Separate Lives

About the Book

No, Q was not a mere coincidence. Kajal felt a rapid pining for Q to see his work. He urgently needed her to. He was finally ready. Q…..That night when I gave her the name, she had no voice or eyes or ears. She wasn’t even an animal. She was just an object. A motif that defined a clan. Three individuals – resolute minded Doctor, seemingly self-assured relationship-hopper Q and Kajal, an academic failure with growing-up ghosts – are thrown into a tryst with circumstances, and layer by layer, they discover themselves more than they unravel each other. As fate leads Kajal’s life to intertwine with Q’s in a way that both find their spaces in the world, Doctor is forced to face brutal realities of his own inadequacies, sending his life spiraling downward into darkness while still seeking the truth. Set in a palpable backdrop of northeast India and London, the non-linear narrative builds minor culminations while rippling to a climax that surprises and leaves a mixed after-taste. Separate Lives weaves the compelling tale of three everyday individuals as their distinct pasts, presents and futures collide, even as chance is the simultaneous protagonist and antagonist.

About the Author

Pankaj Bhattacharyya is a forty-year-old practicing ophthalmologist. Born in Shillong, he grew up in Arunachal Pradesh and Delhi, studied medicine in Guwahati, and pursued higher education in London. Dr. Bhattacharyya lives in Guwahati with his gynecologist wife and son. This is his first novel.