Shiv now asks himself (or his father): What makes a fanatic? A fundamentalist? What makes communities that have lived together for years suddenly discover a latent hatred for each other? Githa Hariharan's novel about contemporary India deals with themes and issues that can be applied to almost anywhere in the world. How do the power politics of a society affect the lives of individual people? What can one person do about it: how do you make a difference when faced with a larger force both powerful and intangible? In Times of Siege explores a clash between the secular, plural version of Indian history and the more black-and-white version offered by religious Hindu extremists. This clash is most severely felt by the somewhat boring character of Shiv Murthy, an ageing Professor of History in New Delhi, whose lesson on one of the heroes of Indian mythology causes unexpected controversy among the more traditional circles of Indian society. Shiv, with the help of the radical young...