{"product_id":"mahmud-and-ayaz-9789354473210","title":"Mahmud and Ayaz","description":"\u003cp\u003eUsing the legendary love story of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni and his Turkish\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eslave-cum-lover Ayaz as the backdrop, Mahmud and Ayaz, set in contemporary\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMumbai, tells the story of a young, casually radicalized Muslim man, Mahmud\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFakhar, who has failed to qualify for the IAS-where he had hoped to make\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ea lot of money, but also to weaken the system from within-and has barely\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003emanaged a temporary teaching job in a second-rate college. At a loose end\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eafter his entire family dies in the 2015 Hajj stampede, he runs into a homeless\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHindu lad, the illegitimate son of a tamasha dancer, hires him as his domestic\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eservant, converts him to Islam, re-names him Ayaz, and begins an affair with\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ehim.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is the start of an unusual life together, and a series of journeys. Their travels\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003etake them to Somnath in the great Sultan's footsteps, and then to Kashmir, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eas they are drawn into a life of petty and not-so-petty crime and, almost, of\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003emilitancy. After some odd adventures, the wheel comes full circle when their\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewayward life ends again in Mumbai, in the neighborhood of Mahmud's birth, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eeven as AIDS afflicts one of them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNarrated with irreverent, deadpan humour, R. Raj Rao's new novel is funny, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esubversive, provocative and wonderfully rude. It is unlike any love story-gay\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eor straight-that Indian readers would expect.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Speaking Tiger Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50869565292818,"sku":"9789354473210","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_bd17e6c9-f262-463d-bec6-b428e37daee4.jpg?v=1737762154","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/mahmud-and-ayaz-9789354473210","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}