Butter Chicken in Ludhiana Travels in Small town India - Pankaj Mishra

Non-Fiction

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I haven't read anything previously by Pankaj Mishra - though he's quite the known and celebrated author. The title caught my eye - as did the stereotyped pictures of India on the cover - because I have an obsession with Punjab lately. 

Mishra's book walks the reader through some of his travels in India - mostly the northern half. The author's biting wit and commentary were quite amusing. India is, at the best of times, chock full of situations that are nothing more or less than ludicrous. Anyone who has spent anytime at all in India realizes this. I especially enjoyed that Mishra's destinations weren't big places. The heart of India isn't in it's big cities and tourist destinations. His skewering of small dirty hotels was especially entertaining. He also touches on some of the backward and bigoted thinking that persists to date in the minds of people who either have not been taught to think bigger and better or simply don't want to. These conversations when overheard can be quite shocking if you are not expecting them. 

It's a bit of a paradox when people travel here. You can't see the real India without moving off the beaten path, but its a hard situation to put yourself in. Anyone coming to India would be too overwhelmed (even the beaten path has been known to overcome the heartiest people) and anyone in India is too busy actually living their life and having a job to wander around in small dusty, backward places. But this is how travelers find themselves and learn about the wider condition. Trains in particular - Sleeper class if you are the sturdiest of the sturdy - are one of the best places I've ever found to observe humanity and exactly who Indians are. 

Mishra's humor moves the reader through mundane and often ridiculous scenarios. It also poses a challenge to readers like me to search out (more than I already have!) places and situations that stretch me and help me further understand the country I choose to live in. 

Read it.

~Becky~

Desert Flower - Waris Dirie

Waris Dirie

Non-Fiction

It's been a long time since I read a good autobiography and Waris Dirie didn't disappoint.

The story opens with her in her childhood and what prompted her to run away from her family in Somalia - an arranged marriage - and her journey after that to become an international fashion model. If nothing else, it's a fantastic story of dreams and impossible circumstances. 

Waris Dirie comes from a very poor nomadic family in Somalia. She is a middle child and had a very close connection with nature. She addresses poverty, nomadic culture, female genital mutilation, toxic relationships, and being a dependent immigrant in a straightforward, humble tone.

Her story is both extraordinary and inspiring. It will inspire you to do better from whatever background you have.

Read it.

~Becky

Women Dreaming - Salma

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Fiction

Women dreaming is quite an interesting read. It's been a long time since I have read an author who is so blunt (without romance or lament) about the condition of women - in this case Muslim Women in India. It's a novel, so fiction, but I could relate to the characters so well, I felt like this could be the case in any Muslim home in India.

Salma's characters aren't stereotypical. Her main character leaves her husband after he takes a second wife. Her sister in law was rejected and sent home from a marriage after her husband was not able to have sex thus she was rejected as being barren (he most likely was gay). Her mother is lost in an angry sad world where she needs to cry and shout about everything. Her husband is so angry that she stood up for herself, he takes it upon himself to make the rest of her life hell by separating her from her children. 

All of this takes place in a village. It could be any village - the small mindedness and judgmental nature are universal. The author also takes pains to demonstrate how self righteous, religious people (in this case a man) are much more interested in controlling and limiting women rather than in the actual religion. It's a refreshing honesty. Salma's main character isn't a heroine. She falls into a pit of despair and dissociation. Yet you can't help admiring her for making her own decision and living her own life in spite of so many obstacles. And you feel sorry for her because even after she does, she's not able to find happiness or even peace. The children can't decide who to support or put up with because both houses become toxic. The author also takes pains to point out how shackling one generation of women makes it's way down other generations as well. Women themselves encourage these limitations because they don't know or can't imagine any other way.

It's a sad novel, but a reality for many women and helped me appreciate exactly how my separation could have gone. I hope those who need inspiration to get out of intolerable situations read it and take hope from the main character and see the importance of finding happiness after life changes and things don't work out how you hoped or expected.

Read it.

~Becky~

The Seeds of War - Ashok K Banker

Fiction

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I've read many different flavors of both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, some good, some inane. This is another reincarnation of a part of the Mahabharata and one I found very interesting. While this is only a section of the author's rendering of the Mahabharata, I found some of his explanations and story telling skills very good for understanding the underlying thought and logic for some of the familiar stories. 

In general, I'm a fan of multi-generational stories, and this one stretched for a few.  I found the plot pacing to be rather sporadic - in some places the author takes pains to over explain and give too many details and in other places, he races past things. I'm not sure if this was due to the size of the project he was trying to cover or if he wanted to connect stories. Either way, it was a bit awkward to read from that perspective. 

I'm not sure I would sit through the rest of the series if this is any indication of how it would go, but I did enjoy learning new things about old stories.

Read it!

~Becky~

The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid

 Fiction

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I'm not exactly sure why this was an international bestseller. It has a very American flavor of obsession with terrorists. But I suppose that is just a matter of style.  

The story opens with a Pakistani man sharing a meal with a very obviously white person. He shares his background and establishes a relationship, all the while reassuring his dining companion that he's paranoid that that no one is dangerous. Living in this part of the world, it's amusing to me that the author chose Pakistan as the home of his main character. I'm guessing it's because the author is Pakistani.  I view Lahore as a normal city, the same as any other. Of course there may be problems with terrorism, just like anywhere else. Ahem. Moving on.

The author takes us through his life and his relationship struggles, none of which made it clear to me why that should result in terrorism. At the end, you never really get answers. He implies that people are chasing them and that it's nothing to worry about. So many questions, no answers. Are we simply supposed to connect the dots? This doesn't seem to look good for the author. Especially when I suspect his motivation for writing this wasn't to encourage people to see terrorism behind every corner. 

This book left me puzzled on many accounts. It's a good time pass, it helps the audience relate the main character. Aside from that, I'm not sure how it relates to fundamentalism, terrorism, or what conclusions the author is asking the audience to draw. 

Read it for a good time pass, but don't encourage the fetishism of terrorism that the west embraces.

~Becky~

The Mad Tibetan - Deepti Naval

Fiction

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Deepti Naval has put together a beautiful collection of short stories. I had actually read this before and forgotten. She manages to combine the wistfulness of the Himalayas with personal touches that everyone can relate to. 

It's not a long or complicated read, but it's a great one to snuggle up with and pass an afternoon contemplating just running away and living in a small cabin in the Himalayas. 

Read it.

~Becky~

The Disappearance of Sally Sequeira - Bhaskar Chattopakdhyay

Fiction

Meh

I liked the cover, so I picked this book up. It's a suspense novel. 

The good: The author chose a nice setting - a small village in south Goa is romantic.

The Bad: The style copies Sherlock and Watson to an embarrassing degree. While the author tries to create suspense, the foreshadowing is poorly done and has no reflection on the final, inexplicable plot twist that happens at the end.

The novel is an overall good time pass, but nothing special. 

~Becky~

Everyone Loves a Good Drought - P. Sainath

Non-Fiction

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Sorry for the long absence, I have been in the middle of a house-shifting and had a small surgery. It's been a long, stressful month and I'm ready to just run away to Bermuda permanently. I haven't had tons of time to read, but I have finished quite a few books recently. 

This is another one of those books that starts out with "I wasn't expecting it to be this....but I liked it anyways." I was expecting this to be stories, but they turned out to be articles. 

In the US, the poverty in India is seen as a caricature and is often stared at with morbid fascination and used to make people feel better about themselves. If they're aware of anything about India at all that is. 

Unfortunately, the tribal people of India are marginalized to a degree that is horrifying. Most people cannot fathom the actual level of poverty and government oversight and social disregard for people whom have no resources.  

As I mentioned, one of the reasons that the very poor here are disenfranchised, is that the very laws put into place to protect them are mostly ignored and or utilized to further take advantage of helpless people. The author has traveled to some of the poorest districts and investigates some of the reasons why certain marginalized populations will probably never come out of their current situation. India, due to size, population, and chaos level, takes an extraordinary amount of time to change. 

It's a depressing book once you realize that all of the factors mentioned in the book will probably never change, and even the worthwhile, good initiatives by government or NGO's probably will not change anything. That being said, being aware of the human condition of different people is crucial. 

It's not easy to read or understand, but read it anyhow.

~Becky~