Jai’s family consider themselves fortunate to get two square meals a day—even if it is the same rice and lentils every day. In the meantime, the woman Jai’s mother works often has so much food left over, that she gives it away to her maids.

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara - Waterstones Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara - Waterstones

It’s good for the police, right? They don’t have to lift a finger. If anything happens to us, it’s because we did it ourselves. If a TV goes missing from our homes, we stole it. If we get murdered, then we killed ourselves.”Flood, Alison (3 March 2020). "Women's prize for fiction lines up 'heavy hitters' on 2020 longlist". The Guardian . Retrieved 1 October 2020. Anappara creates an endearing and highly engaging narrator to navigate us through the dark underbelly of modern India' Observer Soon other children go missing. Omvir, a friend of Bahadur, vanishes. Next, a 16-year-old girl, Aanchal, disappears. The police insist that Omvir has simply run away and refuse any search effort. Aanchal was a good girl employed as a beautician while studying English in hopes of becoming a call centre worker. The police, with no valid evidence, said she was a brothel worker in her 20s and had run away with a much older Moslem lover. When next, a 4-year-old girl disappears, not only are the parents of the missing distraught, but the entire neighbourhood is frantic and afraid for the safety of the children. a b c d e f Goyal, Sana (12 February 2020). "On Deepa Anappara's "Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line" ". Los Angeles Review of Books. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020 . Retrieved 1 October 2020. Anappara spent her early life in Palakkad, Kerala, India. [10] She is an Indian writer and journalist. Anappara worked as a journalist in India, reporting on social issues in the state of Gujarat, and in Delhi and Mumbai. Her work has focused on studying the effects of violence and poverty, particularly on young people. [10] Anappara wrote the novel while pursuing a master's degree in creative writing at the University of East Anglia. [11] Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line was originally written as part of her dissertation for her Master of Arts degree. [6] The manuscript and publication rights were sold at the Frankfurt Book Fair, [10] and the novel was the subject of a "hard-fought auction" between multiple publishers, ultimately being sold to Chatto & Windus and Random House. [12]

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line - Wikipedia

A magnificent achievement: the endeavours of the Djinn Patrol offer us a captivating world of wit, warmth and heartbreak, beautifully crafted through a child’s unique perspective.” —Mahesh Rao, author of Polite Society In this transporting debut novel, three friends venture into the most dangerous corners of a sprawling Indian city to find their missing classmate. Discover the“extraordinary” ( The Washington Post)debut novel that“announces the arrival of a literary supernova” ( The New York Times Book Review),“a drama of childhood that is as wild as it is intimate” (Chigozie Obioma).Since he had been born, she had considered Jai with a blend of loathing and admiration. It seemed to her that he had a way of softening the imperfections of life with his his daydreams and the self confidence that the world granted boys. Which, in girls, was considered a character flaw or evidence of a dismal upbringing.” The strength of this novel is the vivid setting of the Indian basti (slum) and surrounding city that 9-year old Jai navigates. It is written as a light-hearted caper featuring Jai imitating a TV detective to find a missing friend. Until more children go missing and it is clear that there is a serious problem, it feels like a middle-grade novel. I ended up skimming the 2nd half. I'm not sure who the intended audience is - but it isn't me. HurriCon, a now-biannual fundraiser event for the Bethany Congregational Church, was founded by community member David Donovan in 2018. My...

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line is a Careful Study on - WWAC Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line is a Careful Study on - WWAC

East, Ben (15 February 2020). " 'Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line': Why Deepa Anappara's Debut is About Children, Not for Children". The National . Retrieved 1 October 2020. Nine-year-old Jai lives in a huge Indian basti (slum) in view of the ‘hi-fi’ luxury apartment buildings where his mother works as a housecleaner. He is the main narrator, although the stories of other children are included. He loves the TV program Police Patrol and when one of his classmates disappears, he convinces his friends Pari and Faiz to join him to find Bahadar. This endeavor may begin like a Young Adult mystery, but becomes darker as more children disappear and fear takes hold of the basti. Jai’s initial cheerfulness and swagger dissipate in the face of ever increasing danger. Set in a basti, or Indian slum, where children have vanished and the police are disinclined to help, the novel follows 9-year-old Jai and his friends as they play detective to try and solve the case. It’s an incredible window on daily life in such a place – the precarity of knowing the authorities could bulldoze your home at any moment, but also the strong family and community bonds that form there. The sights sounds and smells of the basti are vividly evoked as Jai & investigate, and this immersive depiction is really well-balanced to be neither sensationalised nor sugar-coated.

Beyond the Book

India is a very different experience when you are a girl, than when you are a boy—because of that, and the setting of the slum, Pari and Runu would have been better protagonists. The trio fast realize they are facing their unknown adversary alone. The police see the slum as a continual source of annoyance and threaten to bulldoze it to the ground. The wealthy people who live in a gated community of nearby high-rises couldn't care less. And with hysteria creeping in, the adults in the slum begin to turn on each other, causing a rift between the Hindu and Muslim factions within the settlement. With no help or resources, can Jai, Pari and Faiz solve this horrific mystery? In this thrilling reading experience, Deepa Anappara creates a drama of childhood that is as wild as it is intimate. Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line is an entertaining, wonderful debut Chigozie Obioma, Booker-prize shortlisted author of An Orchestra of Minorities However, the descriptions of the slum that Jai lives in has another purpose—to highlight the class divisions in Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line. As the story progresses, we learn that Jai’s slum is a short distance away from an upmarket complex of apartments. A number of the parents in the slum work as caretakers, maids, or cleaners at the apartment complex. But the work isn’t for the faint of heart–Jai’s mother lives in fear of losing her job for even minor indiscretions, like being late to work one day.