Shashi Tharoor’s Novel Riot: A Critical Stu...

Shashi Tharoor’s Novel Riot: A Critical Study

Author Name : Manza Ishvarsing Raybhan, Dr. V M Rasure

INTRODUCTION

Riot is the third novel by Shashi Tharoor. It is a book of great moral, Social, religious and political complexity. Tharoor is an ex-united Nations official and currently state minister of External Affairs. The story chronicles the events surrounding the murder of Priscilla hart, a twenty four year old American student who works as a volunteer with a non-governmental organization help – US in a small dusty town, Zalilgash, in the state of Uttar Pradesh. She has taken up the assignment as a public health worker to supplement her research work for her doctoral degree at New York. She falls in love with the local district magistrate, Lakshman and they start meeting clandestinely in a haunted house called ‘Kotli’ on every Tuesday and Thursday. Lakshman is a married man and after an intense courtship he realizes that he wouldn’t be able to desert his family, especially his daughter whom he loves immensely. They plan a meeting on a Saturday, which never takes mace as the Riots break out. The state has been simmering with communal tension due to Babri Masjid demolition. The local people participate furtively in Ram Sila pujan ceremony. The emotions come to a seething point and anarchy is unleashed. Unfortunately. Priscilla waiting for Lakshman inside kotli has been murdered in the town of Zalilgarh during a communal riot. No one has a clue about why Priscilla should be made the target. Her parents are divorced. They travel from U.S. to India to know the truth. Their past also helps to understand Priscilla’s character. They are accompanied by an American Journalist. A spate of inquiries follows and representatives of local Muslims and Hindu communities are summoned for interrogation. Randy Diggs, the local correspondent of the New York Journal makes personal efforts to unravel the mystery though it remains unsolved.