Local Author's New Book Features Some Familiar Locations
Rohith S. Katbamna's second novel includes South Acton and Southall
Rohith S. Katbamna (left) and the front cover of his new novel (right)
November 28, 2024
A local author’s second novel takes the borough of Ealing as the unnamed backdrop for what is being described as a ‘mediative urban noir’.
Locally-based Rohith S. Katbamna has worked in TV production, photojournalism and documentary maker. His drama series, PREMature’ won him a BAFTA Breakthrough nomination.
He made a career change writing a few years ago and his debut novel ‘Down and Rising’ had experimental structuring and offered an immersive reader experience in what has been dubbed as a hybrid novel gaining him international readership.
He is now about to publish Gulab which is set against the backdrop of the farmers’ plight in India and the fall-out of the 2008 economic crisis. In October 2013, a man from across the world arrives on the doorstep of a struggling young family in west London. He tells them that his name is Manu. But in the quieter circles, he is infamously known as Gulab.
The core of the story is set on an estate modelled on South Acton's Barwick House which was demolished in 2021. It's where all of the key action, drama and major interactions occur.
Rohith says, “The irony is, is that the estate is mentioned in conversation regarding the coming new builds/gentrification, so it's actually a strange coincidence that this building has now, in reality, been knocked down. The block itself has plenty of aesthetical character due to its ominous mass structure, and also sets the stage for some of the more intensive sequences between the central characters.”
South Road, specifically the Southall Train Station bridge is also a mentioned location for two key characters. As youths, it was where they'd hang out after school until the evening, pondering over their lives. Neither wanting to go back to their troubled homes or recall their equally distressing time at school.
Rohith S. Katbamna adds, “I don't really name these locations directly in the book as a means of not wanting to isolate readers. Rather, I keep some of the location names vague so that the reader can focus on the visual build of the place and bridge some familiarity using their own experiences and imagination. What is mentioned, is that this is Greater West London”.
Gulab is due to be published this December.
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