When a great poet and playwright,  chronicler of more than half a century,  looks back at a lifetime, the ensuing work is realms beyond the stock tropes of nostalgia and rumination. Mahesh Elkunchwar’s ‘Necropolis Trilogy’ is a masterpiece of evocative prose, examining life and its meaning through deep philosophical thought and unexpected analogies, gripping the reader’s mind as only he can. That many such gems of literature are often confined to one language, and are not more widely accessible through translation is a serious concern and challenge for the multilingual Indian literary firmament.