Saluting the Marwari trader

Harilal & Sons is a watershed book - finally spirit of Marwari trader gets a well-deserved salute

I ordered Sujit Saraf’s latest novel, Harilal & Sons, straightaway after some websites claimed it was the world’s very first Marwari novel. Mr Saraf had done a fine job with his earlier book, The Confessions of Sultana Daku, and the Marwari world had always held great fascination for me. 

The contribution of the Marwari community to big business is well documented. The life stories of the Birlas, Goenkas, Bajajs, Dalmias and others have been told and retold several times. Yet, there is another category of Marwaris: The trader/shopkeeper who sells staples all his life in remote villages and towns hundreds