A Dying Banyan

A Dying Banyan explores 'what it means to be a Muslim' in contemporary India. It is a story of the identity crisis of young Suhail. Alleys of a Muslim neighbourhood; exploitation by wily politicians; well-off, estranged cousins, all school dropouts; memories of Partition, of a branch of the family settled in Pakistan; war with Pakistan and emergence of Bangladesh; Suhail's unfulfilled love for a Hindu girl; his sister's affair with a Hindu boy - these set the tone for nagging questions of one's place in Indian society. Suhail's sleepless nights are haunted by images of a dead banyan tree, a symbol outwardly of unrealised potentials, of frustrated hopes, but at a deeper, fundamental level, of the composite culture of India. It is this banyan, then, this cultural emblem, that Suhail finds in decay.