Blood brothers is mj akbars amazing story of three generations of a muslim family - based on his own - and how they deal with the fluctuating contours of hindu-muslim relations telinipara, a small jute mill town some 30 miles north of kolkata along the hooghly, is a complex rubiks cube of migrant bihari workers, hindus and muslims; bengalis poor and bhadralok; and sahibs who live in the safe, foreign world of victoria jute mill into this scattered inhabitation enters a child on the verge of starvation, prayaag, who is saved and adopted by a muslim family, converts to islam and takes on the name of rahmatullah as rahmatullah knits telinipara into a community, friendship, love trust and faith are continually tested by the cancer of riots incidents - conversion, circumcision, the arrival of plague of electricity - and a fascinating array of characters - the ultimate brahmin, rahmatullahs friend girija maharaj, the workers leader, bauna sardar, the storyteller, talat mian, the poet- teacher, syed ashfaque, the smiling mendicant, burha deewana, the sincere sahib, simon hogg, and then the questioning, demanding third generation of the author and his friend kamala - interlink into a narrative of social history as well as a powerful memoir blood brothers is a chronicle of its age, its canvas as enchanting as its narrative, a personal journey through change as tensions build, stretching the bonds of a lifetime to breaking point the demanding, in the end, the greatest sacrifice its last chapters, written in a bare-bones, unemotional style, are the most moving as the author searches for hope amid raw wounds with a surgeons scalpel
