Book Review: The Hitchhiker by Vinod George Joseph

Vinod George Joseph, a lawyer living in London has written his debut novel in The Hitchhiker published by Books for Change, Bangalore. In this book, almost epic in its breadth, he tells the story of three generations of a family - Maruthu and Bhadrakaali - Hindu Dalits from an obscure village in Tamil Nadu near Salem, their son Petertraj, who converts to a fundamentalist Christian denomination to better his life and their son Ebenezer, who disillusioned with the church and its teachings and trapped in a social dungeon, eventually reconverts back in to the Hindu fold.

Set in the 90s and the early years of the decade, the book attempts to look at several subjects - the aggressive evangelization of some of the Pentecostal -evangelist churches, the passiveness of the traditional churches, the deep rooted caste prejudices that Dalits face, the cynicism and selfishness of politicians, touches of Hindu as well as Muslim fundamentalism and their expression juxtaposed against an essentially defensive and some what passive Christian fundamentalism.

Although the novel is populated by a host of characters, each is well etched out and is allowed to develop and contribute to the flow of the novel. Through the character of Ebenezer and his growing up years through school, college, job, his girl friend and romance, the tide of contemporary India's flow is show cased. The Babri masjid demolition, the Bombay blasts, 9/11, the Gujarat riots, the rise of the BJP, the stock market scam linked to Ketan Parekh, the rise and burst of the dotcoms, the pincer like hold of caste and religion in spite of economic liberalization in India, they are all addressed and studied through the eyes of Ebenezer and his friends.

The character of the directionless Ebenezer , unable to find solace in the religion of his Christian father , his rich girl friend and her unscrupulous family , unable to land a job of any worth in spite of being a software professional in a market where the supply is supposed to be perennially short is a tragic one. It ends with the inescapable message that economic reform is doing nothing more than scratching support even as centuries old forces of caste religion and political dominion win the day.

[Editor's Note: Reviews of Hitchhiker by Sujatha Bagal and Richard Marcus are also available on Desicritics.]