A fantastic book.
The themes : The terrible despair of living in India, the fear, the constant, opressing environment.
“In a way, thought Jehangir, the Santa Claus story was like the Famous Five books. You knew that none of it was real, but it let you imagine that there was a better world somewhere. You could dream of a place where there was lots to eat, where children could have a midnight feast and raid the larder that was always full of sumptuous delicacies. A place where they organised picnics to the countryside and had adventrues, where even smugglers and thieves they caught were not too dangerous, just “nasty customers” who were “up to no good”, as the kindly police inspector explained at the end of each book. A place where there were no beggars, no sickness, and no one died of starvation. And once a year a jolly fat man brought gifts for good childen.”
