In Custody: Quest for a Dignified Existence

In Custody is the story of a married young man, a Hindi college teacher, Deven Sharma, making vain efforts to establish his identity by doing something new and different: to get the interview of a very famous poet Nur Shahjehan badi published in a magazine. But this does not happen to be an easy task; he has to face a number of complexities that stupefy him. He gets trapped in a number of situations where he feels helpless and hopeless. He, unable to reconcile between his dreams and disillusionments, ultimately faces failure. The present paper makes an attempt to trace the journey of this young man trying hard to cope up with the circumstances, unfavourable to him, in order to prove his worth in a narrow minded self-centered society. His journey is full of dreams and disillusionments, hopes and frustrations, communication and lack of communication. However, by the end of the novel he gains some respite to console himself.