Sweeping across generations, continents, and cultures, The Doctor from Madras is the epic story of one family and the collision between old ways and a changing world.
“In this multi-generational saga, Chandru Murthi weaves together a patchwork quilt of stories involving agonizing family secrets, the birth pangs of a modern nation and the emergence of a new diaspora into the 21st century. This is a stunningly well-crafted story, and a debut novel to celebrate!”
“Suspenseful, loving, lyrical, historical, and often heartbreaking, this journey of discovery by a grown man yearning to know the secrets of his childhood in Madras, is a page-turning odyssey. You need not ever have ventured to India to consume this. It is a delicious and revealing tour de force. ”
“Emotionally resonant, richly detailed, and often gently humorous, The Doctor from Madras explores the tension between old and new, tradition and liberation, fate and ambition, duty and love. Filled with memorable characters and surprising twists, it’s a compulsively-readable story that brings to life a significant chapter in India’s complex history.”
In 2001 Vishram Janappan, living in San Francisco, returns to Madras, India, to settle his mother's affairs after her death. On the surface Vishram’s life couldn’t be going better. He’s a successful architect in San Francisco with a beautiful home and married to a loving wife. But somehow, something is missing.
In Madras he doesn’t know the customs and barely understands the language. As he goes through his mother’s belongings, he uncovers a shocking family secret, which explains haunting mysteries lingering from his childhood.
In the 1930s and 40s in India colonialism is crumbling and change is in the air. However, not if Narin Janappan’s family has anything to say about it. Ruled by a passive father, a mother who tries to keep the peace, and two overbearing aunts, the family name is everything. Narin has learned in his short life to be quiet and toe the line. Now 19, he is to marry a 12-year-old cousin not of his choosing so that when he goes off to medical school in Madras, he won’t be tempted by modern ways and wanton women.
That was the plan. On his own for the first time, Narin tries. He wants to be a good son, but he’s far from home and is exposed to new ways and many temptations. He befriends fellow students Laxman, a rebellious free thinker, and Ambika, Laxman’s girlfriend. Together they are distracted by politics, picnics, and alcohol. Ambika introduces Narin to her friend and fellow student Neeta. They hit it off. Narin didn’t know he could feel like this; he can’t get Neeta out of his mind. Meanwhile, his sister, Sheela, a modern woman herself, trying to make her own nontraditional path, moves to Madras as well.
Together, despite the dangers, they delight in their newfound freedoms. However, the old world has eyes, and the family of his young bride soon find out about Narin’s lack of discretion, resulting in recrimination and conflict. The old ways—and his aunties—won’t give up without a fight. In the end, Narin has to forge his own path around his conservative family and ask himself—perhaps for the first time in his life— what does he truly want?
Vishram, armed with this new insight into his family, must now ask himself the very same question.
A portion of the proceeds from The Doctor from Madras goes to Hindus for Human Rights, a nonprofit organization advocating for pluralism, civil, and human rights in South Asia and North America, providing a Hindu voice of resistance to caste, Hindu nationalism, racism, and all forms of bigotry and oppression.
