3 Review(s)

�A meditation on nothing less than the human condition itself...a work of understated but awesome power� - Outlook For over thirty years, Janardhanan Pillai was the aratchar, the hangman, on call for the prison authorities in the kingdom of Travancore and, after Independence, the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. After the courts had passed a death sentence, it was left to him to put the condemned man to death, swiftly and clinically. Each time he returned from the gallows, he told himself that it would be the last time. But he went back, a hundred and seventeen times. Based on Pillai�s life, The Hangman�s Journal takes us into the mind of a man struggling to come to terms with his dharma, his conscience, and his shame. A meditation on life and death and what it means to end a life, this haunting novel is one of the finest works of contemporary Indian fiction. " About the Author Shashi Warrier was born in 1959 and, after completing a Master�s degree in economics, tried his hand at many professions that had nothing to do with economics. He progressed in fits and starts through journalism, consulting, computer software, project management and so on, and then settled down to write. Shashi Warrier is the author of the novels Night of the Krait, Sniper and The Girl Who Didn�t Give Up, among others. He has also written two books for children, The Hidden Continent and Suzy's Gift. He likes yoga, motorcycles, Hindustani music and good thrillers, and has been learning to cook for the past six years with little success. His most memorable achievement has been a solo forty-day 11,000-km motorbike ride around India. He now lives in Mangalore, not far from a beach, with his painter-writer wife Prita, their three dogs and two cats.