Aabhas ha (आभास हा) by Mandar Katre (मंदार कात्रे)

"Aabhas ha (आभास हा)" a Marathi (मराठी) book by Mandar Katre (मंदार कात्रे). This book is published by esahitya pratishthan in 2013 and has 54 pages. It's a collection of short stories.

'Aabhas ha (आभास हा)' is the story of Chandu and his new wife who comes home late, every day.

'Chakwa (चकवा)' is an unsuccessful love story.

'Don (डाॅन)' is a story based on abduction of children to Middle East for the camel races.

'Story... Salilchi (स्टोरी.... सलीलची)' tells us how Salil, fed up with his father, left India for America. Did he become happy?

'Venkat (वेंकट)' tells us about the urge of a boy for education.

'Bhulbhulaiya (भूलभुलैया)' is story of employment racket in Gulf where a lot is promised and bonded labour is the reality.

'Awliya (अवलिया)' is the story of Chandu who has a lot of varied experiences and who lives on his own terms.

Two stories have betrayal by ones love. All other stories are told in flash back. Five stories are related to Middle East employment. A number of stories have references of foreign countries.

The stories are very short. In many cases they are so short that readers wonder if it was a story? I believe that author should have been more liberal with words. The seed of some stories is good and they could have become good stories but became an abbreviated version.

NRI's in Gulf will relate to the stories. Some more effort and it could have become a good book.

Give it a miss.

For complete review, please visit:
Mandar's Book reviews
http://mandarbookreviews.blogspot.com/

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

"The  Namesake", by Pulitzer prize winning writer Jhumpa Lahiri (Not for this book).

It is the story of a bengali couple, living in US, and their son, named Gogol, after Nikolai Gogol (a Russian writer); under strange circumstances. Gogol grows up, has relationships, works, marries in America. All the time hating his name and namesake Nikolai Gogol, who was considered brilliant but eccentric and who had commited suicide at 43. Gogol even changes his name legally. He marries Moushami an Indian-American like him. Do they love each other? Does this marriage succeed? Is Gogol Indian or American? Does he forgive his father for naming him Gogol?
                    
Difference of thinking between 1st and 2nd generation NRIs/PIOs is the central theme. How children born to Indian parents abroad feel American. How they can not connect with india.

There is some interesting philosophy "being a foreigner is a sort of life long pregnancy -a perpetual wait, a constant burden, a continuous feeling out of sorts".
Entire novel is narrated in present tense rather than past tence. Jumpa, herself born and braught up in UK, US respectively, has captured the Indianness, culture and traditions very well.

Although the book is ok,  you can't help thinking that she could have given the same message in a long story or novella.

Not bad. Read, if you have time.

Interpreter of maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

"Interpreter of maladies", a collection of short stories by Jhumpa Lahiri. Jhumpa won 'Pulitzer prize for fiction' for this book.

The stories are typical every day life stories mostly involving expatriate Indians. These stories look for meanings in the lives of common people. Events in these stories happen every day, but only a good writer can see through the obvious and present the same event in a different perspective. Jhumpa has done this job very well.

This book contains 9 stories. All of them are good. 'Sexy' and 'A real durwan' are very good stories, but the ones I liked most were 'Interpretor of Maladies' and 'Mrs. Sen's'. Jhumpa demonstrates keen observation, adds right amount of emotions and yet presents them in an impersonal manner.

The message in these stories is very subtle. A casual reader may easily overlook it and hence may not like the book.

For the first time, I liked an award winning book.

BTW: Very recently Jhumpa lost the booker prize 2013 for 'The lowlands'. Hard luck.

Do not miss this one. A must read.