The language can be challenging at first, the way dipping into any patois can be. He writes beautifully, including detailed observations on the physical settings he's exposed to, drenching you in the environment. You could ask why Guyana? But I get the sense the reply you'd get would be why not?! He'd visited earlier, he says, while covering a cricket tour, and clearly felt a longing to go back. 'The Sly Company' picks from Rahul's experience living in Guyana for a year. It's no mean feat - His admirers have evoked Joseph Conrad (Pankaj Mishra's endorsement on the blurb of 'The Sly Company of People Who Care' says there's a "Conradian sense of wonder") and even VS Naipaul (literary reviews) - the jury's still out on what His Vidia-ness thinks of that.
But there's a difference between knowing someone socially, and knowing them through their writing, and I'm delighted to say Rahul lives up to the praise he's been showered with. A disclaimer at the start - I've known Rahul Bhattacharya for a few years, meeting him after his first book 'Pundits from Pakistan' was published. Published earlier this year, it's recently won The Hindu Prize for best fiction. The 'Sly Company of People Who Care' is a book that lives up to its evocative title.
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