Once Upon A Time In Aparanta

Goa is Aparanta of old—the Land at the Horizon. The tale of Dino Dantas, protestor and self-appointed guardian of Aparanta, and his innkeeper cousin Antonio begins here, in the sleepy village of Socorro Do Mundo by the Sea, where time holds little meaning and the haze of nostalgia is as binding a force as faith in the benevolence of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, ‘Perpet’ to familiars.

For some time now, the world and some of Aparanta’s own have been engaged in a feeding frenzy on the natural treasures of this land of plenty. Chief among the poison-mongers is Winston Almeida, supreme thug, land shark and political aspirant, who will stop at nothing to appropriate all that this creaky, corrupt paradise has to offer. For this he has allied with Sergei, a Russian druglord; the Princess, a tantalizing Brazilian transsexual go-between; and Fernandes, her Goan policeman lover—and their alliance is blessed by Number One, the political overlord of Aparanta. In the face of their collective greed stands Dino, determined as ever to preserve what he can of his homeland . . . But can one man’s courage and fervour alone save Aparanta from being betrayed by its own?

In prose that is part lyrical, part brutal satire, yet always passionate, Sudeep Chakravarti evokes the essence of a paradise on the verge of losing its soul.