• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Present Tense Books; (August 12, 2003)

With the Fire (Agni) as the witness, and the bride in his hand, a groom takes seven steps and the sacred oath.

A novel of the contemporary world, human frailties, emotions and upheavals, first time author, Sudarshan Chatterjee weaves Hindu mythology with present day issues in a narrative form. A cardiologist by profession, the novel took him five years to write. It wasn’t an easy choice to make but as he says in the Author’s note at the end of the book “this was creative and emotionally fulfilling”.

The plot is simple enough, an American girl of Indian origin who comes to India in search of her mother. There are no protagonists in the novel although the opening chapter introduces Gopal Roy, a single unemployed youth residing in Haripur in Northern Uttar Pradesh. On a stroll with his friend Anil at the railway station, the two are mistaken to be coolies by a group of NCC boys and girls. The girl who beckons Gopal is Neha Jain, a medical student who leaves the US in defiance of her father searching for her roots and in particular her missing mother.

Very soon Cupid is playing havoc with Neha and Gopal, although the latter remains shy and indecisive till the end inviting Neha’s wrath. Are the two ultimately destined for each other and do they take the traditional Seven Steps is what the novel dwells on?

While Gopal Roy, tries to woo and win over Neha Jain, the author introduces the major characters in an efficient montage of brief chapters: Anil, the bright , resourceful and intelligent friend of Gopal who becomes the Assistant District magistrate, Renu Roy, Gopal’s sister studying astrophysics and in love with Anil, Chachi, Anil’s aunt who survives the horrendous practice of Sati, of being burnt in the funeral pyre on the death of her husband, Nitin Jain, Neha’s brother who rejects his heritage, Ashok Jain, their stern and conservative father and Katherine, the children’s nanny.

Each chapter introduces the various characters in the novel with some interesting reflections on each of their lives and perspective. Chatterjee, then plunges valiantly into the realm of Hindu Mythology of the four stages in a man’s life, Karma, Moksha and Jive, references to Krishna and Radha and provides the readers with pithy tales from mythology.

In a previous interview the author described his foray into writing thus “Writing was a process that dawned, when I went back to reading books” says Chatterjee,”I missed them, because I spent so much time reading medical journals and realized that I like reading fiction again. Also there was this need to do something beyond medicine and writing seemed a great choice to me." (Click here to read complete interview)

The book is available through Amazon.com and at the Andover Book Store.

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