Book Review: India, A Traveller's Literary Companion
Originally appeared in the Sep-Oct 2012 issue of Muse India
Source: http://www.museindia.com/regularcontent.asp?issid=45&id=3640
Girija Sankar : India - A Traveller’s Literary Companion
A diverse picture of the geography and culture
Originally appeared in the Sep-Oct 2012 issue of Muse India
Source: http://www.museindia.com/regularcontent.asp?issid=45&id=3640
India is complex. It is befuddling, beautiful, harsh and confusing. India is a catch-22, a conundrum, a story within a story within a story. One billion people, 26 official languages, 2000 dialects, and almost all major world religions represented. This diversity and the fact that in spite of it, the country continues to amble along, and even show robust economic growth over the last couple of decades has continued to amaze the cognoscenti and the hoi polloi alike. An interesting characteristic that shapes this diversity is that the states in India are for the most part linguistically divided, with many of the states having a distinct language, script and several dialects of their own. In this regard, the Indian federation is more like the European Union than the United States.
It is perhaps their long familiarity with this situation that has allowed Indians in India to become adept at navigating differences. Hop on the Andaman Express in Kanyakumari today and find yourself traversing 277 train stations between Chennai and New Delhi, reading station signs in at least six different regional languages, and eating everything from sambar idlis to Hyderabadi biryani to aloo parathas, all in a span of a mere 56 hours.
A multitude of languages unfortunately does not lend itself to an easy understanding and appreciation of the rich vernacular prose and literature from different states. The beauty of truly knowing a language well is that it provides a vehicle to understand the music, the literature and the culture of the people who speak it. In India’s case, one cannot possibly be expected to master all of its many languages sufficiently to be able to take a deeper dive into the literature, folktales and stories of each of these states with linguistically defined cultures. It is to fill this breach, comes a delightful collection of stories in India - A Traveller’s Literary Companion.
Stories are organized in five sections, each pertaining to a geographically defined region in India - East, West, North, South and North East with stories from various states falling within each section. With around thirteen stories, the collection paints a diverse picture of the geography and culture of India. A few of the stories were written in English originally but most others have been translated from the vernacular. The book begins with a story set in Kashmir by Salman Rushdie and ends with one from Tamil Nadu, essentially covering the length and breadth of the country. Rushdie’s story, “The Prophet's Hair,” is a great start to the collection and is, based loosely on a true incident - the theft of a relic from a mosque in Kashmir. Using his signature style of magical realism, Rushdie weaves a tale that at once combines fact with myth and legend.
The collection is notable for its lack of a unifying theme. This choice is a conscious one on the part of Chandrahas Choudhury, the editor. It would seem that he has chosen not to create a forced sense of unity but rather let the different contexts, backgrounds, and literary instincts of the authors speak for themselves. In “The Accountant,” Kunal Basu imagines the world of the Taj Mahal just before and during the time of its construction by allowing the protagonist to go back in time to an earlier lifetime. An accountant with a passion for history thus becomes the Chotta Mimar, a young Persian architect who is part of the team designing the Taj at the Emperors’ behest.
Goa boasts a different kind of entry in the collection with Anjum Hasan’s “Eye in the Sky,” where Dawn, a young married middle class Indian woman, tired from the tedium of her marital life, feels a deep desire to just get away. She does just that one day, on a whim, after a spat with her husband. She hops on a bus to Goa. Through vivid descriptions of the beach resort culture in Goa and the conversations of foreign and domestic tourists, the story also manages to convey the challenges to a young woman traveling solo in India.
The highs and lows of ordinary life, the effect of place on one’s circumstances, human foibles and aspirations are all exquisitely brought together in the different stories. While a small collection cannot be expected to capture all the nuances and flavors of a region in its entirety, it does provide a window into a world which is normally denied to most people unfamiliar with a language and consequently the cultural nuances and subtleties. Though labeled a "travel essay," the book deserves characterization as a literary anthology. A delightful read promising the reader perhaps a more nuanced understanding of what makes India – India!
It is perhaps their long familiarity with this situation that has allowed Indians in India to become adept at navigating differences. Hop on the Andaman Express in Kanyakumari today and find yourself traversing 277 train stations between Chennai and New Delhi, reading station signs in at least six different regional languages, and eating everything from sambar idlis to Hyderabadi biryani to aloo parathas, all in a span of a mere 56 hours.
A multitude of languages unfortunately does not lend itself to an easy understanding and appreciation of the rich vernacular prose and literature from different states. The beauty of truly knowing a language well is that it provides a vehicle to understand the music, the literature and the culture of the people who speak it. In India’s case, one cannot possibly be expected to master all of its many languages sufficiently to be able to take a deeper dive into the literature, folktales and stories of each of these states with linguistically defined cultures. It is to fill this breach, comes a delightful collection of stories in India - A Traveller’s Literary Companion.
Stories are organized in five sections, each pertaining to a geographically defined region in India - East, West, North, South and North East with stories from various states falling within each section. With around thirteen stories, the collection paints a diverse picture of the geography and culture of India. A few of the stories were written in English originally but most others have been translated from the vernacular. The book begins with a story set in Kashmir by Salman Rushdie and ends with one from Tamil Nadu, essentially covering the length and breadth of the country. Rushdie’s story, “The Prophet's Hair,” is a great start to the collection and is, based loosely on a true incident - the theft of a relic from a mosque in Kashmir. Using his signature style of magical realism, Rushdie weaves a tale that at once combines fact with myth and legend.
The collection is notable for its lack of a unifying theme. This choice is a conscious one on the part of Chandrahas Choudhury, the editor. It would seem that he has chosen not to create a forced sense of unity but rather let the different contexts, backgrounds, and literary instincts of the authors speak for themselves. In “The Accountant,” Kunal Basu imagines the world of the Taj Mahal just before and during the time of its construction by allowing the protagonist to go back in time to an earlier lifetime. An accountant with a passion for history thus becomes the Chotta Mimar, a young Persian architect who is part of the team designing the Taj at the Emperors’ behest.
Goa boasts a different kind of entry in the collection with Anjum Hasan’s “Eye in the Sky,” where Dawn, a young married middle class Indian woman, tired from the tedium of her marital life, feels a deep desire to just get away. She does just that one day, on a whim, after a spat with her husband. She hops on a bus to Goa. Through vivid descriptions of the beach resort culture in Goa and the conversations of foreign and domestic tourists, the story also manages to convey the challenges to a young woman traveling solo in India.
The highs and lows of ordinary life, the effect of place on one’s circumstances, human foibles and aspirations are all exquisitely brought together in the different stories. While a small collection cannot be expected to capture all the nuances and flavors of a region in its entirety, it does provide a window into a world which is normally denied to most people unfamiliar with a language and consequently the cultural nuances and subtleties. Though labeled a "travel essay," the book deserves characterization as a literary anthology. A delightful read promising the reader perhaps a more nuanced understanding of what makes India – India!
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