Serious Men (2010)

Hardback

Language: English

Author: Manu Joseph

Social divide is something we Indians are very familiar with. Caste system & reservation has become the fief of our political masters who flash these cards only when our votes are needed. But it is something that affects many of us Indians in our daily lives from malicious stereotyping to outright slander and rejection. This work of fiction is the story of Ayyan Mani, a dalit who lives in a one room apartment in one of the many Chawls of Mumbai with his wife and son.

Mani is the personal assistant to the director of the Institute of Theory & Research, a research institute supposedly dominated by Brahmin scientists. Mani’s boss is a world famous physicist who nearly won the physics Nobel and who had a very famous run in with the Pope. Although he is aging he maintains a firm grip over the institutes functioning and is working on his pet project of proving the presence of alien microbes in the upper atmosphere and his autocratic ways are resented by a good section of people in the institute which results in a power struggle.

On the other side, Mani who resented the domination of Brahmins starts feeding his 10 year old convent going son Adi with intelligent questions to ask his teachers so that he can be labeled a genius. The modus operendi is to get the boy ask these questions to his teachers at random like questions on Arithmetic progression or about acceleration due to gravity.

Mani also pays one of the reporters of a small time newspaper to insert an article saying that Adi has won a science contest conducted by the Swiss science foundation. Step by step he succeeds in his mission of getting the world term his son a genius. He uses the feud between the two Brahmin leaders of the institute to further his ambition of showcasing his son’s genius.

This is a work of satire that gives us a glimpse of the social divides in India on the basis of caste. And how one can manipulate the situation to his or her own advantage.

Amazingly real and relatable and a good read.