Author-journalist Ashwini Bhatnagar’s fourth book – and first work of fiction – is bang on time in terms of topicality. This is the 25th year of India’s tryst with globalisation and as the media and experts discuss its economic fallout and the emergence of India on the world stage, Bhatnagar gives the human take on it – the shaping of the 1990s generation that was then hailed as Gen Next.
‘The High Bouncing Lover’ is a page-turner and is also deeply reflective of how liberalisation changed lives, lifestyles, thought patterns and attitudes. It traces the passage of individuals and families from near poverty to affluence and from timidity to courage – the hallmark which defined the upwardly mobile 1990s generation. “The book is about transition,” said Bhatnagar. “Transition from scarcity to affluence, from one lifestyle to another, transition in mindsets and relationships– from familiar bonds to alienation, from despair to hope and despair again, and exploration of love. It explores the nuances amongst dramatic situations and reveals the drama in what is unsaid, unexpressed.”
“As a journalist in the 1990s,” he said, “I came across scores of young people who transited from near poverty to magnificent affluence. I heard their stories and decided to tell them because they represent such an important part of our contemporary history– our present-day society.”
The central character of the novel, Dina Nath alias Danny, represents the aspirational side of the 1990s generation – people who believed in their merit and could brand themselves again and again to capitalise on market needs. “They were the real heroes who created the economic and social environment as we know it now and which we take for granted,” Bhatnagar said.
Before the 1990s, India was “dull, drab and dreary; unexciting, and then the skies opened up. Suddenly, another life sprang up. Ability, agility and aspiration began to thrive. The transition started to happen”. “The 1990s were so exciting. You could really go anywhere in life if you put your mind to it,” the author said.
The novel, say critics, works through its characters. Each one is a distinctive slice from the lives of the 1990s generation– meritorious, empowered, seemingly whimsical but intensely pragmatic. They were the people who created a brave new world in which the new millennium generation thrives today. ‘The High Bouncing Lover’ is not a corporate story. It doesn’t focus on corporatisation but on its impact. It’s a human story, a social story,” he said, adding: “It’s also an interesting love story.”