Reading Challenges

It’s weird that I have never taken up a reading challenge. I love reading but always wondered if these challenges would constrain me. Little did I realize that it would do the opposite.

Pic Courtsey: examiner.com
As I sign up for the Orbis Terrarum Challenge and the South Asian Reading challenge, a whole new world has opened. Every time I visited the library, I used to search ardently for Indian authors or authors who detailed the Indian diaspora or the immigration life. After signing up for SA challenge with SKrishna’s books I have zeroed in on a couple of them to begin with.

The Orbis Terrarum has also thrown the challenge of reading literature from across the globe. Since I manage to read atleast one book per week am hoping the targets I set would be attainable. But with a toddler in the house, every goal starts to seem elusive. Nevertheless here I go.

Pic Courtsey: mrsqbookaddict.com

If you are interested in either of these challenges, leave a comment and we can discuss and post reviews.

Book Review: Sideways on a scooter

Sideways on a Scooter is a memoir written by Miranda Kennedy about exploring life and love in India.

To begin with, this seems to be inspired from the Eat Pray Love saga that was penned by Elizabeth Gilbert. I simply cannot understand why New Yorkers have to jet set to India to figure themselves out. I was hoping to find that Miranda would check herself into some yoga resort but thankfully she doesn’t follow the path that is beaten to death. New York seems like a vibrant city to disentangle your webs and reflect with thought. Why make the 1000+ mile journey from East to West to be greeted with more chaos and disorder?

Some of the women in her book, Parvathi, for instance, is portrayed with more strength and conviction than Miranda herself. Even Geetha, the bubbly Punjabi girl, who is caught in the love-arranged quagmire knows where she stands and is very comfortable in her skin. Maybe that’s India for you. We understand how the country functions, some of us try to change things for the better. Others simply accept this as a way of life and live with it. We don’t judge our maids or explore the caste structure involved. We simply think of it as a job profile and learn to move on. In fact that’s how simple it should be. We do have cleaning ladies in America. They drive around in cars and if they mop there, they vaccum here. So let’s not get into ridiculing things just yet.

Also how does sleeping around with random guys in Delhi and Kabul justify your search for yourself? A little abstinence might actually knock some sense into this wanderlust women. The book gains pace only towards the later half when Geetha is getting set to enter matrimonial bliss and it ends abruptly.

Miranda wonders if she would ever be a part of India. The answer is Never. That’s the bane of immigrants. You are always lurking on the outside but peeking to get an insider’s view. Besides, being Indian is not a religion you can or need to convert into. It’s just a way of life. I’m thinking there would be many more of these travel books and although its not a travel book, I do not quite understand what genre it belongs to. Maybe confused women in yoga land?

Sideways on a scooter could have been humorous and witty. Miranda gets close to various aspects of her Delhi life and she tries to portray the lives of her household help and friends. But the narration is just that, dull and lacklustre. I hope her time in India was better than what she has penned. Just learn to look on the bright side, especially, when you are in India and trust me, you will be surprised.

The girl from foreign

 

 

The girl from foreign is a memoir. It is about the author’s search for lineage, her quest for ancestry. Tracing the lives of a nearly extinct Bene Israel community of Jews along the Konkan coast, Sadia tries to redeem her promise to her grandmother. In observing their customs and prayers, she tries to untangle the choices of religion she has to make. She feels at home in Boston, Karachi and Bombay. She feels at home whenever she can feel the presence of her grandmother. The book is almost in a documentary film style – abstract and slow. It doesn’t gain momentum and is painfully narrative.

When we choose to migrate to be in the presence of our community do we feel safer and more at home? Is it possible to live in peace with migrated lives? Do Bene Israel Jews feel ostracized or do they feel the urge to return to Israel, no matter how political and explosive the nation may be in? Does Sadia’s search for religion end? Does she clear the cobwebs of identity she is so desperately seeking?

Not all of these questions are answered but the book takes us through the Bene Israel way of life artfully. And that, I believe is the only highpoint of this memoir. Sadia’s unravelling, on the other hand, is not.

 

 

 

 

Iran through two books

Books are akin to travelling. It is through this that i’m able to see past the iron curtain that is Tehran. Laughing without an accent by Firoozeh Dumas(frequently pronounced as Dumb Ass) is a delightful read. Quickly followed it with The Good Daughter by Jasmin Darznik. I picked up these books in a quest to learn more about Iran(not I-ran). These were the first I read with Lipstick Jihad and Reading Lolita in Tehran awaiting my magic touch.

It would be suffice to say that there are many instances which Firoozeh narrates eloquently to which I laughed out loud. That is a sign of a good book. She defines the frugal immigrant in her father with respect and her mother who bears resemblances to a Jewish mother with honesty. I don’t think Firoozeh would be surprised to know that her parents bear shocking similarities to my South Indian parents. She knows her Indians, she is from California after all.

The Ten things you should know which she advocates to graduates must be the list that all of us should know. When she contrasts women in a hijab or a burqa to Paris Hilton she won my applause. Her anecdotes about being a foodie makes you more cautious about exploring cuisine. Television should definitely be kicked from our homes, I have one more person who agrees to that.

Laughing without an accent takes you through Iran and America through the eyes of an immigrant turned citizen. She details both sides of her hyphenated life with equal aplomb, which is a rare breed.

The Good Daughter is more intense. The story is mostly set in Iran and travels through many generations. Lili married off at thirteen, bearing a child and domestic violence, finding solace in German soil, deaths of many, marrying a European, becoming a mid wife and finally immigrating to America. Jasmin takes you through this with excellent penmanship and you can almost smell the rose essence and cardamom tea. Stories come alive and her narrations are poetic.

Although you get disappointed in the end when Jasmin fails to visit Iran, the book finishes in a honest manner. It takes a lot of courage to return to your roots when you are trying to establish yourself in a foreign country and when your past is shrouded in shame and escape, you find it impossible to trace back. It would have been exhilarating to see Sara and Jasmin meet and share stories but that would have to wait.

When the world is brimming with war and animosity, we almost dislike Iran and think of it as nothing but a nuclear nation. These books open our eyes to the people, the food and the culture that is so rich and poignant. They are people after all with love, flesh and blood. Both Firoozeh and Jasmin make it easy for us to understand why there is still war. If only people would learn to get along.

2 States – The story of my marriage

Chetan Bhagat’s 2 States – The book is about a marriage between Krish Malhotra and Ananya Swaminathan which is irrelevant. What is relevant is the marriage between a Punjabi and a Tamilian, brahmin at that.

It starts of with a college romance set in the backdrops of IIM(A). While most of us are used to anecdotes on inedible mess food, low cost STD calls, we dont have a peek at the romances that blossom between the creme de la creme of Indian intellectuals. It is heartening that the conversations are not over head transmissions but Bollywoodish and a lot of love making involved. I guess Chetan Bhagat wanted to make sure that this gets made into a movie.

While there is little respect left for Chetan Bhagat after his 3 idiots debacle, 2 states comes as a surprise. He is responsible for readers turning to Indian authors for chic lit and fictions. A light read but not a must read.

Balancing Acts

Yoga is not only a form of exercise but it develops a deeper connection with your mind, body and soul. For four friends who bond through yoga after their school reunion, yoga not only cures their aching muscles but helps reprioritize and refocus their energies to things that really matter and are passionate about.

Debut author Zoe Fishman has captured the personalities of the four women adequately and NYC life is not all about the Carrie Bradshaws and manalos.

This i have to agree with, everyday jostlings, bills and ambitions have nothing to do with the Carrie Bradshaws of SATC… infact it has nothing to do with NYC. Life in the city is more than just that, so i was thrilled to read a book that captures the city life with a bit more maturity and with a little less smoking and bedtime :):)

This book is perfect for a light read and i would definetly recommend it … for yogites or non-yogites :):)