On November 1st 1984, a day after the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, a nineteen-year-old student travels back from a class trip with his mentor and chemistry teacher, Professor Singh. As the group disembark at Delhi station a mob surrounds the professor, douses him in petrol and sets him alight. Years later the student, Raj, is compelled to find his professor's widow, the beautiful Nelly. As the two walk through the misty mountains of Shimla, Nelly comes up against a nation in denial and Raj faces the truth about his father's role in the terrible pogrom against the Sikhs.
The follow-up to "Chef", this deals with one of the most shocking moments in the history of the Indian nation, the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984, and the ensuing anti-Sikh pogroms.
The influence of Primo Levi and WG Sebald is strong in this richly intertextual novel . Singh's background as a scientist is apparent in the beautifully deployed scientific imagery: the past is like "drops of helium" that "refuse to disappear"
