The Bridge at Mile 761/3: A Tale of Colonial Times

This story -- set in 1930s’ Anglo-India – is about race, colour and colonialism. Jerry, a coloured engine driver, ravishes a white maiden under a railway bridge. Pearl becomes pregnant, and since they are Catholics, Jerry has to marry her. When Pearl dies five years later, Jerry seduces her mother. Like her daughter, Malarna -- thirty/something -- also becomes pregnant The seduction of the mother-in-law – the book’s main story-line – is a long drawn-out affair because the lady is not willing. Also, our hero keeps getting sidetracked into his many other interests -- history, steam locomotives, religion, Indian erotica and exotica, etc The story takes place in the heyday of the Raj. Its protagonists are a mixed-race people who, as a result of the march of history, have since vanished from its pages -- in the same way as the once-mighty Raj itself.