The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay
Shalini, a wealthy and restless young woman from Bangalore, travels to a remote Himalayan village in Kashmir’s unstable north after learning of her mother’s passing. She is determined to confront Bashir Ahmed, a lovely Kashmiri salesman who frequented her childhood home because she is convinced that the death of her mother has something to do with the man’s disappearance, which has been going on for ten years. Shalini is nonetheless confronted by Kashmir’s politics as well as the complicated past of the local family who takes her in upon her arrival. Shalini is forced to make a number of decisions that could have grave consequences for the people she has grown to love when the village life becomes tense and old animosities threaten to erupt into violence.
The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay
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- The Far Field Hardcover – January 15, 2019
The Far Field by Pushcart Prize-winning author Madhuri Vijay follows a complex flaneuse across the Indian subcontinent as she comes to terms with her aspirations, her past, and the turbulent present. It is exquisitely tactile and expansive in historical and sociopolitical scope.
The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay is a fascinating meditation on loss, remorse, and the boundaries of compassion as it expertly tackles Indian politics, class prejudice, and sexuality through the eyes of an outsider.
Shalini, the main character from Bangalore, India, travels to Kashmir just after she reaches a precarious turning point in her life at the age of 30. She decides to look for someone who she had a lot of respect for as a child. She has the same level of emotional impact as a well-drawn but modernized Dickens protagonist. Particularly the residents of the mountain communities, the characters in this story have such distinct personalities. Vijay notices an openness and a direct way of addressing the numerous persons Shalini meets. Their warmth stands out and contrasts favourably with Shalini’s more distant, distrusting, and guarded big-city demeanour. The smallest, cleanest mud and wood homes, which overlook alpine meadows, are available. They are designed for spartan existence.
The protagonist of this narrative is a young Bangalore lady who recently lost her mother and travels to Kashmir, where her mother spent a lot of time, to learn more about some of the untold details of her life. Through that, the author conveys a vast narrative about generations, class, religion, and Kashmir itself, which as you are surely aware, has a turbulent past.
