Partitional Violence and Resilience in Gurcharan Das’ A Fine Family

Exploring the Classical Indian Goals in Gurcharan Das' A Fine Family

Abstract

Gurcharan Das (born 3 October 1943) is an Indian author, who wrote a trilogy based on the classical Indian goals of the ideal life. India Unbound was the first volume (2002), on artha, 'material well-being', which narrated the story of India's economic rise from Independence to the global information age. Published in many languages and filmed by BBC,[3] it was called a quiet earthquake by the Guardian. The second, The Difficulty of Being Good, is on dharma or 'moral well-being', and is rich with learned musings on the epic, Mahabharata and its moral dilemmas that speak to our day to day contemporary life. Kama The Riddle of Desire is on the third goal of desire, and recounts a tale of love and vulnerability, about self-doubt and betrayal, about wanting more of everything and being haunted by settling for less.