Every cloud, they say, has a silver lining. If there is one action of India's 1962 fiasco in the Northeast that counts as a moment to treasure, it is the battle of Nuranang. Sikhs, Rajputs, Gorkhas and Garhwalis all fought like tigers. But towering above their stories of courage is a saga of selfless love and indomitable courage. The actors on this brief stage were a Garhwali solider, and two anonymous Monpa girls. This is the story of that legendary soldier, Jaswant Singh Rawat. When Jaswant Singh Rawat arrives in Tawang with his battalion, he is already a hero for his friends and colleagues. But his meeting with the sisters, Sela and Noora, transforms their lives and the history of a nation, in a way rarely seen before. Love blossoms, even as the dogs of war are unleashed. Will Jaswant's love for his Monpa beloved win the day? Are Noora and Sela's pristine affections doomed to be crushed under the boots of a marauding, relentless enemy? Will hate and jealousy triumph, or love conquer?
About the Author
Rupa Srikumar is a poet, translator and novelist. She has also written for the radio and the stage. With her husband A.K. Srikumar, she has translated Yasmin Khalid Rafi's Mohammed Rafi: My Abba - A Memoir from Hindi to English. Her radio plays have been broadcast by the All India Radio. Her adaptation of Jai Shankar Prasad's Hindi play ‘Ajatashatru' was staged in Delhi University some years ago. Mahaveer is Rupa's first novel. A.K. Srikumar is a novelist, translator, poet and playwright. Srikumar also writes fiction for children. Most of his nine children's books won first or second prizes in the Children's Book Trust's annual competition. Operation Polo (1997) was adjudged the ‘Best Children's Book of the Year'. Some of Srikumar's poetry has been published by the Times of India. His play ‘Bhishma' was staged in Ahmedabad. The novels The Wonderful World of Nilayam Swamy (1981) and Conversations with a Motor-cycle (1984) were published by Writers' Workshop, Kolkata. His historical novel The Begum's Secret (2010) was long-listed for the Vodafone-Crossword Literary Prize. Srikumar's English translation of T.V. Varkey's Malayalam classic Manju Pokunna Thalamurakal (The Vanishing Generations) was published in September 2017.
