Helium: A Novel
In his second novel steeped in the miasma of Indian politics and religious separatism, Singh (Chef, 2010) illuminates a horrific event: the systematic genocide of minority Sikhs in November 1984 following the assassination of Indira Gandhi. Dr. Raj Kumar, a chemical engineering professor at Cornell, is returning to India after 25 years. He finally confronts his memories of the immolation of his mentor, Professor Mohan Singh, during the pogrom by seeking out his widow, Nelly. The narrative moves back and forth in time as Nelly painfully relates what happened to her and her children the day her husband was murdered. Raj also seeks out an old family friend who reveals the details of Raj’s father’s role in the genocide, as he and other police allowed order to collapse for three days as the majority citizenry watched the pogroms “like a parade or cricket match.” Through the eyes of these two haunted characters, the author addresses the lingering effects of India’s sectarian violence in his brutally honest indictment of an often glossed-over episode in India’s long history. --Deborah Donovan