English, August
(English, August)

Agastya Sen, nicknamed “English, August”, speaks and thinks in English. A lover of poetry, he listens to Bob Dylan, rock and jazz and reads Marcus Aurelius. He is also an Administrative Service Officier, a member of the most influential and powerful cadre of civil servants in India. He will be part of modern India’s governing elite. He is sent off for a year’s training to Madna, an obscure small town in the backwaters. Culture shock in his own country follows. He feels like a foreigner, but most survive. August is surrounded by wild characters : Srivastrava, the pompous head bureaucrat and his wife Malti, the fashion and cultural leader of the town ; Sathe, a local pothead and cartoonist ; Kumar, the Police Superintendent and connoisseur of porn films ; and Frog-to, the world’s worst cook. August is also surrounded bu India as it is…