Sometimes, voice is all ... it’s their singular voices that give...characters their life and complexity. So it is with Jai, a 9-year-old Indian boy who’s the narrator and main character of Deepa Anappara’s extraordinary debut novel.”— Maureen Corrigan, The Washington Post Kudos, Madam Anappara, for shedding some light on the horrors of missing children. I trust many will find the pieces I could not in this novel and give you the praise you seek.

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line

The protagonist is a child named Jai, and his entire world is tinted by rose-coloured glasses. He has an innocent and naive perception of everything that goes on around him, which is demonstrated through both his observations and the prose. Thank you to Netgalley, the author and Penguin Random House Canada for an ecopy of this novel. I am providing my honest review. This was released February 2020.Anappara’s excellent debut novel is written from the POVs of children about children. As an Indian journalist, Anappara covered the deeply disturbing tragedy of children disappearing at the rate of nearly 180 per day. She felt that the personal stories of these children were getting lost amidst the appalling statistics. Thus, she wrote this novel primarily from the POV of Jai. Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line combines humour and warmth with tragedy and deprivation; innocence and optimism with bigotry and corruption. Despite the ‘djinn patrol’ of the title, there’s very little magic here. We’ve been brought up to believe that children are only focussed on their games and food, unaware of the harsh realities of life. But that’s not entirely true, is it? Children have borne the brunt of religious intolerance for decades, carrying those scars well into their adulthood, just like the children in Djinn Patrol. As the narrative progresses more children go missing and Anappara will devote a chapter to the perspective of the missing child. This is a masterstroke and these chapters are a direct contrast to the innocence and naivety of Jai’s chapters. They enlighten the reader to the reality of what is happening, build suspense, and prepare the reader for the later darker stages of the novel. EP: You’ve written lots of award-winning short fiction. What do you think are the main differences, apart from length, in writing novels as opposed to short stories? And which do you prefer?

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line — Deepa Anappara Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line — Deepa Anappara

However, the descriptions of the slum that Jai lives in has another purpose—to highlight the class divisions in Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line. As the story progresses, we learn that Jai’s slum is a short distance away from an upmarket complex of apartments. A number of the parents in the slum work as caretakers, maids, or cleaners at the apartment complex. But the work isn’t for the faint of heart–Jai’s mother lives in fear of losing her job for even minor indiscretions, like being late to work one day. The children in my novel were very much inspired by the children I had interviewed as a reporter. Many of them were working, or weren’t able to study, because of their difficult financial or domestic circumstances. Despite this, they were often cheeky and witty, if not downright sarcastic. I drew from the memories of those interviews, and from the children I know in my life, to create the voices of my characters. Like 24% of the Indian population, the people in Djinn Patrol live in slums, and many of them work for the ‘hi-fi’ people in the nearby areas. They are people who live in poverty, who give hafta to the policemen so they don’t demolish their bastis, and still try to give their children the best future they can afford. When the children start disappearing one by one, their parents implore the police to investigate. The police refuse, citing various reasons such as the girl must have run off on her own (or with her older Muslim boyfriend). As the situation turns dire, the slum-dwellers take matters into their own hands, start vigils and try to find the missing children on their own. As the novel comes to its end, and the slum-dwellers catch the culprit, while the police are busy catching the commissioner’s cat, Jai thinks of how many lives could have been saved, if only the police in real life had been as efficient and honest as the ones on his beloved show, Police Patrol. Most enjoyable for the richness of its sensory details. Cravings for samosas and tikka masala inevitably follow. It's easy to forget Deepa Anappara's protagonist is only nine years old, despite the occasional references to poop. The narrative structure is formulaic and the final chapters feel rushed, yet Anappara succeeds at piercing the smog-choked alleys of marginalized communities to reveal disturbing realities in present day India. Xenophobic violence, political power plays and hate perpetrators run amok while it is the common man who still has to work, worry about how to feed his family and survive amidst this violence. Deepa Anappara’s Djinn Patrol On The Purple Line highlights this ugly face of India – one where we still haven’t learnt to embrace the true meaning of secularism.

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For me, the most powerful chapters were “This Story Will Save Your Life” which were mostly stories of the djinns and other beliefs regarding wandering children. My favorite scene was when Jai and Pari went to the railway station. Because of the title and blurb, I have to admit that I thought a big portion of this novel would take place around the railway. However, there was only one big scene there in the beginning. I wasn’t too pleased with the ending, but I respect the underlying messages delivered to the reader through that conclusion. You're exposed to the corruption of the police force who are more concerned with collecting their hafta than looking for the lost. Police are not there to protect but to be feared. Parents are hesitant to report crimes. The threat of bulldozers demolishing their settlement is very real. You get to see how prejudice colors the investigation. Gender bias leads to adultification of female victims. Girls are mislabeled as older. Their sexual reputation becomes a focal point. Frictions between religious groups are exacerbated as rumor and innuendo lead to vigilante justice while the people wait for the police to respond.

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line - Wikipedia

children go missing each day in India. Only 1 in 3 will ever be found. These are staggering statistics and the basis of this novel.

a b Dutta, Amrita (23 February 2020). "For her debut novel, Deepa Anappara takes on the task of writing about poverty in a child's voice". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020 . Retrieved 1 October 2020.

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara: Summary Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara: Summary

Set in Metropolitan India, this atmospheric novel follows Jai and his two friends as they search for their missing classmate. Obsessed with a police television show, Jai is convinced that he will be able to find the boy, even when the police themselves are indifferent about the case. As more and more children go missing, however, it becomes clear that there is something insidious going on, and Jai's life will be forever changed by the events that unfold... The trio fast realize they are facing their unknown adversary alone. The police see the slum as a continual source of annoyance and threaten to bulldoze it to the ground. The wealthy people who live in a gated community of nearby high-rises couldn't care less. And with hysteria creeping in, the adults in the slum begin to turn on each other, causing a rift between the Hindu and Muslim factions within the settlement. With no help or resources, can Jai, Pari and Faiz solve this horrific mystery? The narrator Jai is a nine year old boy growing up in a basti (slum) on the edge of an unnamed Indian city, near the end of the metro line which gives the book part of its title. Fortunately the djinns and fantasy elements only exist in Jai's head - his reality is a grim one, and gets worse when the children of the basti start disappearing one or two at a time. La storia si concentra sulla sparizione di un loro compagno di classe e di fronte all’indifferenza di poliziotti corrotti, s’improvvisano detective. In thisthrilling reading experience,Deepa Anappara creates a drama of childhood that is as wild as it is intimate. Djinn Patrol on the Purple Lineis an entertaining, wonderful debut that will earn all the acclaim it is sure to get.” —Chigozie Obioma, Booker Prize-shortlisted author of An Orchestra of MinoritiesThe final reveal felt like a complete cop-out—which may be true to life but the book seemed to be heading toward a definitive conclusion in Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line which was nothing close to what readers actually received. Drawing on real incidents, here is an extraordinarily moving and flawlessly imagined triumph of suspense. The baba in Djinn Patrolsuggests that they hold a puja to appease the gods, after which the missing children will surely be found. Chandni’s (one of the missing children) mother goes to the police station to invite the police to the puja, in the hopes that it might provoke them to find her. Instead, they beat up Chandni’s mother. When she arrives for the puja in her injured state, she is given no sympathy from the Hindu organisation conducting the event. They shout at her to not cause a scene because they don’t want her to spoil their efforts. Congratulations: Bridport Prize winners revealed". Bridport and Lyme Regis News. 19 October 2017 . Retrieved 1 October 2020. Journalist and author Deepa Anappara draws our attention to the horrors and tragedy of the terrifyingly enormous numbers of children that go missing in India, a matter that is largely met by indifference in mainstream Indian society. The impoverished slums and community are depicted with an astonishing vibrancy as the people go about their daily lives and the challenges they face, lying within sight of the wealthy and powerful to whom the poor are invisible and a blight on their landscape. Annappara provides a pertinent social, political, cultural and economic commentary on modern India, with its huge wealth inequalities, class, sexism, crime, police corruption, abuse, exploitation, and religious tensions and divisions. Interspersed within the narrative are the folklore and superstitions that abound in the community, such as the Djinns.