Sidd Burth

The Girl in the Greenroom Sidd Burth

Arrestingly original and free-flowing like the River Brahmaputra, it begins with the sensuous affair between a teenage girl and her teacher that later goes through a storm with the discovery of a mysterious object in his life. It is the consequences of illicit love and the ends they eventually meet through turmoil of their once peaceful society-a mass students' agitation, stage illusions from "Mayong", a massacre, secret training camps in tropical jungles and sophisticated arms and ammunition, the extermination of an entire family, personal suspense, family mysteries, clandestine liaisons, unnatural lovemaking... A studious girl turns into a lifelong exile; a tea planter's Bihu dancer wife saves the rest of the family under the most demanding circumstances while falling herself prey to an unreasonable state... The magician girl who flees to Burma is now considered an enemy of her country for no fault of hers; she can never return to India. Through her craft, she begins to shock and delight audiences and soon she is feted as the most enigmatic woman in Asia. But the story does not give us these details as her brother makes the gravest mistake of his life and it brings the family under constant scanner of the Indian spies. On this adventurous journey, we meet a stunning Bihu dancer, a students' bash in 70's London, a tribal insurgent commander's journey, a Taliban training camp full of anti-American activities, an astute diplomat called "Johora", a 101 year-old British painter born in Assam in the 1890's, beautiful tribal women, and a daring girl pilot. There is reason enough for the writer's American friends to look away from his work. THE GIRL IN THE GREENROOM weaves in all 7 provinces of the scenic Indian region and tells us the unforgettable story of people who dared to break the conventions of their times and eventually paid the price to return to their homeland. "There is no landscape like the people of Arunachal and Mizoram"; it is a provocative account of ethnic cultures and the resilience of the people, caste prejudices, Hindus versus Muslims, tribal suppressions, clash of beliefs, kingly life in the tea plantations, forbidden love between close relatives, dangerous female homosexuality, modern India's intellectual contradictions, role of China and Pakistan in India's inner peace and a sophisticated warfare called "Insurgency" in angry India's east. A great writer requires enduring research; a master of prose, with his unsparing eye for detail, Sidd Burth is, no doubt, joining the ivy league of literature sooner than the book-loving world is ready to move back to the depths of humanity.- Geoffrey Horne, Paris.