I recently finished reading two books, both by foreign writers on a chase within India. It is rarely that one comes across writings on India that is empathetic without being condescending. And sadly enough, I find that foreigners manage that more often than Indians themselves do (me and my Naipaul basing, will it ever stop?!). Books on India are more and more moving away from a Western audience focus and reaching out just as much to Indian readers. And these two books are great examples of that.
The first one is Chasing the Monsoon by Alexander Frater. A modern pilgrimage through India, says the book. Frater surely pays his respects to the whimsical monsoon gods through his pilgrimage covering the length and breadth of the country. The Economic Times review calls the book ‘altogether an enduring liquid discovery of India’, and believe me, it is a great pleasure to flow along with the narrative.
He starts his meteorological journey from Trivandrum in Kerala where the first showers of the monsoon are experienced every year. He chases and sometimes overtakes the rains through Cochin and Bombay and Goa and Delhi and many many other places. His ultimate goal is to finally get to the mecca of monsoons – Cherrapunji, a tall order in those days of insurgency in the North east. The book is an amusing and evocative portrayal of his journey and his encounters with Indian babudom and other normal Indians on the way. Although in the book, Frater makes the journey alone, he takes the reader along with him all the way, right into his own life when the reasons for his fascination with the monsoons becomes apparent.
The monsoon in India is so much a part of our life, our politics, our culture, our discourse. In India, the rains are about crops, about the economy, about the rise and fall of Governments, about festivals and about songs…. and floods and destruction…. and so much more…. And this book takes us through all the nuances, some described by the writer and some consutructed by the reader.
Personally to me, the rains mean: getting wet in the first showers, going to school drenched and sneezing, smelling the wet earth, feeling the cool winds, standing by Marine Drive watching the waves crash on the road….
This book, following his chase happened in 1987. As you read the book, there is so much to remind you of how India was then and how much has changed in this last decade.
The second book is an equally exciting and insightful chase Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God : Retracing the Ramayana through India. A fresh and unique perspective on the Ramayana and its relevance in today’s India. More on this soon.