The Curse of Yesterday

The novel begins in April 1990 in a seething town of eastern India, and revolves around the pensive school teacher Yamini, her grandmother Sharda, who flip-flops between past and present, and their bizarre maid Chulha. When thirty-four year old Yamini gets involved with a much younger dynamic student leader Vikram, she finds an absorbing purpose in her life, but she inadvertently stakes the life of her adoring grandmother in the process. Their fate is curiously entwined with the turbulent Mandal Agitation, and both Yamini and Chulha are in the danger of losing the men they cherish. The title expresses the anguish of central characters, who believe they are cursed by their past and doubt whether they would ever atone for their own transgressions or the sins committed by their ancestors.