Book Review: In Other Words - Jhumpa Lahiri

I finished reading Jhumpa Lahiri’s ‘In Other Words’ today. Even as I write, I feel a bit unsure about completing the book. The book is 250 pages long and as I crept towards the first half of the book, I began to sense closure. And to my surprise, right in the middle, the book ended. Turns out the book consists of both, the English and the Italian version! The second half is the original Italian rendition of the book. You got me there signora :) The first thing that struck me when I picked up this book, is the author’s name. It is quite unusual and seems unique. I love finding the meaning behind names. When I looked it up, this is what the author had to say - “Jhumpa has no meaning. It always upset me. It's like jhuma, which refers to the sound of a child's rattle, but with a ''p.'' In this country (America I presume), you'd never name your child Rattle. I actually have two good names, Nilanjana and Sudeshna.” I feel quite sorry for her. For a person who brings such deep meaning to words strung together, it seems nothing short of irony to have a meaningless name. Leaving that aside, I was very excited to read this book. I am always eager to read the works of Indian authors. I want to see how they fare against the foreign authors. Not in a judgmental way, more out of pride. Although Jhumpa Lahiri has lived all her life in the U.S.A. and English is her dominant language, she is of Indian origin. And I could not wait to dive in.

The book is more of a memoir. The author captures her love for Italian and her struggle to make it her own. It starts from what attracted her to Italian, how she moved to Rome to truly master it and how she reached the point where she was able to publish her independent book completely in Italian. Being an Italian illiterate, I read the English transliteration of the book. So, a part of the credit also goes to the translator. The book opens with a beautiful analogy of a man swimming by the side of a lake afraid to cross over to the other bank. It describes the author’s limited Italian knowledge which does not give her the confidence to move from the shores of English to the banks of Italian. Through out the book, the language is fluid and the reader is transported to an altogether different world. The author uses a lot of metaphors to convey her feelings, which may seem a bit too much at times. Nevertheless, they depict her situation quite effectively.

Her persistence shows as she struggles to gain a strong foothold, battling articles and prepositions. She had to endure a lot of prejudice as she was constantly deemed inferior to her husband, who barely knew Italian. You feel for her when she says she feels foreign in every language known to her; be it Bengali - her mother tongue, or English -the language she grew up with or Italian - for which she left everything behind. The only place where I did not relate to the author is when she says that she had to cope with speaking Bengali at home and English everywhere else. As a child, I grew up learning four languages. My native language is Tulu while the local language is Kannada. I was taught English and Hindi at school. And I am proud to say that I have professional proficiency in all four languages and do not feel alien at all. However, I understand that India has always been a diverse country with a lot of cultural tolerance. I may not have been subject to the kind of ridicule the author faced in her life.

I have always had a special liking for autobiographies and memoirs. It gives so much insight into a person. If I had to choose an alternate career, then it would definitely be writing. So these two factors combined made this book a very enjoyable read for me. It is a story of love towards the language which can be felt only by an author or poet. I don’t feel this way often but I am sure I will read this book again.

Masha Allah!

Compliments are so wonderful. They have the power to make us instantly happy. They can also boost our self esteem and confidence. I was complimented by a stranger today. It was so unexpected that I still cannot believe the things she said :)

During our childhood, my sister had a  flair for singing. I was more inclined towards dance. Both of us were intimidated by each other's hobbies and did not even attempt to learn it. But how can anybody stay away from music? I often listened to my sister singing and desired to sing like her. My parents have a good ear for music too and we always had the radio on in our home. That's how music seeped into my life. Gradually, I got into the habit of humming to myself as I went about my work.

Today, I was in the gym. It was almost empty. I usually play music aloud on my phone when I am alone. Out of habit, I started singing along. After some time, a girl came in. I suddenly became conscious and stopped my cacophony out of embarrassment. Imagine my surprise when she says "You sing very well". I awkwardly said that's only because I was singing along. "No" she insisted. "I was listening to you all the while. I was mesmerized. This song is by Shreya Ghoshal, no? Your voice sounds very similar to her at times. Masha Allah! You have a very sweet voice".

Whoa!! Really? Me sounding like Shreya Ghoshal?? (Please don't tell Shreya Ghoshal, she may feel slighted :P) To be honest, I was compared to Usha Uthup in my childhood. Although, to be fair to myself, I can do a very good imitation of Usha Uthup even now ;) On a serious note, that was such a huge compliment! I wanted to hug the girl but I also did not want to scare away my only fan. Thank you girl in the gym for making my day so special :)

Matched

One more off the bucket list! Finally, I watched a match live in the stadium! Just one word – wow!! I went to the RCB v/s Pune IPL match on May 7th along with my friends. It’s been chaos right from the word go. One of our friends wasn’t sure whether she could make it or not. So we were going back and forth between the May 7th and May 14th matches. Once we had booked the A stand tickets for the one on May 7th, the ticket prices dropped. Just for 600 bucks more we could have got a D corporate seat. Dilemma again. Finally, we decided to go with what we have. By the way we also had an extra ticket which was sold off by my friend at the last minute. With policemen all around it must have been quite thrilling to have got rid of it I guess :P

The D-day arrived and we were all seated. We took pictures and showed off the free stuff we had got on the way :P We were very close to the camera too woohooo! There was a sober looking Punjabi uncle next to us. We were eagerly waiting for the match to begin. Just then the camera man turned and I waved to him. I did not expect him to react. I was taken by surprise when he turned the camera to us. And out of nowhere Punjabi uncle starts dancing, tummy and all :D We couldn’t stop laughing! The day looked promising. No sight of rain too. I was pumped up for the match.

As we were waiting for the game to start, someone tapped us from behind. What? Your seats? No way! We had double checked. The guy next to us says “This is F. G is the next row”. If I felt any disappointment then, it was nothing compared to what was coming next. We had booked four tickets in a shot. Imagine how unlucky we were to have got two seats each on either side of the entrance to our box. After failed attempts to convince the people next to us to switch seats, we split up. But our troubles were far from over. We were on the last seats on the bottom most row of the A stand. This meant having our view blocked by people entering and exiting the box. To add to our woes, vendors carrying all types of eatables kept walking in front of us. I have never fought off my desire for junk food as much as I did that day.

The match started and I could feel the energy in the packed stadium. The MC kept the crowd entertained. It was awe-inspiring to see thousands of people follow the instructions of a formless voice. The voice said left and the crowd waved the flags left. The voice said right and a sea of red went right. If you ever want to teach your kids the power of unity, take them to a match or concert :D As the match progressed, we got used to people walking in front of us all the time. The crowd went ballistic as Virat Kohli fielded close to the stands. I wonder how it feels when thousands of people shout out your name :) A lot of pressure for sure. Kohli was playing for RCB and Dhoni for Pune. Both crowd favorites. The sportsmanship of the Bangaloreans showed when they cheered equally hard for Dhoni too. Fours and sixes went off to the shouts of “R..C..B.. R..C..B..”. Annnnddddd RCB wonnnn!!! It was an exciting match with twists and turns. But I would rather leave cricket commentary to Harsha Bhogle :P

Irrespective of the seating problems (did I mention my seat was broken?), I am glad I went to the match. The excitement, enthusiasm and vibe is something that must be experienced. To be in synergy with so many people at once is amazing! No wonder prayer is considered so powerful. And with that, I have crossed one more item on my list. Looking forward to the rest :)