Mr Iyer Goes To War

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Dispatched to a home in the sacred city of Varanasi, Lalgudi Iyer spends his days immersed in scripture. When an accident leaves him with concussion, he receives a vision of his past incarnation - he was the mythological warrior Bhima, sent from the heavens to destroy evil. Convinced of his need to continue Bhima's mission and revive the noble principles of the Mahabharata, Iyer embarks on an epic adventure down the sacred Ganges with the help of his trust companion Bencho, an undertaker. His attempts at restoring order to the world - and winning the heart of the half-beautiful but oblivious widow Damayanti - are hampered only by his complete detachment from the reality of contemporary India. An inventive, ambitious interpretation of Don Quixote for our times, Mr Iyer Goes to War is a sometimes playful, profound adventure heralding a bold new voice in Indian fiction.