ISBN: 9780143100836    Publisher: Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd Year of publishing: 2006     Format:  Paperback No of Pages: 240        Language: English

In a secluded ashram in Mullagarhi, arrives Rajesh Sahni - novelist, habitual drinker, womanizer and atheist - in search of characters for his next book. Incapable of believing in the promise of salvation, and contemptuous of godmen, whom he often portrays as rogues and villains in his stories, Rajesh treats his experience in the ashram with scepticism. He flouts all the rules, celebrating temptation and indulging in every worldly desire that he is expected to forsake. Till an unexpected confession by the Swami changes his perceptions. Rajesh becomes the Swami's most trusted disciple, his fellow-traveller on the road to self-discovery. Moving from the isolation of Mullagarhi to the exhilaration of London, Chicago and then Norman, he sheds his scepticism and opens himself to new experiences, meeting a myriad of people, each of whom helps him understand yet another aspect of his personality. The end of Rajesh's journey, however, is merely the beginning of his quest for inner peace and tranquillity. "Two Mirrors at the Ashram" explores the nature of desire, violence and faith in a world where human relationships are slowly but surely disintegrating.
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Novelist, short-story writer, poet, playwright, translator and critic, Shiv K. Kumar received his doctorate in English Literature from Cambridge University. Kumar has published four novels, seven collections of poems, a collection of short-stories, a play, a translation of Faiz Ahmed Faiz and several scholarly works. He received the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award in 1988 for his collection of poems Trapfalls in the Sky, and the Padma Bhushan in 2001.
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