The Mammaries of the Welfare State

Some eight years into his career, Agastya Sen of the Indian Administrative Service is worn down, hiding his misery and getting through the days on hashish. Short of housing, he ends up in a government guest house overlooking a vast rubbish dump and a slum. An affair with Daya, who runs an advertising agency and offers him a job, goes nowhere. He is then made Collector of Madna, the provincial town of his training years, as an epidemic takes hold and his fellow officials care more about procedure and spin than about the sick. Around him the Welfare State is milked by everyone: politicians of the ruling Aflatoon family, colleagues, fathers pushing their daughters on him. A training course in France offers no escape from the absurdities of the system.

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About the book

Form

Novel

Length

437 pages in the original

Genres

Satire, Politics (assigned by AI)

Set in

India, France

First published

2000 by Viking

Author's age

41 when first published

ISBN

9780670879342 (Viking, India)

9780140272451 (Penguin Books India, India)

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Wikidata