The Hermit Doctor of Gaya: A Love Story of Modern India

Set in the twilight of British India, this forgotten novel introduces Tristram, a hermit physician known to the villagers as Dakktar Sahib, who walks the line between ancient healing traditions and modern medicine. When a young boy named Ayeshi, apprentice to the village storyteller, falls under Tristram's guidance, the novel unfolds through layered narratives: the legendary stand of Rani Kurnavati against enemy forces in Chitore retold by firelight, and the quieter drama of a doctor who has withdrawn from the world yet cannot stop serving it. The colonial backdrop pulses beneath every interaction, as modernity crashes against centuries of tradition, and questions of loyalty, belonging, and what it means to heal in a wounded land take on urgent weight. This is a novel about stories themselves, how we tell them, who gets to tell them, and the strange way the past always bleeds into the present.