Published by Fourth Estate, 2024, 168 pages

Mayang is a young man working for Kashyap, a right-wing content producer in Delhi. Kashyap’s only criteria is to rile people up: there is no question of journalistic integrity or fact-checking. As Kashyap puts it, “To make an impact on the internet you don’t need ideas, you need enemies.”

When Kashyap wants Mayang to make an animation of Mother India, Mayang has to find an image of a woman to represent her. He finds a photograph of the perfect woman: beautiful, with a mole on her left cheek, and pale green eyes with a faraway look. He runs the image past Kashyap, who okays it. They don’t know who the woman is and Kashyap tells Mayang not to bother trying to find her: after all, she is clearly not a well-known figure. Mayang is not happy about this, but he wants to please his boss, so the image is used without her permission. Because Kashyap wants the animation in a hurry, Mayang doesn’t even have the time to allow AI to change the woman’s face too much.

The woman in the picture is Nisha. She is from a small town in the hills but is working in Delhi at an upmarket Japanese chocolate shop.

The animation—Mother India under attack from “Jihadis. Khalistanis. Maoists and missionaries”—goes viral. Eventually someone sends it to Nisha, who is horrified to find herself portrayed as Mother India being attacked by two Muslim boys.

It is a difficult time for her: the affair with her boss isn’t going too well, forest fires are raging near her hometown, and her journalist brother-in-law is trying to expose the foul play that led to the fires—something that could upset influential people in the town. The viral video just adds to her problems.

Meanwhile, Mayang has tracked down Nisha and is worried about having exposed her. He understands what it must be like for her—he has a secret too, one he has pushed down into the depths of his memory.

But his boss doesn’t seem to care. Mayang needs to choose between pleasing his boss and following his conscience.

This is a slim and engaging book that raises questions about the way images can be misused and the way people’s lives can be impacted by social media. Nisha cannot do anything about the video—the juggernaut is unstoppable. She is caught up in a narrative that she has nothing to do with; her image was used, not only without her consent but without her even being aware of it. Nisha’s private space has been violated, and there is very little she can do about it.

Through the story of the forest fires ranging around Nisha’s hometown and her brother-in-law’s attempt to uncover the story behind it, the book also touches on climate change, and how corruption exacerbates an already fragile system.

The book moves between Nisha’s and Mayang’s lives, as they deal with their bosses and their workplaces on one hand, and their families on the other. (Mayang’s mother plays a small but important role in the story.)

Prayaag Akbar raises questions about how the internet and social media are manipulated by those whose sole purpose is to garner more attention for themselves, and how media is twisted to spread hatred of the “other”. It is a story about our current age, where influencers wield undue power, and will do anything to hold on to that power.

The book is more than just a cautionary tale about the dangers of the internet, though: it is also a look at the lives of young people trying to make a living in the big city, and the compromises that they have to make.

I enjoyed Mother India and found it hard to put down. The characters feel real, and you care about what happens to Mayang and Nisha. The book is a quick read but has more depth than you would expect from a book this size. Definitely worth reading.