List: India Portrayed the Best

As you might know, the first sunday of each month is list day, and now its time to do my list day for May. On list day,  I list a few great books on a particular topic if you want something to add to your reading list. I hope you enjoy this! :)  


Today my list is on books that portrayed India the best. It has been said about India that, "But nothing in India is identifiable, the mere asking of a question causes it to disappear or to merge in something else." (E. M. Forster). Thus, it is really hard for any author to portray the essence of India in a few hundred or even a few thousand pages. The books ahead are books that I feel do justice to an almost impossible task. They are on different topics - love, politics, corruption, the Indian underworld - and from the books in my list, one is written by an author raised mostly in India, another by a non-Indian, and a third by someone who no longer even lives in India - and yet, each of these books manages to capture most admirably the soul of India, which is why I have loved all of them. 

India Portrayed the Best

(Note: The books are in no particular order.) 

1. A Suitable Boy (Vikram Seth) 

Plot: Set in post-independence India in the 1950s, A Suitable Boy is the story of one girl - Lata - and her quest to find a husband, among four inter-connected families of India. Through the story of her search and her family, Seth manages to convey various aspects of Indian life - politics, corruption, love, rural life, friendship, music, art and family. A Suitable Boy might be set in the 1950s, but the best part about it is that even today, one can identify with all the conditions and characters - even as we learn a little about the problems faced by post-independence India in its struggle for identity. 

Read my full review here. 

Why should you read it? Excellent writing, beautifully etched characters, and one of the best portrayals of India I have ever read - it is a book to warm your heart and change your life. 

Don't believe me? You don't have to. Read this, or this or this or this. 

Why you may not like it? Well, it gets really, really long. Its hard for most people to get through (though it really pays off) - and having such a large scale, everyone develops their own favorite characters, which means others get neglected a bit (by you, not the author).

2. Shantaram (Gregory David Roberts)  

Plot: In Shantaram, Lin, an escaped convict from an Australian prison, lands up in India, and finds himself at home. Here he will find love, live in the slums, work as a slum doctor, go live in a village, join the mafia, fight in Afghanistan, do a number of illegal things, get caught by Indian police and abused in Indian police, be betrayed and hurt - and even work in a bollywood film. Along the way, he gives us a beautiful glimpse into India, and makes you fall in love with the same. 

Read my full review here. 

Why should you read it? Written like poetry, with a great cast, a fascinating plot, and the a portrayal of India that can make you fall in love with the country even as you see the darkest parts of it. 

Don't believe me? Maybe this, this or this will be able to convince you. 

Why you may not like it? It gets way too poetic at parts, and once again, it is big enough to put off most readers.   

 

3. White Tiger (Aravind Adiga) 

Plot: White Tiger is the story of one Balram Halwai - a boy from a small village in the 'darkness' who somehow makes his way into the big city, and works there as a driver. Only, Balram is an entrepreneur, and he longs to break free from this life of servitude. And through his letters to the Chinese Premier, we learn exactly how he does this - and what it takes to be a White Tiger (or a unique person) in the corruption-ridden  reality of India. 

Read my full review here. 

Why you should read it? The book is depressing, but its also about courage in the face of unbelievable odds, about taking difficult decisions and living through them, and about being a white tiger - someone who comes along just once in a generation. It is a book about change, and progress at its core - in a very uplifting way - and a book that I think all Indians should read. 

Don't believe me? Read this, this or this. 

Why you may not like it? Well, people have told me that the book is absolutely disgusting, written by a person who doesnt understand India, and has a thoroughly unlikeable protagonist. 

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Well, that's it for this round! If you feel another book shouldve made the cut, share it with me and my readers...happy reading! 

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

A Suitable Boy is one of the most influential books I've ever read.

When you see A Suitable Boy outside, you are going to be scared, trust me. Its about 1500 pages, a thumping huge book that is hard to even carry - and which you will hesitate to even look at. But as the author himself warns in an introduction to this book - buy this book before you think and come to the conclusion that this book will "sprain your wrists and strain your purse." And you better do that, because this book is worth each and every rupee, all the weight lifting that you will have to do, and all the sleepless hours you are going to spend on it, because A Suitable Boy is one of the best books I have ever read (and ever hope to). In A Suitable Boy Vikram Seth spins a delightful tale of family, love, and life - but more than that, he manages to map developing India and all the various things - good and bad - that make us who we really are. 

The story is set in 1950s in India, and maps the struggle of one mother to find 'a suitable boy' for her daughter among a variety of interlinked families - and is, in fact, a story of these families and all the struggles that go on around them. But in the end, there is so much in this book that even me, living in 2010 in India, could identify with - and so much that everyone, no matter where they live and when, will find in common with it, mostly because of the author's superb skill in fleshing out the characters that we've all seen. I mean who hasn't seen a hypochondriac, meddling, perfectionist mother like Mrs. Rupa Mehra? Who hasn't seen a boy like Maan - a little good for nothing, living on his father's money, and yet good at heart? And who hasn't seen a person like Lata, the main character of this story - sweet, and intelligent and maybe not ready to marry just yet? If I had to name one thing that lifts this story beyond 1500 pages of boredom and makes it as lively and as beautiful as it is - well - it has to be the characters. They're beautifully etched, the kind of characters we've all seen somewhere or the other in our lives, and who fill us with joy. I've actually laughed out loud and cried while reading this book - a feat not easily achieved by any book. 

The setting is wonderfully done - in an imaginary state of Bharampur in India, where the political struggles, the disasters, the religious turmoil is all original - and yet so easy to identify with. The story, as one reviewer describes it, is 'a pilgrimage into India', and I agree totally. This is a story that takes you into the heart of India, into the pulsating core of what makes it what it is, and everyone will find something in this book to satisfy them and touch them - either the politics, the family struggles, or the state of the peasants, the state of the evicted landlords, the religious struggles, or just the discovery of self that forms the basis of this book. 

Incidentally, this is the kind of book where you will soon fall in love with most of the leading characters - a lot of whom are on opposing sides, and is the kind of book where some will lose and some will win - and where you will be tantalized by the beautiful poetry that is in the index that tells you about the chapter (the last chapter, for example, has "One person, five, and thirty thousand choose - some win, some draw, and as must be, some lose" - and by about half way through I not only knew what this meant but I was rationing the book so I didn't reach this chapter too fast). The ending might indeed not be to your satisfaction (it certainly wasn't to mine - I wont give you any spoilers but I don't particularly like Lata's choice), but I swear the journey is worth it. So don't be intimidated by the size of the book - even spraining your wrist and straining your purse will be totally worth it. 

Final thoughts: There are just two words really - read it. Now. Beautifully etched characters, excellent writing, wonderful portrayal of India - a book to warm your heart and change your life. 

Other thoughts: I have many, many more reviews planned - expect a review of Jane Austen's Emma sometime next week, and keep giving me recommendations of good books to read.