Balance Sheet by Debarati Mukhopadhyay [Hardcover]

Badonpur village in North Bengal is colloquially known as the "Village of the Dead." This peculiar village houses the only crematorium in the entire region, where people from surrounding villages come to perform last rites. Amidst the overwhelming grief of urban life, the protagonist confronts an unfamiliar India where having two meals a day feels like a luxury. She faces numerous challenges in rural banking at every level, where her formal education and practical banking experience seem inadequate against the emotional turmoil she encounters.

Interacting with various tribes and communities, she learns new lessons about life from indigenous women. Her journey is filled with extraordinary characters, including rough, resilient women who left everything behind in East Bengal and the crematorium's doms, all of whom teach her to rethink her perspective. The novel highlights the chaotic state of rural banking in India while juxtaposing a deeper balance sheet that reflects the human desires, sins, virtues, and spiritual crises. In this remarkable narrative, distinguishing between debit and credit, asset and liability becomes a perplexing task amidst the myriad of characters, as the awakened mind seeks to transcend into a state of tranquility.