Description
Speaking Tiger Publishing Private Limited Life in the Clocktower Valley by Shakoor Rather
DescriptionSrinagar, summer of 2008: the chinar trees are shedding leaves, outdatedmatadors are still polluting the streets and checkpoints with men in armyfatigue dot the city.Samar, a college student, is head over heels in love with Rabiya, his batchmate.Secret rendezvous in matadors, campus corridors and at the city's historicalsites help them to get to know each other better. But will their love survivethe unending curfews and their families' opposing political allegiances?Sheikh Mubarak, Samar's neighbour, is a famed metal craftsman stuck ina loveless marriage. He is further distanced from his unsympathetic wife, Naziya, when he loses his cherished pregnant cow on a curfewed night. Willtheir marriage survive the arrival of Rosaline, a tourist from New York?Sana, Mubarak and Naziya's five-year-old daughter, is best friends with Pintoji, the neighbourhood simpleton. Both chase their little dreams together with awide-eyed curiosity, ignoring the adults who frequently indulge in the stonethrowinggame. But what happens when Pintoji ventures out without a careduring a curfew?Delicate and sensitive, Life in the Clock Tower Valley is an unusual debut novelthat travels between Kashmir's pristine past, its grievous present and alwaysuncertainfuture, giving us an insider's view to everyday life and emotions inthe conflict-ridden valley