Saraswati

by Gurnaik Johal

Published by Serpents Tail

My review on instagram

Are you in the mood for an epic, substantial and totally satisfying read?   Alternating between the ancient and the modern, Saraswati touches on a huge range of different themes including contemporary Indian politics, traditions, climate change, family trees and ties, eco-terrorism, love, grief, land ownership, melting glaciers, water rights, story-telling and so on and so on.

Centuries ago, myths say, the holy river Saraswati flowed through what is now Northern India. When Satnam – born and bred in London – arrives in his ancestral village for his grandmother’s funeral, he’s astonished to find water in the long-dry well behind her house. This discovery sets in motion a contentious scheme to unearth the lost river and build a gleaming new city on its banks. Adrift from his life in London, Satnam soon finds himself swept up in this fever of Hindu nationalist pride.

As the river alters Satnam’s course, it also reveals buried ties to six distant relatives scattered across the globe, all tied together by their DNA. They are the descendants of a forbidden intercaste marriage in 19th-century Punjab. Sejal and Jugaad had seven children, each of whom they named after a river. A century and a half later, their descendants include an ambitious writer focused on her legacy, a Bollywood stunt double, a Canadian rock musician, a Kenyan archaeology professor and a Mauritian entomologist. These individuals are all brought together in a rapidly changing India, their stories melding and interlinking in a totally engrossing way.  A perfect story to lose yourself in!