English, August
by Upamanyu Chatterjeeliterary work· published 1988
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Agastya Sen, nicknamed August by his school friends, is a young civil servant who has been posted as the assistant commissioner under training in a small provincial town called Madna. Born in Calcutta to a hindu father and Christian mother, he lives a metropolitan life till he joins the Indian Administrative Services. It becomes clear right in the first two pages itself that he is not a person who is meant to be in this service, deemed to be one of the most prestigious professions in India. A man, whose mind is most of the times dominated by the thoughts of women and sex, who is addicted to marijuana and would rather love to be an actor in a porn film than a civil servant, gives us the feeling that he is not cut out for the position of an IAS officer.
Adaptations (1)
English, August was adapted into a 1994 film.
English, August1994 · film · 118 min · dir. Dev Benegal · IMDb ↗IMDb7.6Agasyta, an urban bengali who seamlessly shuttles between Ella Fitzgerald and Rabindra Sangeet, joins the Indian administration service and gets posted in the lap of India's hinterland - a dingy little town called Madna.
