It's perilous penning this blurb.

It's fine when man is modest about his work.

It even affords him the aura of an invisible crown!

But what about his work?

Were it an art or craft, it is there for all to see.

What of a literary work of an unheralded author?

Well, lauding the same might raise one's eyebrows.

Failing to praise wouldn't make a 'jewel-less crown' either!

Why not see, if this is the great Indian novel.

This is the story of the rise and fall of an ambitious man, the decline, and the decay of his conniving wife, the trials, and tribulations of their wayward son as well as the grit and gall of a spirited woman, who enters into his life.

This depiction of their life and times not only pictures the facets of ambition and achievement, intrigue and betrayal, compulsion and compromise, sleaze and scandal, trial and sentence, but also portrays the possibilities of repentance and resolution, love and empathy coupled with compassion and contribution, leading to the spirituality of materialism, and that makes it the saga of our times.

The story of a lifetime, truly.