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After reading Sacred Games, I was keen to read the above book. The recent Mumbai attacks had increased my thirst to know more about the city. I will update this post as I progress more into this book.
Feb 2 ‘09 – I have finished reading this book. Here is my take.
Suketu Mehta has undoubtedly spent much time ‘researching’ the book. It would be wrong to say this is what Bombay (Mumbai) is. This book is Suketu’s perception of Mumbai. He stays in an upscale area, hobnobs with Bollywood bigwigs like Vidhu Vinod Chopra (Parinda, 1942 A Love Story, Mission Kashmir). Suketu claims to have co-wrote the story for the last movie. I have seen the movie, was unimpressed and so wonder what his contribution was. His dalliance with a bar girl (he seems to have fallen in love with her), hired killers, Shiv Sena and Congress henchmen are all well written. He even manages to meet and speak with Bal Thackeray, Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Hrithik Roshan and Preity Zinta. No mean feat for an ordinary NRI (non-resident indian) ! He even manages to speak to Chotta Shakeel the dreaded don of the Mumbai Mafia who is now in hiding in Karachi, Pakistan. Unlike the average Mumbaikar, Suketu has lot of time and money to go around, meet people and build up material for his book. Its an adventure that he enjoyed and when he realised he didn’t want to live forever in India, he decided to return to New York. Having become a US citizen, gave him that advantage. Also the fact that having criticised several well known people of the city in his book, he could not have hoped to stay safely in the city.
This book is not fiction, though it reads like one. I completely enjoyed the book. Is there a moral to the book in the end ? Well, he does quote a wealthy diamond merchant who says Mumbai is ‘paap-ni-bhoomi’, sinful land. The merchant along with his family gives up all his wealth to become a Jain monk. But am not sure, if that’s a moral. The same could be said of any major metro. For instance New York, to which Suketu returned.
What did I get from the book ? That the Bollywood actors mostly speak English and could not manage to speak the Hindi they spout on the screen. The dance bar girls earn money through prostituting. The cops are corrupt and will kill for money. Bal Thackeray has an incestuous relationship with his daughter-in-law – the wife of his eldest son who was killed in a road accident in the 1990’s. The word Mumbai has Portugese origins and is not the native name for this city. And many more such interesting tidbits.
This book should not be used as a guide to Bombay, but is undoubtedly a good read.
Cold wintry Monday mornings always get me down. I have this song stuck in my head today. Karen Carpenter had such a beautiful voice. May she RIP. The lyrics…
Talkin’ to myself and feelin’ old
Sometimes I’d like to quit
Nothing ever seems to fit
Hangin’ around
Nothing to do but frown
Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down.
What I’ve got they used to call the blues
Nothin’ is really wrong
Feelin’ like I don’t belong
Walkin’ around
Some kind of lonely clown
Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down.
Funny but it seems I always wind up here with you
Nice to know somebody loves me
Funny but it seems that it’s the only thing to do
Run and find the one who loves me.
What I feel has come and gone before
No need to talk it out
We know what it’s all about
Hangin’ around
Nothing to do but frown
Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down.
Recently PBS aired the eagerly awaited and immensely interesting BBC documentary ‘The Story of India’. When I sat down to watch the program, I didn’t think I would learn anything new about the history of India as I felt I knew everything that was to know through my school history lessons and the hugely popular ‘Discovery of India’ TV series that was shown in Doordarshan TV in India during the 80’s.
Michael Wood certainly surprised me. I was taught that the British East India Company came to India through Calcutta during the Moghal period. But that was incorrect. They actually came to Tanjore in South India. The King of Tanjore was buying guns and other commodities from the British and that’s how they happened to land in India ! Eventually they travelled via sea to Calcutta where they established themselves and spread their tentacles fin to rest of India. I was also surprised to know that Islam spread in North India through Sufi minstrels and not mainly through sword !
I should get this DVD. This documentary is a definite watch.
I borrowed this book recently from the local library. Its a short book, so did not take time for me to finish it. Haruki Murakami is a wonderful writer and this book is no different. Its a love story but of a different kind. The hero of the book meets a girl when he is 12 and falls in love with her. After his family moves to a different neighborhood, they lose track of each other, but he never forgets her. Years later, he is married, has two daughters, is running his own business and is financially comfortable. That’s when the childhood friend reenters his life. This turns his life upside down and Murakami portrays it very well. The story has a bleak but appropriate ending. I wholeheartedly recommend this book.
I have begun to admire Murakami’s writing more and want to read the rest of his works.
