Deccan Queen: Take Two by Farrukh Dhondy in Paperback

This collection of stories is a fusion of the author's life, Farrukh Dhondy, in his younger days in Pune and Bombay. We encounter a range of characters including his grandfather, who becomes destitute after making a deal with a Maharajah, two Scottish brothers abandoned by their alcoholic father at Farrukh's Anglo-Indian school, and his father's supposed-dead college friend who returns as a mysterious figure... However, what makes these stories even more captivating are the reactions of the characters' descendants and relatives who reach out to the author with objections, threats, and requests. To set the record straight, the author presents this 'second telling', a Take Two, which includes these responses attached to the tales. At the core of the book lies the Deccan Queen train—the symbolic train that travels between Pune and Mumbai—representing life and journeys in India, both in the recent past and today. With the literary device of these stories being published in a fictional first