THE SERGEANT’S SON

by Ashim Choudhury

  1. ISBN: 978-81-291-2110-3
  2. Pages: 256 pages
  3. Date: January 2013

ABOUT THIS BOOK

In the late sixties, Sergeant Samar, a minor employee of the air force, his wife
Basanti and their four sons move from small-town Barrackpore to Bombay. The four
boys grow up in the rapidly changing, cosmopolitan city that is just beginning to
recognize its aspirations. Kalu, the third son, dreams of being an artist.
But dreams are easily obscured by circumstances. Kalu’s parents drift apart under
the pressure of mutual resentments and casual violence. In school, Kalu cannot
keep up with his rich English-speaking friends; only art gives him solace. But even
as Samar grudgingly accepts his son’s artistic aspirations, he is unwilling to support
him. Faced with the possibility of joining the air force in his father’s footsteps,
Kalu is forced to make an impossible choice.
As much a story of a difficult childhood as a snapshot of India of the 1960s, The
Sergeant’s Son is a must-read.

AUTHOR OF THE BOOK

Ashim Choudhury was a corporal in the air force before he crash-landed into
journalism and cartooning in 1992. Soon jobless, he got a break with the UN in
Delhi, where he hopped several agencies. He also worked at the UN missions in the
African states of Liberia and Sudan. An avid storyteller, his dream of becoming a
newspaper columnist was never fulfilled. An inveterate traveller and a self-professed
environmentalist, painting landscapes still remains his first love.