Product Description

At 52, Shiv Murthy is a New Delhi professor of history. He leads a mild, unremarkable life until, while his wife is away, things spin out of control. First, the young and passionate daughter of an old friend breaks her leg and moves in with him. Even as he struggles to care for Meena and ignore his increasing attraction to her, a group of religious extremists challenges one of his lessons on medieval India. His instinct is to apologize, but the voice inside his head keeps asking: “Do you imagine an ordinary man cannot be a hero?” The decision he makes will prompt readers to ask themselves the same question.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #799690 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-10
• Released on: 2004-08-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Thoughtful and perceptive, this novel by a young Indian writer-her first to be published here (her debut novel, The Thousand Faces of Night, won the Commonwealth Prize for first fiction)-suggests provocative parallels between life in contemporary New Delhi and the U.S. Its main issue is the militant attempt by religious fundamentalists to revise a historical event. The man who unwittingly sets this uproar in motion is diffident and naive Shiv Murthy, a 53-year-old history professor at a correspondence college. An extremist group accuses Shiv of anti-Hindu bias because of his lesson about the 12th-century poet and social reformer Basavanna, who campaigned for citizen equality and called for the end of the caste system. The media sensationalize the dispute, hate mail pours in and violent protests occur on both sides. These unsettling events come at a time when Shiv's personal life has acquired a new dimension. His 24-year-old ward, Meena, who has broken her leg, is recuperating in Shiv's home, and Shiv's wife is away. In addition to the sexual feelings she arouses in Shiv, Meena introduces him to young political activists who take up his cause. The university, meanwhile, withdraws his syllabus and pressures him to issue a public apology. Shiv's moral crisis brings back memories of his father, a social reformer who disappeared when Shiv was a boy, but whose lessons about personal courage still resonate. While the narrative poses important questions, it lacks dramatic tension. Meena's presence in Shiv's home feels too convenient, while Shiv's largely reactive personality is colorless, even when he does make a decision to attempt "a raggedy bit of heroism." Still, Hariharan succeeds in illuminating the siege-like mentality that exists when extremists set the agenda for intellectual culture.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Historian Shiv Murthy enjoys the intellectual challenge and the serenity of his work writing lesson booklets for a New Delhi correspondence university, an existence rendered all the more meditative this summer because of his wife's sojourn in Seattle with their grown daughter. But his tranquility is short-lived. Meena, a 24-year-old student and political activist whose out-of-town parents asked Shiv to be her "local guardian," has broken her knee and needs a place to stay. Shiv is utterly unprepared for the cosmic impact this bright, zealous, independent, and voluptuous young woman has on him, particularly after his frankly human interpretation of the life of Basava, a revered twelfth-century Hindu poet and revolutionary, enrages a fundamentalist religious group and puts his career in jeopardy. With entrancing grace and adept distillation, Hariharan orchestrates a bittersweet time of siege and a piquant season of awakening as she considers the persistent significance of the past, the toxicity of dogma, and the inseparability of the personal and the political. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
“A heady mix of myth, modern mores, politics and lust. . . . Heartbreakingly funny, moving and as relevant as today’s headlines.”—The Washington Post

“Githa Hariharan’s fiction is wonderful—full of subtleties and humor and tenderness.” –Michael Ondaatje

“If this premise seems to be drawn from the headlines of modern, B.J.P.-dominated India, Hariharan amplifies the themes of courage, dissent, and responsibility in her protagonist’s private life. . . . The result is an engaging portrait of the mild-mannered professor.” –The New Yorker

“Appealing. . . . By turns bewildered, titillated, embarrassed, and frightened out of his wits, Shiv makes a sweetly sympathetic hero for a story that is part comedy of manners, part comedy of ideas.”—The Boston Globe

"A modern fable . . . beautifully told in a spare style that is as modern as its subject."--The Baltimore Sun

"A witty, insightful novel . . . Hariharan tells the tale with a realistic grasp of how people interact and a highly evolved sense of the absurd." --The Seattle Times

“Intelligent . . . [Hariharan’s] deceptively simple prose belies the artistry of her phrasings and she writes with an infectious concern for her characters.” --San Francisco Chronicle

“Admirable. [Its] themes . . . extend beyond India or its current situation. They are universal. Ms. Hariharan has written a fine novel that leaves much to ponder long after its conclusion.” –The Richmond-Times Dispatch

“[Hariharan is] an outstanding writer.” –J. M. Coetzee

“Eloquently written . . . a quick read, and fascinating to any outsider. A modern book, it reads like a classic with gorgeous prose and intense conflict.” –The Oklahoma Gazette

"Imaginative . . . entertaining . . . [The] strength of this highly readable tale is that it is a delicate blend of humor, tenderness and insight." --Tucson Citizen

“Wonderful . . . Ms. Hariharan executes the vastness of India’s historical terrain, and the minutiae of one sagging human being finding a flicker of inspiration, with great dignity and intimate humor.” –The Asian Reporter

"Engrossing . . . re-establishes [Hariharan's] reputation as a deft storyteller." --India-West

“Hariharan captures Shiv’s besieged existence with just the right amount of angst, confusion, polemic and humour. Hariharan has written . . . [a] persuasive work that tells of the perils of sectarianism and silence in the face of oppression.” –Far Eastern Economic Review

“Hariharan writes with anguish, pain and anger about what is happening to our country. I put In Times of Siege on top of my list of books that must be read.” –Khushwant Singh in The Hindustan Times

Customer Reviews

Fine fictional treatment of an important issue.
A low key, middle aged history professor in Delhi has his calm world torn awry when a group of religious fundamentalists seize upon his scholarly interpretations of a medieval poet saint's life, twisting and sensationalizing the work to further their own aims. Githa Hariharan deals with the theme of extremism deftly and with an impressive depth of understanding, not only of human nature, but of ancient and modern Indian history.

Throughout the ages, narrow minded religious extremists have been responsible for a disproportionate share of the world's horrors (I depict several of these events in my historical novels India Treasures and India Fortunes). In our present age, as Hariharan so adeptly shows, fundamentalist extremism can be a major threat to academic freedom, as well as to a civil society. Although the troublemakers in this book are Indian Hindus, in only a slightly different setting they could just as well be extremist Christians or Muslims threatening anyone who doesn't subscribe to their own strict views. In this case, the previously uncouragious Shiv Murthy, with some inspiration from the young college woman he is taking care of, summons the strength to take his life in new directions. The reader gladly identifies with him as he resists not only his antagonists, but also the timid university administration which would compromise its principles.

The novel is a must for readers with a particular interest in India, but anyone enjoying well written, serious fiction will find it highly rewarding. Review by Gary Worthington

�When they came for me, there was no one left to speak��
This elegant little novel begins with an unusual arrangement: a college student breaks her leg and asks her guardian, a friend of her parents, if she can stay with him until the cast is removed in six weeks. Professor Shiv Murthy is tantalized by the idea, even though his wife is currently visiting their daughter in Seattle and Meena doesn't think her parents need to know about her slight inconvenience. Of course, the middle-aged man is unable to resist this faintly scandalous arrangement.

Shiv composes medieval history courses for college correspondence students, so it is a simple thing for him to request a leave of absence from his assigned office, working from home on his lectures. Meena occupies the professor's small study, enjoying his attentions; neither expects the political maelstrom about to descend upon their quietude.

The professor has drifted into euphoric days, shopping and cooking for two, chatting comfortably over afternoon tea, Murthy indulging in the occasional sexual fantasy: "Wherever he is in the house....Shiv is aware of another presence. The woman in the narrow bed in his study, a young woman." But Shiv's private romantic fantasies are innocent.

Shiv's content is Meena's boredom. In any case, their peace is destroyed by a phone call, when a reporter asks whether Professor Murthy is taking a "forced" leave. A group of fundamentalists has attacked Murthy's lecture on the life of a 12th Century poet/reformer, who challenged the caste system, working for social reform and equality. The extremist's real agenda is the suppression of any conflict in Indian history, in effect, historical revisionism, creating the illusion of a perfect, homogenous society. Their methods of bullying and intimidation are not an issue.

Shiv is a simple, uncomplicated man who avoids confrontation. With the young woman's guidance, Shiv understands the significance of the situation. Rising to the occasion, Meena demands that he take a stand, calling her college friends to aid in his defense. Inspired by the poet's struggle in 1168 and his own predicament in 2000, Shiv is inspired to speak out against the bullying of the fundamentalists and his right to teach history with integrity.

While Meena is at the center of their small world, Shiv is isolated from the larger concerns around him. Yet Meena is the catalyst that enables Shiv to confront his biggest challenge. Their intimate domestic contretemps evolves into an awakening to the dangers of revisionism, the implicit deception of censorship on demand.

Hariharan has written a parable for our times, one with an important message for any country that allows the censorship of facts. The author deftly stages her battle in New Delhi, but the parallels are obvious. This powerful novel offers a thoughtful reminder about the freedoms we take for granted. Luan Gaines/2003.