Fire on the MountainGone are the days when Nanda Kaul watched over her family and played the part of Vice-Chancellor’s wife. Leaving her children behind in the real world, the busier world, she has chosen to spend her last years alone in the mountains in Kasauli, in a secluded bungalow called Carignano. Until one summer her great-granddaughter Raka is dispatched to Kasauli – and everything changes. Nanda is at first dismayed at this break in her preciously acquired solitude. Fiercely taciturn, Raka is, like her, quite untamed. The girl prefers the company of apricot trees and animals to her great-grandmother’s, and spends her afternoons rambling over the mountainside. But the two are more alike than they know. Throughout the hot, long summer, Nanda’s old, hidden dependencies and wounds come to the surface, ending, inevitably, in tragedy. Marvellous yet restrained, Fire on the Mountain speaks of the past and its unshakable hold over the present. |
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afternoon agaves amongst Anita Desai apricot trees Asha ayah badminton bazaar birds burnt Carignano chair Chapter chestnut trees child cicadas club Dagshai dark dear dogs dropped dust eyes face father feet fingers garden gate grass great-grandmother green grey hair hamam hands head hear hill hillside hilltop hoopoe hydrangeas Ila Das Ila Das’s jackal Kasauli Kaul’s kitchen knees knew knoll langurs laughed lawn leaving legs lifted light lilies lips looked Mall Memsahib mother never night nightjars old lady Pasteur Institute pebbles pine needles pine trees pink plains postman rain Raka Raka’s Ram Lal ravine rocks rose Sabathu Sanawar sari seemed shook shrill sighed silent slipped sound Spanish broom stone stood stop suddenly summer swung Tara thought Nanda Kaul Tibet turned umbrella veranda Vice-Chancellor’s village voice walk wanted watched wind window yellow