Two Lives - by Seth Vikram - Preface and Chapter 1

Sep 21, 2026

Two Lives by Seth Vikram presents a narrative about Shanti Uncle and Aunty Henny, beginning with the author’s move to England at seventeen in August 1969. The text introduces family background, travel details, arrival in London, and the emotional adjustment to sharing a home. It then describes the household setting, the dental practice connection through Shanti Uncle, and early moments of welcome, conversation, and everyday routines.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages502

Reading Time12 h 53 min

AccessFree to download

Arrival in England

Meeting Shanti Uncle and Aunty Henny

First days in the house

Also by Vikram Seth Mappings (poems) From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet The Humble Administrator’s Garden (poems) The Golden Gate: A Novel in Verse All You Who Sleep Tonight (poems) Three Chinese Poets (translations) Beastly Tales From Here and There (fables in verse) A Suitable Boy (novel) Arion and the Dolphin (libretto) An Equal Music (novel) LITTLE , BROWN First published in Great Britain in September 2005 by Little, Brown Published in eBook format in 2007 Copyright © Vikram Seth 2004 The moral right of the author has been asserted. The author gratefully acknowledges permission to quote from The Destruction of the European Jews by Raul Hilberg, copyright © 1961, 1985, 2003 Raul Hilberg, published by Yale University Press. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system except in downloaded authorised eBook format, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. eBook ISBN 978 0 7481 0734 6 This eBook produced by Palimpsest Book Production Limited, Grangemouth, Stirlingshire [www.palimpsest-bp.co.uk](www.palimpsest-bp.co.uk) An imprint of Little, Brown Book Group Brettenham House Lancaster Place London WC2E 7EN A Member of the Hachette Livre Group of Companies [www.littlebrown.co.uk](www.littlebrown.co.uk) TO SHANTI UNCLE AND AUNTY HENNY Some words of yours to me suggested How, through the fog of peace and war, A pulse beat on, that, strained and tested, No loss could mute, nor sorrow mar. To trace this pulse through its confusions, Illusions, allusions, elusions, And limn its complex graph of love, No skein of words is fine enough. Does this half-filial endeavour Hold half a chance of half-success – Even to track your lives, much less Not to let these recede for ever? No, if I’d hoped to grasp the whole; Yes, if some shard may touch the soul. 1.1 When I was seventeen I went to live with my great-uncle and greataunt in England. He was Indian by origin, she German. They were both sixty. I hardly knew them at the time. It was August 1969 – the monsoon season in Calcutta. A few days before I left, Mama had taken me to a temple to be blessed, which was most unlike her. She and Papa came to see me off at Dumdum Airport. I arrived at Heathrow in the afternoon. My great-uncle and great-aunt were still away on their annual holiday in Switzerland and, as I recall, I was met at the terminal by someone in the firm for which my father worked. My first impression was of the width of the road that led (under grey skies) to London. I was housed for a night in a drab hotel somewhere near Green Park. That evening Shanti Uncle and Aunty Henny returned from Switzerland, and the following day I and my luggage arrived at their door. I looked at the house that was to be my home for the next few years. There was a red pillar-box not far from the gate of 18 Queens Road, Hendon; this was to be my beacon whenever I trudged up from the tube station. In front of the house was a small, low-walled, immaculately maintained garden with a few rosebushes in full bloom. A path led to the door. To the right of the path, slanted on a stand, was a burnished brass plaque that read: S. B. Seth L.D.S., R.C.S. (Edin. ), B.Sc., D.M.D. (Berlin) Dental Surgeon I set down my luggage on the front step. The thought of meeting people whom I had not seen for years and did not really know, and whose home I would be sharing, made me nervous. I was, in any case, fearfully shy. After a minute I rang the bell. Aunty Henny appeared. Le

FAQs

What time period and location does the excerpt begin with?

It begins when the narrator is seventeen, traveling in August 1969, with Calcutta mentioned for the departure period and England/London for the arrival and settling-in.

Who are Shanti Uncle and Aunty Henny in the story?

They are the narrator’s great-uncle and great-aunt, respectively, and the household is connected to Shanti Uncle’s dental practice.

How does the narrator feel about moving into their home?

The narrator feels nervous and shy at first, especially about meeting people they had not seen for years and sharing their home for the coming years.

Sep 21, 2026

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