Category: Books

  • Butter Chicken in Ludhiana: Travels in Small Town India

    Pankaj Mishra

    If one were to go by the title, Pankaj Mishra is hardly the person who can be trusted to write about the “national bird of khalistan”, after all he’s a complete vegetarian, but then this book is about ‘travels in small town India’. From Kanyakumari and Kottayam to Ambala and Murshidabad and Gaya to Mandi and Udaipur and many many more small towns across the length and breadth of India, this is quite a wonderful account of a transforming India..and Indians.(set in 1995)

    While there is an unmistakable cynicism that runs through many accounts, it does not really take away much from the conversations with a wide array of people – their fears, their hopes and aspirations, and how they cope with the changes around them. Television viewing habits, consumerism, big dreams, all figure as a framework for the author to show the ‘progress’ that Indians seem to be making as far as lifestyles go. ‘Progress’, because the author doesn’t seem to be entirely pleased with these changes, and the effects on existing ways of life, but since we also see them through the eyes of the people the author meets, the book manages to retain some objectivity.

    While some would say there is an aimlessness to the travels, I’d say that despite the differences in locales and attitudes, there is a common thread that runs through the book – of humans, their reactions to change, and how in many ways, a lot of things remain unchanged, despite what the superficial would indicate.

    The book worked for me in many ways – I could find glimpses of ‘The Romantics’ (a later work of fiction from the same author, which happens to be a favourite) as his travels take him to Banaras. It also brought about some nostalgia, as it is set in the early 90s, and the changes that the author talks about are something that anyone in the their teens (or even older) during that time, can identify with. These, and the wry humour – especially the part where he’s mistaken for a potential groom by Mr.Sharma in Ambala – that surfaces occasionally, took it many notches above a general travel book..

  • 1984

    George Orwell

    Winston Smith thinks it is 1984, but it could be 2050, for all you know, for all you know is controlled by Big Brother. For as the book constantly reminds us “He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future.” An amazing dystopian novel that explores how an oligarchical society can completely control the minds and actions of large masses of humanity over a seemingly endless period of time.

    Winston Smith, the protagonist, is a bureaucrat working in the ‘Ministry of Truth’ in London, chief city of Airstrip One, a province of Oceania. Winston’s bob in the Records Department is to revise historical records to match the Party’s current stance on people, events etc. As he edits the past to match the present, he also maintains a secret diary in which he records his dissent against the party and its policies. This, according to the party is ThoughtCrime, and if he’s caught by the Thought Police, he would be executed. As he himself notes, ‘ThoughtCrime IS death.’. In a world where telescreens watch every movement and children are trained to spy on everyone, including their parents, to detect ThoughtCrime, Winston lives dangerously.

    Winston’s life changes when he falls in love with Julia, they carry on a clandestine love affair (that’s a crime too) in their love nest in a ‘prole’ (proletarian) neighbourhood, where they believe telescreens are not watching them. They then come into contact with an inner party official, who they believe belongs to The Brotherhood, which works against Big Brother.

    The novel is dystopian, and there’s no happy ending. It works on at least two levels levels – the obvious dangers of totalitarian societies, and the working of the human mind and its perception of reality.

    An amazing book, and well deserving of its classic status.

  • The Time Traveler’s Wife

    Audrey Niffenegger

    It is easy to treat this book as a simple love story, with the added twist of time travel, but it goes much beyond that, and in that lies the magic. The love story of Henry DeTamble and Clare, who meet when when she is six and he is thirty six, though he’s only elder to her by eight years. They get married when she’s twenty two and he’s thirty.

    That doesn’t even begin to describe the story of a man, whose genetic disorder causes him to time travel unpredictably. So, without warning, he finds himself disappearing from his present and appearing in some time in the past or the future, stark naked. It is only his love for Clare that keeps him going as they try to lead a normal life.

    If it had continued this way, it would just be a good story, what actually makes it a wonderful read is the wonderful way the climax has been developed. Sadness, hope and an appreciation for things that really matter. (the last matches my perspective)

    I wouldn’t consider science fiction and romance a natural pairing, and so, the author must be credited for blending it superbly. While these two are definitely the themes, the sheer lack of control in two lives which so desperately want to be together, makes one ask deeper questions on the nature of life and human existence.

  • Paperback Raita

    William Rhode

    Joshua King’s father dies of a viagra overdose and in his will, states that his son would inherit a fortune if he wrote a bestseller. Josh is of course, busy bumming around in India, clueless about what to do with his life, and doesn’t particularly like being forced to have a purpose. But the money is tempting, and so Josh sets out on the job.

    This premise ensures that the entire book/ parts of it can be seen in meta – though Josh is writing it in the first person, it might as well be completely his imagination at work. As Josh himself states, quite a few times, the book has it all – “drugs, diamonds, exotic locations, sexy girl, the plan that goes horribly wrong”. Add to this some deceit, a few doses of how media makes stories and a sprinkling of philosophy, and you have a reasonably good read in your hands.

    I’d say that Josh is tripping on life in general, and India in particular. In addition to the familiar stereotypes, there are also thinly veiled inspirations – Faizad Gerstad, the drug peddling film director, Dowdy Ibrahim – the mafia warlord, to name a few.

    A roller coaster ride – from Bombay’s party and ‘Boom Shankar’ circuit to its grimy street life and then a roadtrip to the deserts of Rajasthan, its definitely fantastical, and though you can easily guess the end, it keeps your attention.

  • Jet City Woman

    Ankush Saikia

    The name of the book, inspired by the Queensryche song, would suggest a female protagonist. In a sense there is one, but the narrator is a young student from Shillong, who arrives in Delhi in the second half of the 90s. While the story revolves around the eternal theme of love and longing, the uniqueness that’s brought in through the ethnicity of the narrator and the inherent simplicity in which the tale is told, makes it an interesting read.

    Delhi almost seems like a character in the book, and the influence of Shillong on the life and attitudes of the narrator and his friends is also evident. The timeframe the story is set in, allows the dot com boom and bust, and the beginning of the BPO era to serve as backdrops. The subtle way in which the author points out the diversity among people in the North East, and their perspective on the way the rest of the nation deals with them, is also praiseworthy.

    While the story primarily deals with the narrator’s relationship with Naina – a girl with a mysterious past, it also portrays two diverse personalities. The narrator is a small town boy, trying to make sense of life in a large city, and amidst the parties and the night drives, is grappling with the larger questions of his life ahead, still anchored to his hometown and the way of life there. The girl he is strangely attracted to – Naina, who refuses to divulge details of her past, wants to cut away from it, and moves ahead with a speed that leaves people close to her perplexed and lost.

    Like I mentioned, the book has a simplicity that appeals immensely, the joys and apprehensions of the narrator is something that is easy to relate to. Laced with occasional humour and Floyd lyrics, this book is worth a read.