The Red Corridor
The plot is very promising and so is the context against which the drama plays itself out. Nepal with its political upheavals, problems of insurgencies and uprisings, infiltration of refugees into India are very relevant in today’s times. This part has been explained quite well.
- Kanishka Gupta, author of History of Hate,
longlisted for Man Asian Literary Prize, 2009
Over years, thousands of Nepalese have migrated to India for livelihood. Nepal too has a sizeable Indian presence. It is difficult to capture the complexities of adjusting to a new land. Ritu Dokania has attempted this with dexterity.
- Rajendar Menen, author of Karma Sutra-Essays from the Margin
Ramu, a typical Bihari servant, loves to flash his red torch light on the images of voluptuous heroines in the cinema hall and disparages foreign cuisine. He plays Lakshman during the Ramlila festivities, grudging the importance given to Hanuman. Could he be a murderer?
Timila thinks so and interrogates him thinking about their interwoven lives in Chennai. Timila, an expatriate from Nepal, is branded Nepali-girl-with-no brains by her new, urban friends in Chennai. She is mocked since she cannot comprehend western social etiquette. She falls in love with Manian, a Tamilian businessman obsessed with medical research, who tries to cure her facial flaws. In alien Chennai, she meets Ramu, Manian’s servant who incidentally hails from her hometown.
The riots in Nepal flared up by the Madhesis, the Indian-origin-inhabitants of Nepal, thwart the fledgling relationship between Ramu and Timila, who are two Madhesis uprooted and treated shoddily by an unfamiliar world. Manian and Timila find love and success in Chennai when suddenly death comes knocking.... Can Timila find a satisfying denouement?
