As concealed layering and surprising twists and turns are the perquisites in making any fictional story tick, something similar happened in the story of Indian Englsih novel. It is believed that Anglo-Indian literature created by English men and inspired by Indian themes and spirit seriously began with Sir William Jones towards the close of the 18th century. But this initiative majorly failed to gather momentum as these writers were obsessed by a sense of their racial superiority, which filtered through in their writings. Indians have been storytellers ever since the days when Vedas were first imparted down from teacher to student, the knowledge of English language provided the storytellers of India another medium to write their story. With Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s Rajmohan’s wife (1864) the true rise of Indian English novel began.

   The Poison Tree (1873) and Krishnakanta’s wife (1878) were his other prominent works. Other....