The Monsters Still Lurk

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It is 1991. As Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated and a new government comes to power, setting in motion a process of economic reforms that will transform India, an ordinary family is about to experience detours from the traditional middle-class script of their lives. Over the next quarter century, as the world around them changes in ways unexpected, their lives too wind along uncharted trails, sometimes sunlit, sometimes shadowy and forbidding.

From the Publisher

A conversation with Aruna Nambiar

‘The Monsters Still Lurk’: what’s the meaning lurking behind the title?

The underlying theme of the novel is about ageing, and a family grappling with all that it entails. The title refers to the metaphorical monsters that lurk in the dark corners of our minds – the fears of ageing and mortality and infirmity. These are the monsters of our adulthood, and they are far more terrifying, far more real, than the fire-breathing dragons and slavering ogres of our childhood imaginations.

The story unfolds over quarter century of post-liberalization India. Why did you choose this setting and would the novel have been different if you had chosen a different backdrop?

The elderly often struggle with a feeling of irrelevance, of being out of touch and outdated. Every generation has had to deal with this, but no generation has been confronted with as many economic and societal changes as the one that grew up in pre-liberalization India but then grew old in post-liberalization India. Economic reforms followed by the technology boom and the age of information have ushered in an era of upward mobility, consumerism and unparalleled connectivity that were unthinkable even a couple of decades ago. For the ageing, it’s thrown up a whole new set of challenges that no other generation before them has had to deal with – whether it’s struggling with social media and smart phones, or with galloping inflation.

It’s certainly one of the most fascinating eras of contemporary Indian society and the perfect backdrop for a story about ageing. No other setting could have resulted in quite the same story.

It is much more than just a story about ageing though, isn’t it? It’s a tale about family and how they deal with the twists and turns that life throws their way, how their relationships evolve too, isn’t it?

Yes. I started out wanting to write a story about ageing, but the more I developed my thoughts, the more I realized that there were so many aspects of ageing I wanted to explore – the physical part, certainly, the infirmities of body and mind, but also how the elderly deal with societal changes, their feelings of insecurity and irrelevance, how children have to deal with the ageing of their parents as they age themselves and how they transform into the caretakers of their parents,

how the parent-child relationship changes over the years, the evolution of sibling bonds over time – and so much more. The only way I could do justice to multiple aspects of ageing was through different characters and by setting the story over several years – and thus the family saga was born.

Despite the forbidding title and the occasional dark turns that the story takes, the novel is also full of humour, idiosyncratic characters and tongue-in-cheek observations. Was this deliberate?

I’ve discovered over my writing journey that my most authentic writing voice is the humorous one – it’s what comes naturally to me, the quirky characters and the punchlines, even when the underlying themes may be grave or sombre. The exact nature and extent of that humour varies from story to story – from bordering on spoof to subtle and often dark. However, I do remember saying to myself at the very beginning of this novel, ‘I think I’ll write a funny story about ageing’. Early plot summaries and drafts were often annotated with cautionary notes such as ‘this could turn maudlin’ or ‘lighten this part up – too serious!!!’ So yes, there was also some deliberation in keeping the tone light and quirky.

Who is your favourite character in the book and why?

That’s like asking a mother to choose between her children! Nevertheless, I shall be a blasphemous mother and reveal my favourites – that would be the parents of the protagonist, Vivek Menon. To me they embody all the eccentricities, old-world dignity, stoicism, firm practicality, frugality and blunt tactlessness of their generation, as well as their perplexity about and lack of patience with the modern ways.