In 1984, Sahitya Akademi awardee Anita Desai was shortlisted for her unusual work In Custody that was made into a film in 1993. “Magnificent”, Salman Rushdie noted in The Observer about the novel in which the author successfully digresses from her earlier, almost obsessive preoccupation with female characters.

In Custody is the story of Deven who, unlike the protagonists of Desai’s other novels, is not suffering from any grave tragedy or is trapped helplessly in family ties and obligations. A frustrated poet, lecturer and husband, he is caught in the web of his own foolishness causing much annoyance to his readers. He believes that he is ‘in custody’ of others, especially Nur, the great Urdu poet he tries to interview but from whom he fails to extract anything useful.

Published in 1984.