No Man’s Land by Nilesh Shrivastava [Paperback]

Land you can't burn it like money; you can't melt it like gold. You can only buy it, sell it, snatch it, grab it. Titles change, governments change, times change, but the land stays where it is unmoved and sterile. That is its beauty. But, somewhere deep down, men want to grab its immortality and slip it into their horribly insecure lives. They never can, but they never will stop trying. Gurgaon, circa 1998. A city is being born. Ordinary farms are turning into virtual goldmines in the shadow of lofty skyscrapers. Agastya, whose days are numbered, lords over one such estate. He realizes it's time to pass on the legacy to the next generation—his estranged sons, Pranay and Karan, who will come from Delhi with blemished pasts, base aspirations and a woman who would divide them. And then, not unlike the Mahabharata, the land would become the stage where their greed, affections and deepest fears would struggle and suffocate. No one would leave the place unscathed, if they would leave at all.