Malokh Cantt

Malokh Cantt

Deepak SG

Published by The Browser, Chandigarh
Distributed by Simon & Schuster India
August 2026

Malokh. A quaint little Himalayan hill-town in the princely state of Birkot, swept—for a brief moment in the early 1920s—into the maelstrom of India’s struggle against the British Empire. Explosions, the acrid smell of gunpowder, and shrieks of horror fill the air of a cantonment town more accustomed to bagpipes, bugles and the soporific drone of hill-country life.

Raja, a young man determined to stay well clear of the troubles, finds himself the focus of police suspicion. His experiences in prison blur the lines between love, loyalty, self-preservation and retribution. He must decide for himself what honour demands. The ghosts of his time in jail haunt him relentlessly, until he finally faces his tormentor; pistol in hand.

Fortunes turn. The empire begins to see a loyal ally; Raja has become its most patient enemy.