The Soul

A threat to an inherited legacy crops up when the city administration of Indore, having considered the horse-drawn carriage too old-fashioned, resolves to ban it, depriving the coachmen of the city of their subsistence income. Ramu, a carriage owner, who is unable to extricate himself from his established occupation and fails to discover any other work of his interest, commits suicide, leaving behind his protégés: Ganga and Nandu. Ganga, a dumb and mentally retarded girl, continues her struggle against her own illness. One day when a few perpetrators destroy her honour, she liberates her soul from its tabernacle—her body—preserving its purity. Harsh, a modest and handsome boy, falls in love with a beautiful and intelligent girl, Rhea, on his maiden day of college, invoking all his dormant, youthful desires. Harsh’s bosom friend, Aryan, who is in an intimate relationship with Palak, is unable to realize that she is his soul’s longing and breaks her heart, letting her suffer so severely that she plunges into nervous prostration and has fits of depression. In this unputdownable novel, Anurag Sharma portrays a coming-of-age story and the extreme realities of society in the backdrop of social, political and economic developments. The characters and concomitant events of THE SOUL are so indisputably anchored to the realities that their appeal transcends the boundary of time and setting. THE SOUL is a must-read for any reader who feels for society in this difficult time.