Pushing Gods Out

Shanti is married into a clan of human gods. There is her husband Rampal (Keeper of Rama), his parents Ramdas (Servitor of Rama) and Rampyari (Beloved of Rama), as also his brother Ramprasad (Gift of Rama) and others. For the partial namesakes to fulfil the purpose of their being, they must have Rama, the lotus of their garden. They are all waiting for Shanti’s womb to bring him forth. Shanti too, is desperate to push him out so that he can liberate her from the invisible chains that fetter her body, mind, and soul. She sees him as her saviour-servitor-prince. She wants him to avenge her not just against her husband but all the men in the world.

While the family is busy consulting priests in order to make the perfect vessel out of Shanti, who has thus far produced only three daughters of little merit, she is secretly learning chess manoeuvres to use in her turn. But Rama himself grows hesitant; he no longer wishes to be pushed out.

Pushing Gods Out is a story of the trans-generational burden carried by men and women, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, in the god-decreed kingdom of patriarchs. Written in a sardonic tone with a dash of tragicomedy, this piercing satire reaches deep into the heart of a culture that imprisons in its rigid contours every one of its followers.