Sociolinguistic Incompetence (Paperback)

Iman, an academically brilliant student but someone woefully aware of his tremendous lack of social skills, attempts to finally come of age at university. A deep skeptic at heart, Iman questions everything he sees and every thought that comes to his mind, but his inferiority complex and self-deprecating nature do not let him bother just anyone with his deep innermost questions. He mostly addresses these in his own mind in the form of Socratic dialogues, or he discusses these with SHE, his best friend and possible love interest.
SHE is a mysterious phenomenon who Iman can never quite predict. It is SHE who turns Iman’s life around and who subtly probes his wandering mind to learn – truly learn in action, not just words – to “think, without (being) concern(ed).” Iman’s other friends – Sarin, Yaseen, Minthan, Nihan – also feature prominently in this bildungsroman, each bringing with them a particular social issue that is addressed in the novel.
Written in three parts, the story starts with Iman as a sophomore at a private university, the first part only covering two days to give a snippet of Iman’s life and interactions with his friends.
Part Two turns back the clock and follows Iman in his first two semesters, the second being a residential semester, reverberations of which shake up the entire story. Part Three then takes a leap forward in time to Iman’s fourth and final year at university. With the world locked down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Iman’s philosophizing ironically goes global, with discussions (mostly in chat form) and philosophical treatises ranging from the use and misuse of social media, to sexualization and taboofication, to the negative side of brainstorming, to the metacognitive meditation of trying to control one’s thoughts – to tame overthinking and reach the zen of being able to “think without (being) concern(ed).”