‘Silk Route’ by Sachin Kundalkar: Soothing an ache that cannot be located

On the first reading, Sachin Kundalkar’s ‘Silk Route’, published in 2023 in Marathi as ‘Monochrome: Volume 1, Reshim Marg’, has great similarities with his ‘Cobalt Blue’ — the coming-of-age narrative, siblings in love with the same man, a search for the self and for meaning. Like ‘Cobalt Blue’, it gives us memorable characters and an insight into the soul-crushing, mind-numbing ways that imagination dies in the Indian family. But, in retrospect, the divergences start to emerge.

We realise that Kundalkar has laid the foundations of a body of literature to which ‘Silk Route’ is the latest addition. The novel opens with the protagonist Nishikant stepping off a bus at a dusty village and realising that he has forgotten to take the book he was reading during the ride. The book is, very tellingly, ‘Giovanni’s Room’ by James Baldwin, a book about a young man navigating questions about his sexuality as he soaks himself in the heady atmosphere of Paris.

Why Nishikant is in this remote village that is clearly in the throes of a religious ashram becomes clear as the narrative unspools itself, unhurriedly. Kundalkar takes his time bringing us round to the story. Meanwhile, we reside in the recesses of Nishikant’s mind. He loves walking. As a child, he went walking all over the town and knew all the shops in the order of their location. His father finally gets him a cycle so that the family does not have to walk every time they go out with him. Nishikant feels an acute sense of loss as he has to cycle everywhere. “Now, everything would hurtle towards him — and then leave him — with great speed. He would not be able to loiter like he used to. Everything had to be experienced as quickly as possible. Nothing would linger.”

These lines set the tone for the experiences to follow. Amidst various locales, we meet the men who occupy Nishikant’s heart. There is Nikhil, the boy his sister is also in love with; Shiv, who he meets as a student; and finally, Srinivas in London. Years roll by and Nishikant is at yet another phase of life, having outlived tragedy, disappearances and separations. It is here that we meet him.

‘Silk Route’ carries a distinct charm and depth of feeling. Like the vast landscapes and vegetation that it melds into its narrative, the novel spans lives, cultures, processes of thought. There is a sense of ease with which Kundalkar, through his translator, Aakash Karkare brings this world with its overgrown branches, and trees looking to trap people with their flowers, alive. It is a sentient world that Nishikant walks through.

At its heart, ‘Silk Route’ is a queer love story where the story arcs of various characters converge to tell the world to finally accept that ‘love is love’. Everyone is searching for something. Sometimes they find it, sometimes they have to let it go. All this is dealt with the softness and beauty of an ocean wave lapping at the shore. Nishikant, who journeys from place to place, returns to the tap in front of his dilapidated, abandoned family home to fill his bottles. He drinks from them on special occasions. The water is what feeds him, nourishes him and keeps his soul rooted.

A word of appreciation for the translator is due. There is no jarring or awkward expression. The novel reads beautifully. Reading ‘Silk Route’ is like soothing an ache that cannot be located. It is to touch what is intangible and to feel a strange mix of compassion and sorrow. The end will come as a surprise, but readers will not mind as it is a promise the author makes. It is a definitely a book for the ages.

— The reviewer teaches at All Saints’ College, Thiruvananthapuram