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C is for Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Born 1956

After two
days of delving in the past I fast forward to current times and pick a modern
day favourite, an Indian American this time and a lady yet again.. I really
hadn’t realised I preferred women writers with women protagonists.

Today it is
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni the author of the award winning The Mistress of Spices.
She has authored over a dozen books including novels and short stories as well
as some poetry. Her subjects are often Indian American immigrants. Her books include Arranged Marriage (short stories), Sister of My Heart, The Vine of Desire and Oleander Girl among others.

India to
America

She was born
in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and after finishing her graduation she moved to the
United States. It wouldn’t have been easy for her there and she took up various
small jobs to put herself through college – ‘menial and minimum wages’ is what
she terms them. However had she not moved, she just might not have become a
writer at all

On being a
writer

In her blog
she says, “In India, growing up in a traditional family, I had never considered
being a writer.” In America she came across other immigrants like her. She
identified with their struggles, struggles to fit into this new country yet to
keep their values intact at some level. And that’s where she started weaving
her stories and her first book ‘Arranged Marriage’ was born. Some of her stories
have a nagging melancholy, I don’t particularly are for, but they do paint a vivid picture of immigrants.

My favourites

I love the quaint
mix of India and America she serves up in her novels. I enjoyed The Mistress of Spices. That mix of magic and exotica coupled with
human longings and failings made for a compelling read.

However my absolute all time favourite is the one novel that doesn’t talk of immigrants. It is The Palace of Illusions –  a retelling of the Mahabharat, from a woman’s
perspective. Banerjee simplifies the epic once more talking of human failings and human relationships.

Her protagonist Draupadi is a princess ‘born to destroy’, the ‘ill-fated’ one. Yet how strong she is – a woman who refused
to take the name Draupadi (from her father’s name Drupad) and preferred to call
herself Panchali (after the kingdom of Panchal, where she was born). That must
have been quite a rarity in those days when women spent their lives in the shadow
of their fathers, brothers, husbands or sons. Forced to marry five men instead of the one she truly loved she strives to be a good wife to each. I loved her special relationship with Krishna too – his cool responses to her heated ones. She is passionate and outspoken, rash and vengeful too. Yet you cannot but fall in love with Banerjee’s Panchali.

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PS: I have
to add just a tiny bit about my other favourite ‘C’ author – the lady from
Nigeria Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Interestingly her latest novel Americanah
also deals with the issue of immigrants to America. Talk about connecting across
continents!

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This post is part of the April A to Z
Challenge, 2014 for the theme AMAZING AUTHORS.

Also linking to the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

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100 Happy days – Week 12

It seems like the Happiness Day post has shifted from Sunday to Tuesday – I find I’m not able to get around to it at all before that. I’ve been so caught up with the April A to Z Challenge that I’ve barely got mindspace for anything else. Add to that the impending holidays and I’m in a rush to finish lots of things before I have the kids home all day. That is, however, not to say that happy things have not been happening. 

This week for me Happiness was in..

…Heart shaped dosas

at N’s request.

..the kids performing together at school 

The happiness is in the ‘together’ because it had never happened before. There were upmteen practice sessions at home, right before bedtime when my patience is at its lowest. But watching them trying to match steps (which never did happen since H is just not good at it) was so much fun.

…cooking up a dessert

We (the kids and I) made this. One of the easiest desserts that looks pretty enough to satisfy even N’s critical eye.

 A game of carom

Oh we had a ball… what a match it was!

… a relaxed lunch.

When I have someone over for lunch, no matter how informal, I often get stressed. Don’t ask me why. It’s the whole deal with trying to keep the house in order and getting everything without burning, spilling or spoiling onto the table. This week we had the SIL and her family over and surprisingly enough it was just a lot of fun. There’s nothing like a long relaxed afternoon in the company of people you enjoy hanging out with.

…. a happy gift.

Our order for craft supplies arrived from a spoonfullofideas.com (do check out the site if you like crafting) and there was much excitement. Since the package was addressed to the kids I had no chance at opening it even though I was more excited than them. Looking forward to some happy crafting.

..chatting books while on the treadmill

I’d mentioned a few weeks ago about my friend J who’d dragged me to the gym one fateful Saturday. Well our Saturday gym dates have become a regular feature and give a super start to my weekend. This Saturday we found ourselves discussing books while on the treadmill. Perfect!

So that’s it – that’s my happiness roundup. 

I do hope to make it right and get the next installment done this Sunday. Meanwhile all of you – be happy.

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A is for Austen

Jane Austen

1775 – 1817

Can a book written in the
19th century find admirers in the 21st?… two hundred years later? Sure, if
Austen is anything to go by. And so I let Jane Austen kick off my A to Z
challenge. It was a tough choice from among greats like Ayn Rand, Aldous Huxley
and more recently the controversial yet highly enjoyable Amy Chua.
But when I let my heart choose it has to be her.

Isn’t it unbelievable that
she was first published in 1811 and we’re still reading her and enjoying her
novels?

The beginning

Jane came from a large family of six brothers and two sisters. She was born at Steventon, a small village in North Hampshire England. Apart from a few years at Oxford when Jane was just 8, she spent all her life within the circle of her family. Even before she hit her teens she was writing short plays and stories. At about 14 years (1789) she had made up her mind to become a professional writer. However her first novel, Sense and Sensibility (earlier known as Elinor and Marianne), went into print some 12 years later, in 1811. 
Her other works include, Pride and Prejudice (earlier titled First Impressions), Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.
Like regular women of her times and like her heroines as well, Jane could play the fortepiano (an early version of the present day piano), was a decent enough seamstress and could dance pretty well too.

Jane, the romantic

Strangely enough for someone whose romances are so popular Jane never married. She did have one not-quite-proper romance with Tom Lefroy a law student. However they were both penniless and his family had him sent away. They never saw each other again.
She received a proposal of marriage too, the only known proposal. Though she accepted it, she later withdrew her acceptance. The reason is not known. However later in a letter to her niece who had asked for advice on a relationship, Jane told her not to commit as “… Anything is preferred or endured rather than marrying without affection“, she cautioned. 
Sounds so much like Lizzie from Pride and Prejudice.

Finally..here is why

I love Austen

.. for her wit

It’s not the laugh out
loud kind of thing. It’s way more subtle and unexpected. It’s an ironical kind
of wit that makes you smile sentence after sentence.
Check out these gems.. 
Selfishness must always be forgiven you know, because there is no hope of a cure
Or Mr Darcy’s 
I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.

..for her heroins

They follow their heart.
They’re strong and passionate yet gentle and sensitive. I wonder how that went
down with the gentry two hundred years ago but it sure sits well with women of
the 21st century.

.. for her plots that always end happily

I’ve always maintained I’m
a sucker for happy endings. I love that ‘All is well’ feeling by the time her
books wrap up.

.. because her books are still
relevant

I can certainly vouch for
India in this regard. How becoming an old maid is considered such a horror (Maybe
not by the woman herself, quite like Lizzy in Pride and Prejudice, but by her
family, her relatives, her neighbours and her neighbour’s neighbours). Not for
nothing is she Helen Fielding’s (of Bridget Jones fame) favourite who famously
said.. “Jane Austen’s plots are very good and have been market researched over
a number of centuries, so I simply decided to steal one of them. I thought she
wouldn’t mind and anyway she’s dead.” In a sense Austen in the mother of all modern day chick-lit. (Yikes I hate that term, so! Makes women sound like hens).

On the other side are her
critics who maintain..

…her novels lack
‘passion’.

Well she did skim over
that bit but then I’m sure she never intended to write sexy books. (She would
probably be reaching out for her smelling salts hearing that Fifty Shades was
inspired by her Pride and Prejudice). 

… she suffered from a
narrow vision 

because she only drew upon the small society she lived in for inspiration.
Yet, how well she did it! And that her heroines could think beyond what was expected of them, speaks
of her broad mindedness.

So which side are you on?

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This post is part of the April A to Z Challenge, 2014, for the theme AMAZING AUTHORS.

Also linking to the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

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K is for kiddie talk

My blog’s in imminent danger of dying… of boredom. Hence today I bring out my star performers to perk things up – my bachchas – a tried and tested way to infuse some life in this space. 

They’re growing up fast and instances of me laughing at their expense are getting fewer. Not far is the day when they’ll be laughing at me. Quite like my niece. She was puzzled when her mum (my cousin) started signing off her messages with Lol.  It was much later that she discovered my cousin thought Lol stood for ‘Lots of Love’. That now is a family joke.

The point I’m trying to make is that before the kids get a chance to laugh at me I might as well enjoy their little gaffes. 

These are dedicated to my son, H. Here goes..

He was passing me empty bottles as I filled them up with water. And he says, “We’re almost done Ma. There’s one bottle that’s half filled and this last one is already… Fulfilled.”

Another day in the kitchen he watched me flip over a pancake, completely awed. (I swear only my kids are awed by my cooking skills). Then says he, “Mama you’re such a great cooker.” Come to think of it ‘Cookie’ suits me better. And while we’re at it.. I’m a great mixer too.

While holidaying at a resort he drove us crazy saying he wanted to play Goose Ball. Wondering what that is.. take a look…

 While telling me about an exceptionally naughty classmate he concluded with, “I think his marbles are lost… his adaptation of ‘Losing one’s marbles’.

So what’s the funniest thing your kids have said to you?

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For more ‘K’ entries at the fun Challenge, ABC Wednesday, go here.

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Happiness roundup – Week 11

Week 11, here I am. I know I’m late – this post was supposed to go up on Sunday but I’ve just not found the time. If you’re interested enough to wonder why.. well I’m taking part in the April A to Z Challenge  that requires me to post everyday in April. With the holidays looming large I’m trying to finish off as many drafts as I possibly can. So while I might not seem up and about on my blog I’ve been having an extremely stimulating week in the company of some AMAZING AUTHORS, which is my theme for the Challenge. (There, that’s the first bit of publicity I’ve done for myself!)

And before I get back to the company of great minds here’s my list of happy things this week.

1. A heap of watermelon..

Yay! summer is here and watermelons can be breakfast, lunch, dinner or a midday snack. Love them.

2. Crafting crowns..

…with the kids. I love it when they sit together and make things although I have no idea what brought on this crown fixation.

3. A clean house..

… after the weekend. Those of you who do not have kids cannot even begin to imagine how messy the house gets over the weekend. On a cool Monday morning, when I get back from the gym to find the house spic and span it so makes my day. It’s almost like the maid has a magic wand. Such happiness!

4. Tea on skates..

H decided making tea was getting a bit too boring and that he needed to spice things up a bit. So this is how he delivered my evening chai. I had my heart in my mouth but well excitement is happiness too. Right? And he did manage to deliver without mishap.

5. A healthy colourful breakfast

Mung sprouts.. yum!

6. Flowers for me

..by me. Sometimes it’s nice to be nice to yourself.

7. Shopping for gifts

One of the best parts of going home for the summers is the shopping. Getting gifts for everyone at home is one of my favourite tasks. And so when the kids left for a birthday party this I spent two hours splurging on goodies. Super fun.
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