Bookish Fancies

 The book opens with Oorja, who has returned to India seeking answers and desperate to understand the meaning of her life. Its not very difficult to imagine ourselves in her place-- we have all been through phases in our life where we have doubted the purpose of our very existence. We look back at our lives and suddenly all those regrets buried under years of oblivion rises to the surface. It is something we can't let go of-- we learn to trade our sanity from time to time to bask in the warmth of what could have been. Oorja's character held a lot of promise. The beginning of the book actually held my atrention and I was expecting something along the lines of an immigrant coming back to India and the wave of nostalgia forcing her to rethink the choices she made in life. The mystery surrounding her father's disappearance and her setting off to look for her father so she could make amends were written in exceptional detail giving attention to the storm blowing inside Oorja and...

 When I first read the blurb I knew I had to get myself this book. I have always had a thing for romances in the backdrop of a war since I read Atonement and this book ticked off all the boxes.  Roya meets Bahman in a little stationery shop in Tehran and fall in love Bollywood style. Their romance was not unlike those of high school children who exchange poetry, steal glances and exchange letters through books. Their courtship was proceeding smoothly and they got engaged in a few months. By this time my sadist mind was already cooking up situations which would seperate them and yes I am not disappointed. Bahman's mother disapproved of the match and had already fixed his marriage with someone else (yeah I know, Bollywood again). The marriage didn't fall through eventually and as the political situation in Iran worsened, Roya and her sister decided to emigrate to America in the hope of a better future. The book doesn't offer any surprises. I pretty much guessed the ending whe...

 Belonging is written from the perspective of three characters- letters of Cecily to her sister Mina, Cecily's son Henry and Henry's daughter Lilian (Lila). In spite of having three main characters Umi Sinha never underrepresents any of them. Their emotions, fears, apprehension were detailed meticulously and I found myself living the pre-Independent era through their eyes.  Much of the Partition literature that I read was written from the perspective of Indians. Belonging shows the other side of the story-- it talks about three generations of an ordinary British family living in India. Throughout the book each of the characters struggle to find a sense of belonging in their lives. In spite of being English by birth, India has always been their home and they never thought of their servants as anything less than family. When Lila falls in love with a native, they both knew that it was not to be. Her aunt's dislike of the natives coupled with the possibility of War looming in ...

 Wrapping up July with this short read about the musings of an ageing widow living in a Haveli all by herself. COVID has taught us that we crave human touch more than ever-- something that no amount of social media and virtual meetups can ever replace.  The novel portrays how powerful loneliness can be and how it cripples everyone eventually.  Amma Bi reminds me of my grandparents who would not let go of their homes even if it means being alone for the rest of their lives. With her son away in the US, Amma Bi only has the company of her servant and her memories. For her, giving up her Haveli is equivalent to give up her soul. Her loneliness has driven her to the point where she is willing to pay her servant extra just so he would spend the nights in the Haveli.  Pankaj Kapur portrays loneliness as something tangible; something that can drown you if you are not careful. The sounds of anklets on her roof which scared Amma Bi every night was nothing but her mind playing...