The 86th Village

Reshma’s coming to Nilgi was neither accident nor coincidence. Nilgi was a village easily avoided, set as it was at the end of a road, on the banks of the Krishna River. If If you came to Nilgi, it was because you were meant to. Throughout Southern India, eighty-six villages are set to completely submerge due to a government-sanctioned dam across the Krishna River. Nilgi, one such village on the banks of the mighty River Krishna, has so far escaped unscathed from the illegal iron-ore mining and floods that have ravaged the rest of the district for decades. The village believes itself to be indestructible and incorruptible despite warnings of impending doom. With whole mountains disappearing from the mining around Nilgi, the threat of a big flood submerging the entire village is imminent. One night, Reshma, a young orphan girl appears in the village, alone and without any possessions. The villagers, not knowing what else to do, take her to Raj Nayak—the patriarch of the leading family in the village who has been organizing and leading anti-dam movements. For several years he’s been lobbying the corrupt government for fair compensation to be paid to the people who will lose their livelihoods and property to the mines and the flood. Reshma’s presence and the mystery of her origins sets off a chain of events threatening the protests, the family, and Nilgi itself. Soon, secrets and corruption flood the village along with the waters. In this poignant and beautiful debut, the reader discovers the damage—both to people and the environment— wrought by human hubris and greed, and asks whether it is ever too late to right a wrong?