Tantu : The Loom of Life

In this epic novel, SL Bhyrappa examines the very fibre of contemporary Indian life social, political and psychological basically in terms of the post-independence, post-Gandhian scene. It is panoramic in scope, moving as it does from Bengaluru to a small village near Channarayapattana, Mysore, Varanasi and Delhi. Police brutality, goondaism at the village level, the phoney five-star hotel culture, the theft of art objects and smuggling them out of the country, betraying a great heritage for monetary benefit by mercenaries the novel progresses relentlessly. The ubiquitous corruption, bribery and nepotism in high as well as low places is portrayed with such absolute candour and honesty that the steady erosion of traditional values and the rank philistinism that has enveloped the present day life is shown as eating away the moral fibre of India.

The range of characters is incredible and astonishingly comprehensive. It includes the
True Gandhian idealist, an honest and uncompromising journalist-editor, who, in spite of
personal tragedy remains steadfast to his professional ethics, demonstrating that he cannot be bought, no matter what the price; the liberated career woman who sleeps around in order to gain favours in business and the academic-politician with a carefully cultivated charm, Seducing impressionable young women. Tantu: The Loom of Life is a fascinating novel about modern India, surveying as it does the state of the country from Mahatma Gandhi to Indira Gandhi.