Policing the Raj: The evolution and eventful journey of the Indian police detective (IANS Column: Bookends)

From 'The Far Pavilions' to 'Bhowani Junction', 'Heat and Dust' to Yashpal's 'Veh Tufani Din', and 'Kim' to 'Kanthapura' and many others, the British Raj inspired a varied array of impressive literature across almost all genres and languages.

The deficiency was chiefly in detective fiction, or specifically, its police procedural sub-genre, despite the immense potential, and its ability to portray the prevailing socio-political conditions and faultlines uncompromisingly. But, slowly, the shortfall is being addressed.

With ingenious plots, singular characters, and lurid happenings, detective fiction satisfies the human propensity for puzzles, sensationalism, and justice delivered. Then, more varied the backdrop in time and space, it meets the yearning for the exotic. That is why you can find the genre - and the sub-genre - in all kinds of eras and settings - medieval England, Russia of both the Tsars and the Commissars, Solomon Islands in the 1960s, present-day Sicily, to name a few.

British India was, for quite long, the outlier here, despite perfect conditions - the growing resentment and opposition to foreign rule, the social churning, the disparate social and religious composition

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