The Last Jet-Engine Laugh

It is the not-so-distant future, and in the belligerent wannabe superpower that is India, Para, a tomboyish fighter pilot, flies sorties against the Pak-Saudi alliance. She has been trained to kill, to be a deadly instrument for the military ambitions of an ultra-modern, ultra-competitive state. And yet it is less than a hundred years since her smart, sarcastic, principled grandparents met on a non-violent demonstration against British rule in Ahmedabad, falling in love as they were trampled by the mounted police. Their only son, Paresh, grows up to drift through life, torn in different directions all at once, though he does produce an entirely spirited daughter - Para.How did India get to Para from her grandparents? And what happened to the generation in between, of Paresh and his peers? Moving between crowd scenes and midair battles, between sexual farce and social embarrassment, Joshi maps the arcs made by these four striking characters, by the family they make up, and by their country across a complex and confused century.