Lunatic in my Head

The unusual title of the book prompted me to pick this up.‘Two O’clock on an April afternoon the color of dusk.’ The opening sentence itself gives you a taste of poetic style of writing of  Anjum Hasan.

The book opens with the life of Firdaus Ansari, a college lecturer of English literature who fails to see any purpose in what she is doing.  Like Firdaus , the numerous other ordinary characters in the book Aman , Mr and Mrs Moondy, Ribor, eight years old Sophie who has discovered that she is an adopted child , Mr and Mrs Das, timid and insecure Aman who is a civil services aspirant  but has his heart is music, go about their lives wondering at the same time the very profundity of their lives.

Effortlessly written and beautifully crafted, Lunatic is about the ordinary lives of ordinary people each one struggling to find its meaning.  The story unfolds emotion by emotion yet it is a fast moving book. The book virtually transports you to Shillong where it is raining and misty all the time. Anjum Hassan has reiterated that a good book need not always follow the conventional route of proper intro, gradually building of characters, body, conclusion and climax. The description, narration and the treatment given to the characters rule the roost.

There is no single protagonist in Lunatic. Only in the sequel Neti Neti Not This Not That Sophie Das emerges as the protagonist of the novel. The mistake I made, I read Neti Neti before I read Lunatic. 

A thought provoking book which leaves a bitter sweet lingering taste in your mouth making you wonder why most of us  fail to take control of our lives .

Home by Manju Kapur : Book Review

Home is the saga of a big fat Indian joint family of Karol Bagh. The Kahani Ghar ghar ki begins with Banwari lal , a well –to- do cloth merchant is proud of his humble beginning in Lahore in Pakistan. The novel depicts a day in the life of a conservative Indian family of yester years, their behaviour, the elements that guide their behaviour and other fine nuances of their psyche are depicted descriptively thus enabling the reader to actually experience their lives. The epic that spans across four generations portrays the stereotype roles - men have the responsibility to take the family business/ name forward and women to enable it by procreating sons and making sure that the house the men folks return to after a hard day is a home and not just a house. Each one is groomed about his/her role early in life leaving little scope for conflicts.

The story begins well with two sisters Sona and Rupa, former the fair and lovely wife of Yashpal, the elder son of Banwari Lal and the latter a dark plain jane married to Premnath, a junior level government clerk. Banwari Lal’s progeny …two sons and one daughter… Yashpal, Pyarelal and Sunita , their respective spouses beautiful Sona, practical Sushila and jobless drunkard Murli, third generation Raju, Nisha, Vijay , Ajay, Vicky, Pooja, Seema, Rekha , fourth generation Virat , etc etc… the story gets lost in characters. At times the reader finds it difficult to keep track. There is no central character, central characters keep changing.
Manju Kapur very adroitly brings home the crux of joint family structure; the family members stick together and support each other in spite of their differences and internal jealousies. The brothers not only take care of Vicky, their dead sister Sunita’s son , they marry him, perform all the ceremonies for his wife and child in spite of his being the black sheep of the family and an unwanted burden but he is still their own blood and family.

Nisha, the gorgeous only granddaughter like other women of the family is brought up with values that for an ideal woman home, family, kitchen and the children come first and rest everything is farce. Such values may not be relevant today with generation Y even in small orthodox towns. Nisha has to suppress her desires first to study English literature, then to marry the boy of her choice and then to set up her own business. The women are groomed to behave as per the expectations of the family, those who think of going beyond this periphery remain unhappy!!
Did the sexual molestation by Vicky leave a permanent scars on Nisha’s life ? What happens to childless Rupa ? Why does she leave her claim on Nisha to whom she has brought up like her daughter? Such questions remain unanswered. Published in 2006, Home is the first fiction genre by Random House. Overall it is good read, the language used is very simple and the scenes flow naturally and swiftly without giving readers a temptation to turn pages.

Super Star India: From Incredible to Unstoppable

By Mubeen Khan
Shobha De who recently turned 60 celebrated it by coming out with a book called Super Star India: From Incredible to Unstoppable.
De's new book draws a co-relation between the author and the country's age that is 60 years of independence and how India is evolving into a superpower. Characteristically in her latest book, De tries her hand at social commentary and serves up what is supposed to be a congratulatory and formal expression of praise to a confident and resurgent India. Whatever De’s intent might have been, what the reader gets, however, is a catalogue of all that is shameful in India. Poverty, hunger, social inequities and the less than commendable attitude of Indian men towards women in general; all of these find a place in this hall of shame. Why the writer would choose this particular title for a book that chronicles India’s negatives in such detail is hard to fathom. At the end of each section, where she details the ills of our country, there are a few lines about how and why India is unstoppable. For this book, De has turned an observer of the Indian society at large and gives a vivid picture of our problems but takes care to simultaneously inform the reader of the privileged perch from which she does her observation.
The funny part is that De takes great pains to emphasize her own credentials as one from the upper crust by writing that 'The Ambanis live in their palatial residence-not far from where I stay' or talking about her globe-trotting with specific attention on the place of stay (either a five star or expensive clubs).
There is a mention of reference to various high-end brands everything from Cartier watches to Fendi bags to Gucci to Prada stuff that is clearly out of reach for 99 per cent of India's population. To use this as a barometer for any kind of India’s progress is in itself very skewed.
De’s writing style has been well-honed over decades of writing and editing society magazines for years now. Popularly known as the queen bee of Penguin India Like all other De writings, it's an easy read, though it's a bit of an irritant to see her pepper sentences with Hindi words like, 'Goli Maro, ajeeb, halaath to the skeptics. She also in her writing employs phrases like "pretty confused", "pretty sinister" which will give you an idea of her literary style too.
In the end, it's a book that if read should be done a section at a time with time gaps in between. Although it is a book that does not add up to much, the tone is too elitist and too narrow in its assumptions. It is very much like a drawing room discussion where nothing is verifiable and anything goes.
Happy Reading if you choose to read!