It is not only the past that lies in ruins in Patna, it is also the present. But that is not the only truth about the city that the author explores in this vivid, entertaining account of his home town. We accompany him on journeys and memories through many Patnas, the myriad cities locked within the city—the shabby reality of the present-day capital of Bihar; Pataliputra, the storied city of emperors; the dreamlike embodiment of the city in the minds and hearts of those who have escaped its confines…. Full of fascinating observations and impressions, A Matter of Rats reveals a challenging and entertaining city which exerts a lasting pull on all those who drift into its orbit.
Amitava Kumar is the author of A Matter of Rats: A Short Biography of Patna, Home Products, which was shortlisted for the Crossword Prize; and A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb, which the New York Times described as a ‘perceptive an soulful…meditation on the global war on terror and its cultural and human repercussions’ and received the Page Turner Award.
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