FEAR OF HOPE: An Indian–American Saga

by Sanmay Mukhopadhyay, Upal Chakraborty

Category Literature & Fiction
Format Paperback
Imprint Rupa
Price 595

ISBN: 978-93-5702-053-4
Pages: 416 pages
Date: 5th February 2023

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Is it possible for the Marxist philosophy of dialectical materialism to co-exist with Indic spirituality within the same individual?
Well, Samir is one such person. His life has been a journey of seeming contrasts, with the most bizarre twists and turns. As a young man in Kolkata living in a society stifled by class and brazenly corrupt systems, he hopes to create a better world. He adopts the life of a radical Leftist. Unfortunately for him, the ‘movement’ dies abruptly and tragically, but not before attaching a dark secret in Samir’s life.
To leave his past behind, Samir escapes to the shores of Europe and onwards to USA hoping to
be ‘free’. But how can an immigrant be free in a country where you are often judged by the colour of your skin? Racism follows him from the streets of Memphis to the glass ceilings in corporate California. An unhappy marriage makes life even more difficult. He turns to Indic spirituality for answers and hopes to tame his fears. Just when he starts succeeding, something happens on Samir’s sixtieth birthday that compels him to re-evaluate his understanding of life. This is the first-of-its-kind story of an Indian immigrant who ends up unable to rid himself of the fear of hope.

AUTHOR OF THE BOOK

Upal Chakraborty has been a student of Presidency College, IIT (Kanpur) and IIM (Bangalore), and has spent around 35 years in senior positions at various corporations such as DLF, Pepsi and Reckitt Benckiser. Presently he works as an external consultant for Corporates and a teacher at management institutes like IMT (Ghaziabad) and IIT (Delhi). He has contributed numerous articles and short stories to both print and digital media.
Sanmay Mukhopadhyay is originally from Kolkata and now lives in America. He studied physics
in Presidency College, Kolkata, and then eventually moved as a technocrat to the US. He worked
or consulted for Dunlop, CESC, Unisys, Yamaha, Microsoft, GE, Sun Microsystems, Los Angeles
superior court and County of Los Angeles. He retired from his tech executive job to spend time
with yoga, ayurveda and spirituality and to promote Vedic culture. Though he has other publications (Prentice Hall, Handspring), this is his first novel.