THE FOREST BENEATH THE MOUNTAINS

DescriptionShaken by the news of his mother’s death, a man leaves his job in Delhi andreturns to Assam. Twenty-five years ago, his father, a forest officer here, wasfound shot dead in his jeep. With the passing of his mother, the man learns newand startling details of his father’s life, and trying to reclaim an entire life suddenlymade unfamiliar, he starts digging into events from far back in time, visitingplaces where his father had served, in the foothills of the eastern Himalayas.But the forests he had once roamed as a boy with his father and his band ofhard drinking, rugged companions, have long disappeared. Settlers havemoved in, and insurgents and security forces now prowl the area. Wanderingwhat was once the Chariduar reserve forest, the man meets a kaleidoscopiccast of characters—people trying to find anchor in an uncertain world—some of whom are remnants of a rapidly disappearing past and some from theregion’s turbulent present: foresters, elephant catchers, army contractors,insurgents, police commandos, drifters and double-dealers. As he gets closerto the truth about his father, he finds himself drawn into a local conflict, aworld of shifting realities from which he will struggle to disentangle himself.Wide, unhurried and immersive, The Forest Beneath the Mountains is acompelling blend of memory, family stories, ecology and history. It is astory of people and places at the margins of the Indian republic, and of theinevitable taming of wilderness by man.