A famous commercial released by London transport officials in 2008 begins with a vaguely corporate British voice: "This is an awareness test," the speaker announces calmly. The viewer is then asked to watch two teams pass basketballs, and to count how many passes the team in white completes. At the end of the exercise, the voice returns: "The answer is 13. But, did you see the moonwalking bear?" The idea is that most viewers become so absorbed counting passes that they see nothing else. The ad replays the video slowly, revealing the bear, and making a pitch for Londoners to increase their awareness, so as to avoid hitting cyclists on busy urban roads.
Maya Sinha’s debut novel The City Mother toils with similar themes. How aware are we of patterns and moods that hide in plain sight, lurking just below the surface of our busy lives? What are the moonwalking bears dancing across the sets of our own daily dramas, just beyond the threshold of conscientious detection?
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