Indian poet, essayist, and author Tabish Khair (The Thing About Thugs) nimbly interrogates relationships both enabled and sundered by religious and socioeconomic divides in Namaste Trump & Other Stories. This magnificent collection opens with "Night of Happiness," a sly yet ultimately devastating novella featuring a Hindu businessman and his longstanding Muslim employee responsible for much of the company's success. Ahmed is a tireless worker whose only request has been to celebrate Shab-e-Barat, the Muslim festival "night of happiness," at home with his wife. A visit to Ahmed's flat one rainy afternoon morphs into a poignantly haunting mystery.
Hindu-Muslim tensions permeate three interconnected stories--"The Corridor," "The Ubiquity of Riots," and "Elopement"--told from the perspective of Sameer, an only child so protected that he sleeps in his parents' room until he's 12. Theirs is a privileged, albeit minority, Muslim family in a small town that has been their home for generations; but longevity doesn't mean acceptance. That story trio brilliantly sets up "Olden Friends Are Golden," in which 50-something Sameer remains connected via WhatsApp group chat to childhood friends who are quick to dismiss some of their own because they are not a "good" Muslim, "like Sameer." In the titular "Namaste Trump," an ad executive readily dismisses his "goofy" devoted servant as India goes into pandemic lockdown, but his callous disregard turns into karmic torment.
"I had to tell my story," one protagonist declares. Khair proves to be an elegant, diligent conduit for all of his characters, as he records incidents of desperate sacrifice, casual disregard, blind denial, and generational trauma to create an unforgettable mosaic of human frailty and unforgivable inhumanity. --Terry Hong, Book Dragon