The Death of Vishnu
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Vishnu, the odd-job man in a Bombay apartment block, lies dying on the staircase landing. Around him the lives of the apartment dwellers unfold - the warring housewives on the first floor, the lovesick teenagers on the second, and the widower, alone and quietly grieving at the top of the building. In a fevered state Vishnu looks back on his love affair with the seductive Padmini and comedy becomes tragedy as his life draws to a close.
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2 primary booksThe Hindu Gods is a 2-book series with 2 primary works first released in 2001 with contributions by Manil Suri.
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On the steps of a Bombay apartment
Vishnu, a servant, a handyman, lays dying. The story shifts from
Vishnu's remembrances of the past to each of the apartment dwellers
and then to Vishnu's dying thoughts. Vishnu is ignored by the others
as much as possible, but becomes an embarrassment as his dying grows
more and more prolonged and more and more messy.
The book's strength, to me, was in its typically Indian focus on the
sensuality of life and the Indian casual acceptance of the horrors of
life.
