Comic Con India “Best Writer”
& Oxford Bookstore Bestseller

CHHOTU:
A TALE OF PARTITION
AND LOVE

“Like the hero, it’s a modest little gem.”
- INDIA TODAY

The year is 1947. The British are slowly marking their departure from the country. And while partition looms large over India, Chhotu, a student-cum-paranthe-cook in the dusty gullies of Chandni Chowk, has other things on his mind—like feeling the first flushes of love of his crush, Heer, the new girl at school.

When he finally decides to make a move, Chhotu soon finds the town’s aloo has suddenly gone missing, reluctantly embroiling himself into the world of corruption, crime and dons. As he struggles to understand what freedom truly means, Chhotu realizes one thing is for certain—that his world, and the world of those around him, is about to change forever. 

Set against the backdrop of partition and the horrors that followed, Chhotu is a coming-of-age story of an unlikely hero and a parable of a past that doesn’t feel too removed from the present.

“Stylishly wry humour and depth.”

- THE HINDU

"Part novel, part art and equal parts tender love and boundless suffering, this coming-of-age story is a commentary on something more pervasive and endemic if you scratch beneath the surface. It is a commentary on the violence and oppression that persist to this day...The grap­hic artistry sparkles in black and white, supplementing the fiction that is actually a very clever allegory on what most people would call a weird, shameful chapter of our history."

 - OUTLOOK MAGAZINE

“Wild, imaginative and tender, it may be only through love stories like Chhotu that we can return to our darkest hour and begin reparations for another kind of future to which we can all belong.”

- VAZIRA ZAMINDAR

“The playful simplicity of Chhotu’s artwork conceals a well-constructed and heartfelt graphic novel about India’s partition trauma... Like the hero, it’s a modest little gem.”

- INDIA TODAY

“Sharp irony and crackling humor, it offers a poignant understanding of a time when fear, bigotry, political machinations, and violence overtook everyday life”

- GYAN PRAKASH

“Chhotu: A Tale of Partition and Love is at its heart, a tale of love, courage, and self-discovery... All in all, a beautiful amalgamation of love, exploration, politics, and tonnes of Bollywood masala, Chhotu is definitely not one to be missed.”

- HOMEGROWN

He’s written the graphic novel Chhotu: A Tale of Love and Partition (Comic Con India “Best Writer”) and the travelogue Bhagwaan Ke Pakwaan: Food of the Gods (Gourmand award for “Peace”) currently in development as a TV series. His words have also appeared in America’s Test Kitchen, National Geographic, and Mint Lounge amongst others. 

His career as a writer began after quitting a short-lived stint as a management consultant to travel and eat his way across the globe. When not writing, he enjoys experimenting in the kitchen, collecting Instant Noodles, or playing Dungeons & Dragons. He received his bachelors in Finance from New York University and is a MFA candidate at Columbia University while teaching at the Indian Institute of Art and Design, Gotham Writers, Catapult and 826NYC.

Varud Gupta is an award-winning Author and Visiting Professor.

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