A Matter of Rats: A Short Biography of Patna

Amitava Kumar

2 ideas

1. Portraying a city through small things

   Kumar portrays Patna partly through household pests, family routines, local characters and minor annoyances, setting these alongside the city's history, including imperial Pataliputra, and alongside comparisons with cities like New York. These small, often unflattering details show how people live in Patna in ways its official self-descriptions do not.

2. Provincial cities are defined by departure

   For many who grow up in a neglected provincial capital like Patna, the city becomes the place you leave. Its ambitious young people migrate to Delhi, Mumbai or abroad. The city's identity is therefore shaped partly by the emigrants who remember, judge and romanticize it from outside, and partly by the residents who stay and live with its shortcomings.

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