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16 March 2023

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On a rainy night of 25th June 1976, in a bizarre turn of events, Aslam Sher Khan was born in an abandoned bungalow at the outskirts of Motihari, India. Interestingly, George Orwell had also been born in the same house exactly 73 years earlier. Aslam’s birth was facilitated by a mysterious midwife who vanished into thin air just after Aslam’s birth. Later, Aslam begins to believe that he has some supernatural connection with George Orwell and tries to become a writer. His literary ambitions bring him to America where he meets Jessica, an ex-pornstar, and now an actor and activist, and falls hopelessly in love with her. This novel is about these two unlikely characters and their journeys. Their love story is heading towards a fairy tale end when Aslam gets tangled in a political event in India, and something happens that changes his life forever.

More Books by Penguin Random House India

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Articles
A Man from Motihari
5.0
When dapper Aslam, an aspiring writer from a small town of India, who is recovering from a broken relationship accidently meets gorgeous and intelligent Jessica, an actor, activist and ex-pornstar from Los Angeles, they fall hopelessly in love with each other. This novel is about these two unlikely characters and their journeys in the backdrop of the rise of right-wing political forces in India. In this novel, besides telling his story, Aslam, the protagonist, also meditates over his understandings of weighty issues, like national and religious identities, political violence and concept of morality and pure love. Set in the backdrop of the meteoric rise of extreme right-wing politics in India, the novel also takes its readers on a cultural journey of the Indian hinterlands telling them about George Orwell's connection with Motihari, a dust-ridden town of 100,000 which is famous for its sweet mangoes, its criminal politicians, and kidnapping gangs.