I have recently completed FAINT PROMISE OF RAIN, the first novel of what will be a four-book series. It is currently out in the world in manuscript form, a piece here, a few chapters there, seeking representation, while I work on Part 2.
Book Blurb:
Set against the backdrop of the Muslim invasion of Hindustan in the 1500s, FAINT PROMISE OF RAIN takes place in the desert city of Jaisalmer. A family of dancers steeped in the tradition of “devadasis,” dancing girls who are dedicated to a temple as servants of God, struggles to make sense of the changes that are rocking their lives. Each member seeks answers in a different place: war, the city, love, mathematics, faith. Each keeps secrets in an attempt to protect the others. Only the youngest daughter, Adhira, seems impervious to the turmoil around her, wrapped in a mantle of devotion, until a terrible incident alters the course of her life and tests the beliefs and resolve of each member of the family. Their secrets escape, and each one learns that every end is also a beginning.
Kathak Dance:
In 2001, I began my study of kathak, a classical form of dance from northern India. Within a few weeks, I was smitten. The percussive footwork, the complex rhythms, the expressive story-telling, the depth of my teacher Gretchen Hayden’s (and her teacher Chitresh Das’) knowledge, the layers of cultural significance stirred my soul. I was introduced to an entire world, a universe of artistry and discipline and richness and beauty and history.
It was this history, dating back a thousand years to when those who performed this dance form were kathakas, wandering minstrels who danced the stories of the Hindu gods and goddesses in village after village, that gave me the idea for my series of novels. The history of kathak dance has mirrored the history of India. With every major shift in political power in India, the form of kathak dance changed, along with the settings in which it was performed, and the role dancers played in society. Each of my novels will take place during one of these shifts: the establishment of the Moghul Empire in the 1550s, the establishment of the British Raj in the 1800s, the national movement of the 1920s and 1930s that eventually led to India and Pakistan’s independence, and the diaspora that brought so many young Indians to Europe and the Americas beginning in the 1970s. Through these shifts, kathak dance went from a religious art practiced in temples to an entertainment art upheld by courtesans to a banned art nurtured by prostitutes to a celebrated art appreciated on stages around the world. The story of kathak dance is a story of India, of cultures colliding and mingling, of loss and creation, of religion and morality, of tradition and change, of resistance and acceptance, of cultural identity, and of the endurance of storytelling. How better to tell it to the world than through a series of novels?
