Set in the backdrop of the separatist Gorkhaland movement that took place in Kalimpong and other towns of the hills in the 1980s, Inheritance of Loss explores complicated issues like globalization, illegal immigration, economic inequalities, fundamentalism and love in times of turmoil. These different agendas are woven together into an interesting tale with intricate characters having several shades of grey. The central characters of the book are a retired judge who lives in an dilapidated lodge in Kalimpong with his faithful cook and granddaughter Sai and a young Nepali tutor - Gyan, who falls in love with Sai. There is also the cook's son Biju , who is trying to make a living as a cook in the United States and struggling for the elusive green card.
A majority of the characters in the tale are afflicted by the same blight, namely the western influence and the tendency of the Indian society to ape the west and glorify the lifestyle of the west, without pausing to reflect upon its merits and the demerits. The judge starts out as a brilliant Indian student from a humble family and after studying law in England is transformed into a snob who is ashamed of his own people and culture. On his return to India, he finds the Indian society too filthy for justice. He tries to "anglicize" his wife, but in vain and his callous attitude and wife beating attitude causes her to separate from him. He finds solace in his exotic pedigree dog Mutt whom he pampers like anything and he wants to spend the rest of his life in peace in the hills eating good food. However, fate does not allow him to do that. The seed that he implanted in his wife, created a new existence, a daughter whom he never got to know , who married a space scientist and died early in an accident ,leaving behind his granddaughter Sai. Sai , who had been brought up in a boarding school, suddenly found herself in Kalimpong , in company of people much older than herself , and without any access to formal education. In a sense ,both the protagonists Sai and Gyan are inheritors of the loss that was accumulated by their ancestors. Sai was brought up without a mother with a western education and fancy western food. Ironically , the woman whom the judge had rejected had been the genesis of Sai who was similar to the Judge in her tastes. Thus Sai had to inherit the debt of loneliness and loss of ethos that plagued the judge. Gyan, on the other hand, came from an impoverished family that belonged to a lineage of Nepali soldiers or Gorkhas, for whom the government had failed to provide economic development post-independence.Their love is more a product of mutual curiosity as a consequence of loss of contact with the opposite sex.
Their innocent romance falls victim to the ugly consequences of their inherited debt that manifest themselves in the form of a Separatist movement by the Gorkhas for the creation of Gorkhaland a separate state with its government that would address the grievance of the Gorkhas and give them their share of development . Gyan finds himself compelled to join this movement in a quest to acquire prestige and to rebel against his modest upbringing. But in the process, he has to abandon his love Sai, who is shattered as her only means of escape from her drudgery existence is lost. . In the latter part of the novel, after much debate with Sai over the principles of the Gorkhaland movement and the western way of life he finally gives up his "higher cause" and tries to return to a normal life , as a student and tutor and the subject of Sai's attention.
Biju is in another universe altogether, switching jobs as a cook in the United States and becomes a part of the large community of illegal immigrants who come to the states with shining eyes, only to end up doing menial jobs and struggling to find their identities. For Biju , the cultural shock is all the more shocking and he fails to come to terms with Indians shedding inhibitions set by their religion and culture. There is one particular instance where he sees Indian bankers eating beef at the restraint where he is working and he is so repelled at the thought of the cow considered so sacred to Hindus being eaten that he decides not to work anywhere where beef was being consumed. He is of the belief that one should not give up his religion nor the principles that one is taught from birth for the sake of earning money. He is confused about nationality , race and religion and finds it difficult to befriend immigrants from different countries across the world, chiefly from post colonial Africa and Asia. His story is not isolated. There is also Harish-Harry an Indian who runs Gandhi Cafe in the states. He covertly hates the Americans and their culture and is afraid of his daughter discarding all Indian cultural restrictions and embracing the shameless American freedom.
The only force driving him to live in America is the money , all of which is in dollars. Such is the magic of the American Dream that hordes of Indians are waiting to get their tourist visas to the US, just to get a chance to immigrate illegally and get jobs in America. A few of them, such as Biju's Muslim friend Saeed from Dar in Africa are smart enough to deal with the American life and are able to intermingle with the Americans and be succesful.Nevertheless, it is made obvious to the readers that the "Great American Dream" has fallen flat for Biju and in the end, all he wants to do is return to India and live with his father. In many passages of the story, he reminisces about his former life in India and is filled with nostalgia. In the end , he arrives home after losing every one crumb of the American pie - his clothes, his electronic gifts , his dollars are all robbed from him by young rebellious Gorkhas on his way back to Kalimpong.
There are some characters like Lola , Noni , Mrs Sen and Uncle Potty , all of whom belong to the same class of modern English educated inhabitants of Kalimpong. They love reading English literature, eating cheese and drinking wine and discussing about their daughters who are working as journalists in the states. They scoff at the "Neps" whom they think to be simpletons and are also afraid of being attacked by them for money. All of them have to suffer when the revolution breaks out for the hills are shut down and all business , traffic and activities cease to exist. Their houses are ransacked by Gorkhas for food and their properties are encroached upon. They realize the worth of the ham rolls, the chocolates and the liquor that they had taken for granted, in a country of rice and dal eaters.
Desai sticks to a third person narrative style throughout the length of the book. Flashbacks from the judge's past , Sai's revels and despondencies in love, Biju's exploits in the states, Lola and Noni's hoity-toitiness are all hashed in small doses of passages to make an interesting read. The story starts on a negative note with an incident of betrayal - that of Gyan revealing the existence of weapons in the judges house that leads to the Gorkhas plundering of the house where Sai lived. Then we are taken on a journey that tells us about the judge's troubled past and Sai's upbringing and her romance with Gyan. At the same time the separatist movement keeps on progressing and at a point it grabs the narrative by its neck and wreaks havoc in the life of all the characters. While on the streets there are curfews and riots, the judge is more concerned about his darling Mutt who is kidnapped by some vagabonds looking for quick money. Sai is frustrated and mops around the house because of her unrequited love. The cook is anxious about his son Biju and wonders if he will ever see him again. For all that , Desai chooses to end on a positive note, Gyan coming back for Sai, Biju for the cook and Mutt for the judge. Thus the lasting image from the novel is that of gain and not loss.
