’The Death of Vishnu’ is a beautifully well written novel by MANIL SURI. The Novel revolves around a character called Vishnu, an alcoholic & an Odd-job man, having purchased the right to sleep on the ground-floor landing of a Bombay apartment house. His neighbours (2 families in the block) Asranis & Pathaks argue over paying the ambulance & doctor charges...and this leads to the introduction of both the families and their life style, their personal problems along with the behavioural attitude of their kids.
The drama soon leads to the introduction of other neighbours such as Mr & Mrs. Jalal; Mr. Jalal’s obsessive search for higher meaning; Salim their son eloping with the Asrani’s daughter Kavitha who feels like an heroin in an Hindi Movie; Vinod Taneja’s life before & after the death of his wife; also not missing the day to day life of of the Paanwallah, cigretteWallah and Short Ganga, the Maid. As Vishnu drifts from Coma to death he recalls some snatches of romance and sex with Padmini, a prostitute... their honey moon to lonawala and the comedic scene of asking her to buy petrol to get back home... Soon he recalls the passion for Kavitha Asrani, daughter of Asranis for whom he worked. However the story narrows down to the truth of India’s religious conflicts and down to the Hindu Mythology. Well!
The story also speaks about the day to life of middle class families in Bombay which makes the reader laugh, cry and hope for the best of things. Its wonderful and well written. I Highly Recommend this novel to anyone who loves reading as the story starts comically... ending in tragedy.