Rahul Chandran

A Pathaala State of Mind Rahul Chandran

The Pathaala of theology is that netherworld that houses hell and all those banished there. But what if Pathaala were less an actual, even if mythical place, and more a metaphorical headspace of people who feel consigned to stereotypes of caste, class or religion? And what if conditions are ripe for people who inhabit these pathaalas rise through the political system?

It all started with a wrongful arrest that became the catalyst for one man's meteoric rise from private citizen to state chief minister in two months. The book is about how society's anger aids Sreekantiah in his precipitous climb. But it is also about the enmity with a former chief minister, who sees Sreekantiah as a threat to everything he stands for.

It is a story of how myths get built, who benefits from furthering his mythology, how the myths transform over time.

The story might be set in India but it doesn't matter where in the world the reader is located, what ideology he or she subscribes to. If their country has some version of representative politics, it probably has people like Sreekantiah and Nanjundappa.