Ram Karan, 48, overweight and recovering from a heart attack, works in the physical education department of the Delhi school system, extorting bribes for his boss, Mr Gupta.
At home, his widowed daughter, Anita, has come to live in his tiny flat following the death of her husband, bringing her eight-year-old daughter with her, and when she suspects Ram is abusing the little girl the way he used to abuse her things quickly start to fall apart. Ram's first-person narration is a triumph, a well-rounded portrait of a corrupt man who revels in his power to demand money and favours but is nevertheless shot through with self-loathing. In the scheme of things, he's small and pathetic; an excessive, reckless man who continually gives in to his worst instincts as though being a better person would require more energy than he could muster. The self-awareness permeating Ram's narrative makes this depiction of a corrupt minor functionary pin-sharp and compelling.
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