A Flutter in the Colony

In 1956, the Senguptas embark on a journey to rural Malaya to start afresh. In the new country, a reclusive young man from Calcutta tries to recoup his family and rebuild his life. In this new hamlet of anonymity, with its seemingly simple residents, the couple distances itself from Calcutta and forms new ties. But Malaya, beyond the trickle-down bounty of naturally growing rubber, is not a free and gentle land. A complex, racially charged society, it is on the brink of independence even as communist insurgents hover on the periphery of plantations, challenging British economic interests. But how much should a newcomer meddle before it starts to destroy him? Shuttling in time and temper between the impenetrable jungles of Malaya and the anguish-filled years of pre-Partition Bengal, between the Malayan Emergency and Direct Action Day, between indifference and lust, A Flutter in the Colony is a tender, resonant and close chronicle of a family struggling to remain together in the twilight of Empire in Asia.