Beyond Identity

As a work of fiction it describes how Ranjit Singh's happy college life is tragically changed by the 1984 militancy in Punjab and the disturbances in Delhi. He survives by relocating to London with a new identity. The storyline follows him across three continents, two love affairs, careers in the media and in the United Nations and his work for a major Sikh think-tank. The ever-present dread of discovery of his true identity shapes the parabolic trajectory of his life from suffering and flight to love and success to denouement and heartbreak.

As a study of identities, minorities, assimilation and multiculturalism, Ranjit's roller-coaster emotional journey is interspersed with his passionate search for an idea to ensure that the identity of the Sikhs, the fifth largest community in the world, continues to prevail. The dilemma before these proud people is that they do not want to lose their history, culture, rituals, language and religion in an era of globalization, conformism and mass-culture. But even as diasporic minorities they do want to be accepted as equal players in the future world market place where opportunities for development, prosperity and well-being will abound. The cerebral Ranjit gradually feels his way through various options to resolve this quandary before coming up with a stunningly original and modernistic solution.

His first book, Noblemen and Kinsmen was published in 1999.

**Contents and Sample Pages**