Why a Booktrail?
2000s: This is the story of two families from opposite sides of the social spectrum set in the rapidly changing city of Bangalore.
The Hope Factory
What you need to know before your trail
Anand and Kamala – one a successful factory owner, the other his servant . Their different lives are exposed and examined giving insights into the nature of the country which is changing around them. This is not just the story of a rich boss and his poor servant however – for Anand has a rather kind and forward thinking approach to looking after his staff. He is modernist and progressive and shuns the cultural caste system. Kamala on the other hand is a poor widow whose position in life, caste and indeed sex are seen as inferior. She has her pride and her son who she wants to bring up as a fair and equal man. Both are fighting against the ‘natural’ order which exists at the time.
Travel Guide
The whole of Indian society is examined in this book – not only do we get a story of two very different people making their way in live but of a country in deep change – the social depravation, the cultural issues, the ways in which business sometimes works when corruption is king….and the everyday struggle of just trying to stay afloat in a world flooded with inequality on all levels.
India is a country of contrasts it would seem and although the story of rich v poor is looked at – we loved the rather more subtle nods of the traditional v modern debate and the difficult of going against the norm and fighting for what you believe in.
We’re fascinated by India and the cultural background of this country and so to look at how one man tried to gain farm land and build a good life for him and his workers was enlightening. Don;t think there is a very serious tone all the way through – the skill of the writer ensures plenty of wit and dry humour to make it not a history lesson or moral lesson in the slightest but something you will remember and a story that will resonate long after you have read it.
Where Next?
