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I’d heard and read a lot about Brit Bennett’s debut novel ‘The Mothers’, a story about the consequences of an unplanned teenage pregnancy. Unfortunately, our local bookstores could never get the book. So I settled for her second novel published four years after The Mothers, ‘The Vanishing Half’, when I found it at Pilgrims Book House in Jhamsikhel. 

Now, The Mothers was a smashing success. Often when there’s that pressure to come out with another equally good work, writers don’t deliver. But if The Mothers is even as half as good as The Vanishing Half, it’s going to be a phenomenal read: Bennett’s second novel is filled with intrigue, drama, and a rich, detailed setting that puts you, the reader, smack in the middle of all that is happening. 

It’s a story about twin sisters Desiree and Stella Vignes who are born and live in Mallard, a fictional town in Louisiana, where the residents are mostly light-skinned blacks. Nobody marries dark in this town and over time the population becomes lighter and lighter, like ‘a cup of coffee steadily diluted with cream’. But being lighter than the average blacks doesn’t protect them in an era when prejudices and racism run deep. 

The twin’s father is killed by a gang of white men and their mother works as a cleaner at a rich white lady’s house. Desiree and Stella know that if they continue to stay in Mallard, they won’t ever be safe or free despite their light skin tone and wavy locks. So they run away to New Orleans but after a year Stella leaves Desiree and the two end up leading entirely different lives: Stella passes off for white and Desiree marries the darkest man she can find. 

A decade later, the twin’s teenage children, dark-skinned Jude and blonde Kennedy, meet at a cocktail party. Initially they don’t know they are cousins but they soon find out that their mothers are sisters and how their lives have been shaped by the lies they had nothing to do with, their fates sealed by their mother’s decisions. Largely a story about racism and identity, The Vanishing Half also explores the fragility of relationships and the constant effort you need to put in to build the life you always dreamt of. 

Bennett seems to have a natural flair for writing and the story doesn’t drag on despite feeling a tad melodramatic at times. The Vanishing Half is a book of tremendous wisdom, forcing you to confront your hidden biases and misgivings about race, class, gender, and other societal constructs.

Three and half stars

Fiction

The Vanishing Half

Brit Bennett 

Published: 2020

Publisher: Dialogue Books

Pages: 366, Paperback

India’s Thar Desert, with an area of 200,000 square km, is a massive expanse of land that covers the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. Sparsely populated and terribly parched, the desert is a grim setting for any movie. But Netflix’s latest “Thar” opens with shots of the Thar that redefine the aesthetics of the Great Indian Desert. 

Director Raj Singh Chaudhary and his group of cinematographers create stunning visuals all through the Hindi-language action thriller. Set in 1985, the film is based in Munabao, a small village in Rajasthan near the India-Pakistan border that also happens to be a transit for cross-border opium trade. 

Alongside the desert’s exquisite visuals, the film begins with the unmistakable voice of Anil Kapoor, who as Inspector Surekha Singh introduces the village and gives an idea of what’s transpiring there. 

Munabao has been a sleepy village since Inspector Singh’s posting there. But then an unknown assailant is shot and brutally slaughtered in broad daylight; a family preparing for their daughter’s wedding is attacked and killed by merciless dacoits. Suddenly, Singh has his hands full, trying to find the culprits behind both the incidents and figuring out if the two events are connected. 

The arrival of a new man in town—Siddharth Kumar (Harshvardhan Kapoor) —further complicates things for the inspector. Siddharth claims to be an antiques dealer and hires a local called Panna (Jitendra Joshi) to work for him. While Panna is away, he convinces his wife Chetna (Fatima Sana Shaikh) into keeping him in their house as a tenant. 

Styled after the Western noir genre, Thar is a dark and gritty slow burner that features the classic story of crime, revenge and punishment. Think of any John Wayne or Gary Cooper movie, but in a much darker tone and customized for the Indian OTT audience. 

I mention the OTT audience particularly because Thar is not something Bollywood would produce. If it did, the 2007 suspense thriller “Manorama Six Feet Under,” also based in Rajasthan with so similarities to this movie, would not have bombed at the box office despite so many good reviews. 

The legendary actor Anil Kapoor’s son Harshvardhan has previously tried to enter the Bollywood film industry but was rejected by the audience and critics alike. Thar is the starlet’s attempt to enter the Indian OTT multiverse. 

But here too he fails to show any good skills and his two or three facial expressions soon get boring to watch. Kapoor Jr. is terribly outshined by his father. The movie was an opportunity for Harshvardhan to redeem himself, but he does not seem to be trying much. In a movie based in a rural Rajasthani village in the 80s, Harshvardhan is still a 2022 Mumbai-boy. 

The senior Kapoor, however, gets into character easily and shows us how he’s maintained a stellar reputation for himself in Bollywood and Hollywood for all these years. But the real show stealer is actor Fatima Sana Shaikh. I admit I am no expert in Rajasthani language, but Shaikh does seem to have nailed the accent and the attitude of a local Rajasthani woman. 

In her rather limited role as Chetna, Shaikh gives her best and manages to come into the spotlight even when the filmmakers seemingly did not want her to. I can’t but imagine the actor’s impact had her character been given more thought while writing. 

The writing in Thar is as mediocre as Harshvardhan’s acting. It takes inspiration from tried-and-tested movie stories but does not improvise much to create something of its own. A little bit of novelty could have given the film more substance than it now has. 

Who should watch it? 

Thar is a slow thriller with a good amount of violence and not much suspense. So it’s basically a straight-up thriller one can enjoy without giving much thought to the (predictable) storyline. But a regular Western noir audience would know how to judge better than that, right? 

Rating: 2.5 stars

Director: Raj Singh Chaudhar

Actor: Anil Kapoor, Harshvardhan Kapoor, Fatima Sana Shaikh

Genre: Action thriller

Run time: 1hr 48mins

Voting counting for May 13 local elections held in 753 local governments has begun across the country. The preliminary vote counting has shown neck and neck competition between Nepali Congress and CPN-UML.

In some places including Kathmandu Metropolitan City, independent candidates have taken lead over party candidates. In some places, preliminary counting shows five-party electoral alliance has not worked well.

In 2017, CPN-UML has emerged as the largest party in the local elections closely followed by Nepali Congress, and CPN(Maoist) secured a distant third position. This time too, it seems two parties will compete tough to become the first. 

A total of 137,043 people have filed their candidacies for 35,221 posts in the May 13 local elections: 3,276 for mayor, 2,009 for deputy mayor, 3,264 for chairperson, 2,296 for vice-chairperson, and 32,217 for ward chairperson. Similarly, 23,521 candidacies have been filed for women members, 21,221 for Dalit women members, and 49,239 for ward members. There are 17.7m voters—and 3.6m of them are new ones. There is a great deal of curiosity about the voting preferences of these first-time voters. Pratik Ghimire of ApEx interviewed 10 of them.  

Jayanti Thakur, 19
Pipra Rural Municipality, Mahottari 

I am under pressure, including from my family, to vote for the candidate of a certain political party. Telling someone to vote against their will is wrong. So I am going to use my right carefully. I will compare all the candidates and vote for the progressive ones. I am particularly focusing on women candidates because they are capable too. It’s just that they are not given the right opportunities by political parties. Women candidates make only 10.4 percent of total candidates this time. It is a shame that our political parties are still not willing to give women the right opportunity to lead. 

Kusum Pariyar, 19
Dhulikhel Municipality, Kavre 

I am disgusted by Nepal’s political situation. The local level at least should be free of politics because we need representatives who can serve their communities. But the reality is different. The candidates want the mayoral post for their political parties. I haven’t found one good political candidate. A couple of independent candidates look promising, but the chances of them winning are slim. Honestly, I am not very excited about this election. 

Kartabya Regmi, 20
Changunarayan Municipality, Bhaktapur 

In the 2017 local polls, I went to my municipality’s polling booth with my parents as I wanted to see what voting looks like. I have wanted to vote since that time. Reaching a voting age means that you are now a responsible citizen. So I am excited. Each position in the local government has its own working area, power, and limits that have been beautifully set by our constitution. If elected representatives work within those parameters, I guess our problems will be solved. I will vote based on the strengths of individual candidates, not based on their political affiliations.     

Sarishma Kafle, 20
Nijgadh Municipality, Bara 

Last month, I took a training session on ‘voter education’. It taught me the importance of voting, and helped me understand my responsibility for the country’s future. I have researched every candidate contesting local elections from my municipality. I want to experience the election atmosphere in my hometown, so I am back here from Kathmandu for the polls. This is an exciting time. Some of my distant relatives are also contesting. I had never talked to them before, but I recently got their calls and they were asking for my vote. It is strange that they want me to vote for them because I am their relative. They didn’t even try to convince me why I should pick them. 

Siddhant Paudel, 20
Kushma Municipality, Parbat 

I am excited and nervous at the same time. I am not going to vote for the old, outdated candidates because they have been tried and tested several times and each time they have failed to deliver. I am supporting young candidates. This election is an opportunity to change old ways. Youths should lead at the local level. At the back of my mind, I also think, what if we elect young representatives and they too disappoint in the end? It is such a strange feeling but I am happy that at least I am being a responsible citizen by exercising my franchise. 

Aaditya Baniya, 21
Birgunj Metropolitan City, Parsa 

The past five years were a waste of time. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Birgunj had become a coronavirus hotspot, but the work of the local government was dismal. It showed that we were being led by incompetent leaders. I am looking for alternative candidates who can work on smaller but effective agendas like drinking water, transport, waste management, and parking. The big agendas of political candidates are all lies. I will vote for a social reformer who has already worked in my area, even though he may not hold any political position. They care for the community. Candidates fielded by the political parties are with the people only during elections. 

Rasil Adhikari, 21
Tarakeshwor Municipality, Kathmandu 

After reaching the legal voting age, I started studying how democracy functions and the value of my vote. There are certain things I want from my candidates. While the majority of the people seem to be motivated by their political allegiance, I am looking at the vision and values that the candidates bring to the table. My single vote may very well get buried among thousands of others, but my wisdom counts as much as anything. I will vote for someone who stands out among the candidates.  

Nilesh Niroula, 22
Barahakshetra Municipality, Sunsari 

There is a generation gap between our leaders and young people. Times are changing fast and these leaders are not adapting. I want to see someone who is young and competent lead my municipality and my country. I am familiar with the politics of Nepal and I don’t see any candidate worthy of my vote. Where do I show my disapproval of candidates? Why are political parties afraid of the ‘none of the above’ (NOTA) ballot option? It is high time that old politicians gave up their posts so that young people can lead this country. I am looking for a leader who can inspire this country’s youths. 

Prativa Regmi, 22
Jaljala Rural Municipality, Parbat 

We are just days from casting our votes, but I haven’t been able to find a worthy candidate with a clear vision and agenda. The candidates in the fray don’t represent us. They are here to serve their political parties. I was looking for a candidate who could assure the public with sound health, education, transport, and employment ideas, but there is no one. So I have decided not to vote and save myself from being a reason for the failure of this country. 

Sulochana Yadav, 22
Tirahut Rural Municipality, Saptari 

I am eager to vote on May 13. I now have the responsibility of choosing the right leaders for my municipality and my country. I am also curious about the candidates, especially the young ones. I have been discussing the works and backgrounds of candidates with my friends to figure out who the right representatives may be. We are all excited about voting for the first time. I think I will this time vote for candidates with good professional backgrounds.