Shalini, a 43 year old widow, tells the story of how she came to be living in The Towers, a crumbling residential complex, and how she, now pill dependent, has become a sad reflection of a vibrant, intelligent and feisty woman she once was. Fifteen years ago, the rules were changing, walls and gated communities were being built everywhere to enforce Purity—to segregate some from ‘others’ and guard resources. Vigilante groups were rising up to enforce a brutal kind of order. Shalini & her family lived in a mixed neighborhood and was in the middle of a lovely birthday party for her young daughter when they came for them. They were separated, her husband taken one way, she another, and her young daughter…. Shalini has survived these years living only to find her daughter, Leila….

Set in India in the near future, [Leila] is a riveting “awful warning” novel. It is always interesting to read dystopias from other countries, as we often share the concerns voiced. This novel is about a future controlled by money, power, sexism, tribalism and nationalism which, as we know, is not limited to the country of India. ( )

The blurb for this novel likens it to an Indian Handmaid’s Tale:

Leila does for the barbarity of contemporary Indian nationalism what The Handmaid’s Tale did for the yoke of patriarchy. It is urgent, gripping, topical, disturbing, and announces a talent we’ll be talking about for years to come. – Neel Mukherjee

But I think this novel has greater currency than that. A novel which explores the development of gated communities to keep out The Other has its origins in Apartheid South Africa, in the White Australia Policy, and in contemporary refugee ‘management’. At the domestic level there is the emergence of gated estates in wealthy western nations. All those apartments with keycodes for the front door and burglar alarms on ordinary suburban houses. Electric operated gates that only an owner can open. All these are intimations of an obsession with security and a fear of Outsiders. And as Leila shows, while the novels segregates its walled communities by religious disposition, it’s as much about protecting possessions (including women) as it is about maintaining ‘purity’.
The story begins with Shalini performing a ritual in remembrance of her daughter Leila who was ‘taken’ sixteen years ago when she was three. Gradually the reader realises that the husband beside her is dead, and that Shalini is surviving on memories. But despite her ostensible cooperation with the rules of ‘Purity One’ , Shalini is a determined woman and she fervently believes that she will be reunited with Leila soon.
The walls that surround The Towers are explained. Purity Towers is a high-rise of solitary widows sedated into submission and where no children are allowed. The rules are enforced by ‘wardens’ who are really spies looking for any evidence of non-conformity. Shalini is 43 now, and she was brought there against her will when she was 28. Her city has been segregated into sub-groups, separated by massive walls and armed guards at the gates through which workers from the Slums pass in and out, submitting to intrusive ID checks, strip searching and a change of clean clothing on their way. Within, everyone has the same religion. Busybodies poke through Hindu garbage for bones which would indicate the eating of meat. This is a dystopia of extreme intolerance and an apartheid built on diversity not of skin colour.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2018/10/07/leila-by-prayaag-akbar-bookreview/ ( )