Curated by Jane Borges, Sucheta Chakraborty, Kasturi Gadge, Nidhi Lodaya and Anju Maskeri

When one is living in strange and extraordinary times, where jokes don’t fall flat, but land you in jail (and for a very long time), it almost becomes impossible to speak your truth. A new book, Alphabetica: A Satire on Majoritarianism (Notion Press; Rs 299) by Roy Phoenix, who has written under a pseudonym, is that rare kind of book, which trains the lens on our society and its people. The book, a work of fiction (rooted in our reality), tells the story of Planet Typewriter, home to 26 Vowels and Consonants, and the Italics. The Consonants are a clear majority, but despite everyone being acutely aware of these differences, they live together and peacefully. There is, however, a little troublemaker, Consonant Ypsi, who claims the Vowels are Greek trespassers, while the Consonants “a superior race”. Somewhere at the beginning of the novel, she tells her mates: “Enough of this appeasement policy for the Vowel Minority. Even as a Consonant, I can form words without Vowels. Article ‘an’ will be mine!” One can only wonder who Ypsi is, and which land this fictional Alphabetica is being played out in.
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