Book: The Hope Factory
Author: Lavanya Sankaran
Publisher: Tinder Press
Pages: 350
Price: Rs550
This novel tells a simple story, simply — which is often the hardest thing to do. Set in modern Bangalore, first-time novelist Lavanya Sankaran weaves a narrative that touches on several burning issues of our times — land acquisition for industry, corruption, migration, tradition vs modernity, and so on. It has two parallel narrative tracks. The first revolves around Anand Murthy, a first-generation entrepreneur who runs a moderately successful small-scale auto components manufacturing business outside Bangalore.
The Hope Factory begins with Anand on the verge of getting an international contract for which he needs to set up a new factory, and for that he needs to quickly find and buy 10 acres of land. But finding land in the suburbs of fast-expanding Bangalore is no easy task.
He manages to locate the land — a series of fertile and contiguous farms whose owners have been "persuaded" by the dubious-seeming broker whom Anand had put on the job, to sell. But even as Anand is buying the land, he runs into trouble — goons from the local political party demand a bribe and threaten to scupper the deal unless he pays up. Will Anand — hard working and principled, a man who treats his workers and subordinates fairly, and aspires to build a state-of-the-art factory —pay up and buy peace, or will he find a way to beat the corruption and threats?
Woven through this story is that of Kamala, a widowed domestic worker in Anand's home, and her struggle to ensure a better life for her son Narayan by sending him to a private English-medium school. Turned out of her brother's village home where she had sought refuge after her husband's death, Kamala had come to the big city to earn a living. But it wasn't easy for a single woman with an infant son to survive in the big city. Kamala had initially taken up a job as a construction worker, working her way to the more respectable job of a domestic worker at the large suburban homes of rich men like Anand.
Life, however, continued to be precarious, as Kamala found that the layer of security and well being that she had built for herself and her son was continually in danger of being ripped apart. There were, for one, the anti-social elements that Narayan had become friends with; two, her employer and Anand's wife Vidya was capricious, inconsiderate and given to temper tantrums; and three, her one-room tenement, within easy walking distance of her workplace, was being pulled down by real-estate developers.
The good thing about this book is that all the issues and the politics surrounding them remain in the background. Sankaran is a perceptive storyteller who writes lucidly and elegantly, and builds up poignant situations and engaging characters. The resolution at the end, a happy one, is also particular to the situation, and does not seem forced or unsatisfactory. All in all, a good read for a Sunday afternoon.
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