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|a In Scream, the lead story in Ajay Navaria's collection, the unnamed protagonist is told at the outset that crime is very seductive and revenge a trickster. The narrator rejects having his identity constrained by the cruel monikers assigned by the caste Hindus of his village or the supposed refuge of the Christian church. He occupies an unclaimed terrain, as do many of Navaria's characters. Journeying from a Dantewada village to the town of Nagpur and from there to Mumbai, the Byronic protagonist is raped, works as a masseur and then as a gigolo even while pursuing his education. The city teaches him the many meanings of labor, and he is freed if ultimately destroyed by its infinite possibilities for self-invention.
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