Author(s): Aravind Jayan

Fiction

A scandalous video. A humiliated family. And a brother stuck in the middle... 'A sparkling debut, full of tenderness and mischief. It's as if Roth and Narayan had a baby' - Aatish Taseer It is a day of triumph for Appa and Amma, who have driven home a shiny new Honda Civic to show off to their neighbours in Blue Hills housing colony. But their eldest son Sreenath is behaving strangely, and his younger brother soon finds out why: a clip of Sreenath and his girlfriend Anita has been posted to a porn site, and is gaining traction. When the news breaks, their parents' anxiously acquired status is shattered, and the war between them becomes a viral story, emblematic of a wider generational fight. Our narrator must become a reluctant middleman, seduced by the freedoms his older brother and his friends point to, while desperate to restore the family unity. Full of bittersweet comedy, and insight into contemporary Indian society and an online generation, this is a story about now with the feel of a classic.