K. Kumar Bhattacharyya.
Situated below the majestic eastern Himalayas, India's North East has the dubious distinction of being home to the highest number of insurgent organizations in the world. Like much of India till lately, insurgency and violence had dominated the social life of India's North East and its fun loving people. Then things started changing, insurgency started disappearing and development and peace started taking its place. In Fading Away Mr Bhattacharyya tells the story of North East India's common people's struggle with insurgency and violence through his life like characters. Besides his realistic portrayal of 'misguided youths', Mr Bhattacharyya also captures the beauty and glory of North East India and the eastern Himalayas as it is something he knows so well.
Fading Away is centred around Rhon Bhagwati and his friend, Dhruva Choudhuri, and their involvement in insurgency which ultimately ruins their lives and career. Later Rhon's wife, Priya, and then Dhruva, meets violent deaths. After this Rhon starts distancing himself from his insurgent past. In this he is helped by his childhood love, Laura Brown. In Fading Away the problems of 'misguided youths', some of whom came to be branded as 'insurgents' and 'terrorists', is closely examined. Innocent young lives gets completely ruined by momentary and chance involvement with insurgency and terror. Like Mr Bhattacharyya's other novels Fading Away is also about friendship among young people and inherent loneliness of man. Set in the background of Rhon's and his insurgent companions life on the run among the majestic eastern Himalayas, and the love between Laura and Rhon, which, is destined to end in tragedy. Through the fortunes of the Brown family the day to day life of the English people, who chose to stay back in India after independence, is realistically portrayed. The unfulfilled aspirations and the lonely lives of the members of the Brown family all adds to the catharsis in which Fading Away ends in. In Fading Away, Mr Bhattacharyya may have written one of the greatest love stories of our times.