The Temple Goers

The narrator returns to Delhi after several years abroad, hoping to revise his novel, learn Urdu and start a new routine. His friendships with the poet Zafar Moradabadi and gym trainer Aakash Sharma draw him into a complex world of ambition, relationships and secrets.

Aatish Taseer is an Indian writer and journalist known for fiction, essays and literary nonfiction. His works include The Temple Goers, Noon and Stranger to History.

Set in Delhi during a period of rapid urban transformation, the novel follows a returning writer whose life becomes increasingly entangled with Zafar and Aakash. As friendships deepen and relationships become complicated, he encounters different sides of the city's social world. The story examines personal ambition, desire, friendship and the contrasts within contemporary Delhi.