India, Sept. 21 -- Author Neel Kamal Puri and author-scholar Sakoon Singh came together for a meet and greet at a local bookstore on Saturday, where they discussed the former's novel I In The Sky: A Chandigarh Chronicle and its layered exploration of memory, displacement, migration and the changing landscape of the city. At the heart of the novel is a protagonist who is dead at the very beginning of the story, even as she sees herself being born. In death, she finds herself in heaven, having left behind, among other things, a 'wonderful wardrobe'. From this unusual premise, Puri builds a narrative in which the protagonist's life becomes closely intertwined with the story of Chandigarh. "The central character not only narrates her own story but also, in many ways, the tale of the city," said Puri, who has drawn a parallel between the protagonist's journey and Chandigarh's evolution, with both unfolding along similar parameters. The idea of the city having three claimants also informed the construction of the protagonist, who has three 'caregivers' in the novel. "I was playing with the idea of three," Puri said, explaining how the device eventually gave the narrative its direction. Some characters, she added, were created to give 'flesh' to particular events in the story. The conversation between Singh and Puri also delved into ways migration and displacement shape memory, and how memories from the past continue to influence the present. The duo discussed the darker themes running through the novel, acknowledging that life is rarely picture-perfect. The book's dark humour also emerged as an important part of its narrative style, allowing difficult and unsettling experiences to be approached through irony. Puri said her relationship with Chandigarh was 'deeply personal'. "I have witnessed the city grow almost from its inception. The house I live in today is the same one I remember seeing being built," she said, describing the way her personal and inherited memories have blended into her understanding of the city. The book emerges as an exploration of how individual lives and cities accumulate layers of memory, and how confronting those memories can itself become a form of healing. HTC...