Innocence Lives in an Eyrie
Unholy Alliances Undermining Marginalized Voices in India
“There’s a teenager outside the studio with a gun to his head. He is threatening to shoot himself unless you interview him. He has a story that will make you believe there is no God,” they told Babudeep Roy. Set in the villages and metropolises across India, Innocence Lives in an Eyrie is a coming-of-age tale examining gender, identity, ambition, first love, friendship, and family obligations in a society mired in superstition and prejudice.
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“… where unplanned streets crossed narrow alleys
shared among cows, pigs, dogs, monkeys, and humans; where urine, feces, and spit colored the pavements and fouled the air; where fences protected schools, colleges, universities, luxury apartments, and industries from the congested Muslim slums; where loud noises aborted extraordinary ideas; where the chalta hai—anything goes—Indian mantra kept life mundane…,” Innocence Lives in an Eyrie
This is a post-modern work and yet it is rooted, with writing at once crisp and laid back. Vaibhav explores gender and identity like very few have before him. This is Fellini meets Ghatak. A must-read.
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Inspiration for Innocence Lives in an Eyrie
While surviving India, Vaibhav observed chaos, corruption, and discrimination based on caste, color, money, gender, sexual orientation, and religion. He took about a decade long break from the cesspool. After the “Acche Din” (Good Days) publicity campaign by the right-wing government, he went back for a visit and was shocked that the disparities and the bigotry had worsened. It set something off, and he needed to give a voice to those who have been silenced for too long. This book is dedicated to people around the world who are fighting for social justice.
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Vaibhav Saini, PhD, worked as an Instructor in Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. His fiction was longlisted for The Man Asian Literary Prize. Innocence Lives in an Eyrie is his debut novel.
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