KNOCK ON THE SOUL

In Sharma’s novel, an Indian power broker’s perspective is changed by an idealistic village leader.

“Everything is possible…if you pay the right amount of money to the right people at the right time,” affirms Nambardaar, a billionaire businessperson who’s built an empire on the backs of the poor. He enables embezzlement, bribes government officials, and blithely operates a bus line that’s responsible for multiple hit-and-run fatalities. In a system supported by caste inequality, justice proves elusive for the citizenry. However, Nambardaar’s life takes a turn after he endorses Gangu, a member of the so-called “untouchable” caste, to lead the village of Setpur as a political ploy. Gangu’s quiet integrity proves transformative, unsettling the balance of local power, and when Gangu appoints Muskan, a socially progressive member of the Brahmin caste, to serve in the Setpur school, the unscrupulousness of an entire system is put on display. Muskan finds a school in shambles, with starving children and absent teachers, and he reports the intolerable situation to the district magistrate. Yet Muskan’s altruism comes at a dangerous price that may cost Setpur children their lives. When Nambardaar’s sons are gravely injured by his corruption, the wealthy man finally begins to see the error of his ways. Sharma’s novel offers readers a blend of beauty and grit while highlighting political injustices that include unpayable loans and rampant pollution. The work also effectively confronts the consequences of a caste system in which oppressed people are forced into silence. Nambardaar’s initial disregard for the lives of the poor is shocking, and it invites readers to consider the ways in which others excuse oppression in the name of personal gain. The work engagingly culminates in a celebration of the human spirit as an oppressor shares the plight of those he’s abused and is spiritually reborn. Not all aspects of some characters’ stories are fully resolved, but readers will embrace the ending, with its assurance that love can be awakened in the hardest of hearts.

A compelling story of redemption and renewal.