In Custody

A memorable book, the best that Anita Desai has written. The StandardDeven, a Hindi lecturer at Lala Ram Lal College, Mirpore, can t quite believehis luck when he is asked to interview Nur, India's greatest Urdu poet. But theailing, debauched old man he discovers in the lanes behind Delhi s JamaMasjid bears no resemblance to the idol of his youth, surrounded by feudingwives and a herd of parasitic followers who drink his whisky and eat his food.Timid, self-effacing Deven is emboldened even as he is bullied, cheated, anddrawn into a new captivity. He will become estranged from his family andfaculty and incur countless debts to attempt recording Nur's works forposterity - in a hired room that, typically, turns out to be part of a ChandniChowk brothel. What will become of poor Deven?