THE TEMPLE-GOERS
Shortlisted for Costa Forst Novel Award 2010. It is spring in Delhi when the narrator arrives. There are bright buses on new roads and metro construction is on in full swing. New townships called Sectorpur and Phasenagar have joined the metropolis' sprawl. Back after several years abroad, the narrator is intrigued by the transformations he sees. Amid this bustle, he wants to settle down to revise a novel, learn Urdu and join a gym. He meets Zafar Moradabadi, an old city poet, and Aakash Sharma. A beautiful friendship blooms with Zafar; but with the ambitious, irresistible gym trainer Aakash, something more sinister takes shape. Spring turns to summer - a summer abroad - and summer to winter; his relationship with his lovely girlfriend Sanyogita starts to falter, his book suffers. He becomes entwined in Aakash's secret affair with a robust heiress.