presented by FIRES (FEZANA Information Research Education System)
Third Eye Rising/ stories
by Murzban Shroff
New York City, Spuyten Duyvil, 2021
ISBN 978-1-952419-02-7
Third Eye Rising explores the neurodiversity of India through two of the country’s most compelling aspects: family ties and spiritual faith. In a land where divisions of caste and class threaten survival, where the religious are corrupt, and where dogmas and superstitions impede economic and individual progress, Shroff shows how spiritual realizations impact daily lives and how they help withstand circumstances of corruption, greed, betrayal, prejudice, and personal loss. In the title story, “Third Eye Rising,” a young wife must prove her innocence to her sadistic in-laws; in “The Kitemaker’s Dilemma,” a nomadic kite maker takes it on himself to save a melancholic boy from exile; in “Bhikoo Badshah’s Poison” a migrant youth, employed in the city, attempts to shed the burden of his caste; in “Diwali Star,” a retired police inspector draws on the events of the epic Ramayana to redefine his relationship with his sons; in “A Matter of Misfortune,” two childhood friends have a face-off over the two faces of India: urban and rural; in “Oh Dad!” a dutiful son takes it on himself to protect his father from an unscrupulous taxman; in “An Invisible Truth,” an employer delves into his manservant’s life only to get a life-changing insight into his own. Through these stories, we learn how in India, spiritual faith unifies, inspires, and frees its recipients from the bondage of struggle. Shroff has tackled his subject, the darker side of India, with the full democracy of his imagination and empathy that believes in the eternal unity of man.
FEZANA Talk #15 titled “India Unveiled through Zoroastrian Eyes,” where Murzban Shroff was interviewed by Sohrab Fracis, author of Go Home, on this recently-published book and how Shroff’s Zoroastrian values helped power his writing. The recorded version of FEZANA Talk is available on FEZANA’s YouTube channel
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FEZANA Information, Research and Education System (FIRES) is a centralized collection of books, manuscripts, literature, magazines, and scholarly research materials in print and electronic form, primarily pertaining to Zarathushti faith, culture, and history.
FIRES was established in 2010, and is housed and managed by the Zoroastrian Association of Houston (ZAH) Library. It is accessible by all FEZANA Associations and individuals.
www.fires-fezana.org
