Word: chevathar
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...novel, of the lush, densely detailed, sweeping-family-saga variety, in which you learn all about, say, how to plan an Indian wedding without ever really caring much about the happy couple. This is one of those novels. The year is 1899, and progress has come to tiny Chevathar in the form of its first road. It proves to be a long one for the Dorai family, and Davidar follows them down it for three generations in a tale of grand scope but not much real depth...
...first third of the book describes the gradual downfall of Solomon Dorai, the patriarch of the clan, in the fictional village of Chevathar, famous for its succulently sweet blue mangoes. After he dies in the early 1900s in a fateful clash between castes, his two sons leave home. One, the rebellious and violent Aaron, is a daredevil who eventually ends up joining the revolt against the British. The quiet elder brother Daniel takes another path: banished from the family for not fighting against the lower castes, he rejects politics, including Mohandas Gandhi's nonviolent independence movement, and becomes a successful...
...Despite their differing paths, both sons suffer disappointments at the end of their lives, as circumstances careen out of their control. Convicted of conspiring to murder a policeman, Aaron, sick with tuberculosis, dies a broken rebel, his country still under British rule. As an old man, Daniel returns to Chevathar to establish Doraipuram, a settlement to unite the Dorai clan, only to see his dream dissolve in disharmony and contention. After his death, Daniel's estranged son Kannan quits his job at a tea plantation and returns to his roots, just as India, in 1947, becomes a free nation...
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