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Silk Route

Silk Route

A Gripping Literary Mystery About Love, Longing & Identity | Slow-Burn Thriller | Indian LGBTQ Fiction

Sachin Kundalkar
,
Aakash Karkare
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Nishikant leads a quiet life, going for long walks around Pune with his older sister, fantasizing about the handsome next-door neighbor and lingering in bookstores while dreaming of being a writer. But when a love affair claims his sister’s life and takes the handsome neighbour far away from him, his middle-class parents pack him off to Mumbai to shield him from the scandal. Through his relationships with Shiv in Mumbai, and later with Sreenivas, in London, Nishikant is able to break apart the shackles his past have placed on him. When Nishikant moves back to Mumbai, he has become a writer and a professor and the only escape from his solitary existence are the long letters he receives from Srinivas , until one day, Sreenivas disappears mysteriously.

Silk Route translated from the Marathi Reshim Marg, invites readers to go on a journey along with Nishikant on his many travels through cities and people in a way that has rarely been seen in Indian literature. As the series’ first part, the novel lays the groundwork for this expansive narrative journey that questions love, identity and the false veneer of societal expectations.

Imprint: India Penguin

Published: Jul/2025

ISBN: 9780143477808

Length : 120 Pages

MRP : ₹399.00

Silk Route

A Gripping Literary Mystery About Love, Longing & Identity | Slow-Burn Thriller | Indian LGBTQ Fiction

Sachin Kundalkar
,
Aakash Karkare

Nishikant leads a quiet life, going for long walks around Pune with his older sister, fantasizing about the handsome next-door neighbor and lingering in bookstores while dreaming of being a writer. But when a love affair claims his sister’s life and takes the handsome neighbour far away from him, his middle-class parents pack him off to Mumbai to shield him from the scandal. Through his relationships with Shiv in Mumbai, and later with Sreenivas, in London, Nishikant is able to break apart the shackles his past have placed on him. When Nishikant moves back to Mumbai, he has become a writer and a professor and the only escape from his solitary existence are the long letters he receives from Srinivas , until one day, Sreenivas disappears mysteriously.

Silk Route translated from the Marathi Reshim Marg, invites readers to go on a journey along with Nishikant on his many travels through cities and people in a way that has rarely been seen in Indian literature. As the series’ first part, the novel lays the groundwork for this expansive narrative journey that questions love, identity and the false veneer of societal expectations.

Buying Options
Paperback / Hardback

Sachin Kundalkar

Sachin Kundalkar is National Award-winning film maker with twelve Indian feature films to his credit, a screen writer whose work has been adapted into multiple Indian languages including Hindi and Malayalam. He is the author of the celebrated novel ‘Cobalt Blue’ which he wrote in Marathi when he was twenty-three years old. The novel by now has been translated into English, Hindi, Kannada, and Sinhala and has been adapted into a visually stunning feature film.

Aakash Karkare

Aakash Karkare is a writer and translator based in Mumbai. He has worked across film, photography, and journalism, with experience in documentary filmmaking and as a former film critic with Scroll. His debut memoir is forthcoming from Rupa.

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Cobalt Blue

Cobalt Blue

Sachin Kundalkar, Jerry Pinto
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