Bali and the Ocean of Milk (A Grand and Frothy Manthan of Myth, Magic, Palace Intrigue, Humour and More!- Mahesh Dattani)

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About the Book A mysterious ailment afflicts Indrah, reducing the omnipotent king of the gods to, well, not quite the man he used to be. To add to his woes, the Holy Trinity threaten to fire him for dereliction of duty. But Indrah's troubles wilt in comparison to those of his asura counterpart, Bali, ruler of Tripura. Even as Indrah sits fretting over his delicate health, an assassination attempt on Bali leaves the asura on the brink of death.

There is only one thing that can save both these men from certain doom: amrit, the mythical nectar. But to secure it, the gods and the asuras will have to cooperate and churn the Ocean of Milk together... Will Indrah and Bali be able to set aside their ancient enmity, or will old rivalries keep them from pulling off this epic feat?

Bali and the Ocean of Milk re-imagines the eternal conflict between the gods and the asuras in a whacky thriller littered with bad jokes and corpses.

About the Author Nilanjan P. Choudhury spent several years peddling highly overrated software to gullible corporates, until a mid-life crisis saw him joining an NGO that works in education. He studied at IIM Ahmedabad and IIT Kanpur and often wonders why he went through all that jazz. He lives in Bangalore with his wife, a daughter and a home loan.

Acknowledgements My sincere thanks: To Adil Hasan, Arundhati Ghosh, Jyotirmoy Bose, Kallol Dasgupta and Niranjan Prasad, my first readers, harbingers of hope and keepers of the faith.

To Abhijit Bhaduri, C. K. Meena and Mahesh Dattani, for your support, encouragement and kindness.

To Anjum Hasan, Ashok Malhotra, Elina Dasilva, Pratima Bhattacharjee, Reshmi Mitra, Rukmini Sen, Rupa Paul Choudhury, Spatica Ramanujam and the Bhattacharya clan Chhaya, Monolina, Robin, Santanu and Shampa - in appreciation of your support and thoughtful suggestions.

To Leah Verghese and Jayshree Misra Nair, for your invaluable help on the cover design and fruitful discussions under the jackfruit tree.

To Abhishek Majumdar, for opening my mind to the magical world of 'If'.

To V. K. Karthika, Shuka Jain and Natasha Puri, the long suffering team at HarperCollins, for believing in Bali and bringing him to life.

To Jhinuk and Pampa, my constant companions on seas stormy and calm, in profound gratefulness for being my harbour of peace (mostly), joy and love.

Preface In the summer of 1999, a team of Chinese engineers who were laying down a ten-lane highway through the hills bordering the state of Arunachal Pradesh, discovered an archaeological site that has radically altered our conception of oriental civilization as we know it. Having blasted through a sheer rock face that had got in their way, the astonished engineers stumbled upon the ruins of an ancient city rising behind the veil of stone they had demolished. The Chinese government instantly sealed the area and for several years, little was known about this mysterious civilization that had seemingly sprung up from nowhere.