Perineum: Nether parts of the empire

If the story of colonial India were written as a sequence of feverish fictions, lit by Kafka and stage-managed by Manto, this would be that book. An original and brilliant debut Mukul Kesavan

In Perineum Ambarish Satwik blends surrealistic metaphor and surgical precision to concoct a Borgesian fictional labyrinth that thrusts the reader deep into the private parts of the Empire and its subjects, liege or otherwise. This irreverent collection of stories quite literally takes the pants off the venerable organs of the British Empire and lays bare a murky underbelly of oozing flesh, putrid excretions and raw brutality.

From Baker's scrotum to Bobby Clive's circumcision, from Madan Lal Dhingra's haemorrhoid to Jinnah's last ejaculation, nothing escapes the author's deliberately prurient eye and darkly satirical wit. Deftly orchestrating a medley of quasi-authentic colonial voices Satwik creates a quirky, cunningly layered narrative that is both very funny and very disturbing.