In the late sixties, Sergeant Samar, a minor employee of the air force, his wife Basanti and their four sons move from small – town Barrackpore to Bombay. The four boys grow up in the rapidly changing, cosmopolitan city that is just beginning to recognize its aspirations. Kalu, the third son, dreams of being an artist. But dreams are easily obscured by circumstances. Kalu’s parents drift apart under pressure from mutual resentments ad casual violence. In school, Kalu cannot keep up with his rich English – speaking friends, only art gives him solace. But even as Samar grudgingly accepts his son’s artistic aspirations, he is unwilling to support him. Faced with the possibility of joining the air force in his father’s footsteps, Kalu is forced to make an impossible choice. As much a story of a difficult childhood as a snapshot of India of the 1960s, The Sergeant’s Son is a must-read.