern Delhi, accepts an assignment as liaison officer between the capital and the recently divided states of Punjab and Hariyana. His task is to cool the conflict between the two and to forestall the strike which threatens to cripple the area's industry. Dubey's activities in Chandigarh (which is the shared capital of the two states), however, have more to do with the domestic crisis of his two friends than with the political problems of his government--and the progress of the novel thereafter is all downhill. It hardly seems worthwhile to turn to a story by an Indian writer (however ""Westernized"" she may be) for the kind of ""philosophy"" which one associates with daytime TV, made in USA. The problems of emancipated Indian women, and of those not so emancipated, are acute to be sure; but ""live for the living"" is the kind of vapid, unsatisfying generality regrettably reminiscent of the columns of My Day. The author's previous This Time of Morning was more sophisticated.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1968

Categories: FICTION