Chef

Jaspreet Singh follows his highly-acclaimed short story collection, Seventeen Tomatoes: Tales from Kashmir with an elegiac and hypnotic novel. Chef is a compelling lookat the India-Pakistan conflict from atop Siachen Glacier, the coldest battlefield in the world at 20,000 feet. Chef Kirpal, seriously ill, returns to Kashmir after a gap of fourteen years to cook his last meal at the Governors residence. He embarks on a long train and bus journey from Delhi to Kashmir during which he looks back over his days of apprenticeship and the life of ordinary soldiers on the Siachen Glacier, and occupation of Kashmir by India and Pakistan, prejudice against Muslims, and his relationship with women from both sides of the border. But his reasons for visiting Kashmir one last time extend further than the strong desire to cook a wedding meal for the Generals daughter. He would like to excavate a part of his past that has kept him from moving forward.