The Lowland, An Experience To Savor; a Review

The Lowland.

  

Author    :  Jhumpa Lahiri
Pages      : 340
Price       :  Rs. 499.
Publisher :  Random House India.
Rating     :  4.5/5
Longlisted for The Man Booker Prize 2013.

It's always a delight to read an author of repute like Lahiri. And with her second novel, The Lowland, the experience continues albeit in a different manner. Unlike her previous works, this one is more wordy and meandering at times. Nevertheless, it makes an intense plot, which, in its own beautiful pace, engulfs the reader through its exquisite language. Longlisted for the Year's The Man Booker Prize, the novel is a pure literature read. My favorite Lahiri reads are The Interpreter of Maladies and The Unaccustomed Earth followed by The Namesake, and how I hoped for The Lowland to escalate the ladder and sit on the top of the list, alas it does not.

In this tome Lahiri writes about the cruel life that's entwined by the past. The story revolves around two brothers, a political turmoil, a woman's love- her heartbreak and guilt, a couple in wrong marriage, a mother's abandoning of her child, a daughter's acceptance of reality. It's about a death that affects three lives and disperses an entire family. Like her preceding works, this too speaks of immigrants experiencing the living at a far remove. She diligently details the Naxalite movement of 1960's Calcutta and narrates gorgeously the life in Rhode Island.

It enhances the impact of being in wrong choices. Here I say "being", since making a choice coerces one to live it, unless one does something constructive to get out of it or correct it. In The Lowland, the characters choose to live their wrong choices for years. 

You might relate to the characters many times and might loathe them for their actions at other times.

The character sketching is impeccable albeit with a bit of sporadic drag in the narration. The nuances and the texture of the story builds an atmosphere that grips the reader's attention. The mundane elements showcased impart life to the settings and characters. Lahiri eschews the use of quotation marks for dialogues, a style that reminds of Cormac McCarthy, although, you do come across semi-colons and other punctuation, which are always absent in McCarthy's writings. 

This is a poignant novel that needs to be read at leisure absorbing each page, each word. It makes you sit up and think about the life you have lived and the one you are living. The Lowland is an absolutely recommended read.

This is a part of the Review Program By MySmartPrice/Books

The Surprise; Day of love!

My phone that was resting next to my pillow rang angrily at 1 AM. It flashed my best friend’s name who was in the other room with the guys. 

 “Meet me at the porch”, he said. And with that he hung up.

With sleepy eyes I looked around, the girls were lost in their slumber world. The trek had been tiresome. I got up with my body aching in places. Ran my fingers through my hair to discipline them, wore my glasses and went out in my slippers.

The porch light was on and he was standing there grinning sheepishly. I realized he looked adorable in his worn out pajamas. Before I could say anything, he reached out, held my hands and led me towards a bamboo chair. I sat down throwing dozens of questions at him.

“Close your eyes”, he said.

I narrowed my eyes to which, he made a puppy face, “Please”. With a giggle I complied. I heard a rustle.

  “Open your eyes”.

He was holding something rectangle draped in a glittering white gift wrapper with a cute pink bow at its base. My hunch told me, it was a book.

I grabbed and unwrapped the gift carefully, making sure I didn't tear it.

*Pride & Prejudice*

 “Happy Birthday”, he said. “A belated one”.

I looked up at him and saw him staring at me strangely. There was something different in his voice and his eyes. My own heartbeat spoke a different language.

 “This is my favorite book”, I whispered. My happiness knew no bound. It was a book I had never owned. As a kid I had its abridged copy. And for sometime I had planned to buy one for myself. I remember mentioning it to him once. But it was just a passing murmur. He remembered.

 I looked at the book and back at him. I didn't know what to say, what to do. Then I leaned and hugged him tightly and whispered a 'thank you'.
Breaking away from him, I looked at him again. I felt my smile faint as I saw his expressions speaking the different language which my heart had adapted. He was still holding me in his arms refusing to let go off me. Realization hit me that my arms refused to leave him too. The man in my arms was now more than my best friend.

 “I was yearning to see you smile like a child when you unwrap it. I had envisioned your face beaming while holding this book”, he said.

 “And did you envision my face while holding you?”

He chuckled and placed a loving kiss on my knuckles. “No sweety, it was a surprise”.

Biting my lower lips I looked at him knowing we found our day… our day of love. -Friendship would go beyond and turn into something so beautiful; who knew?
The rest of the morning we stayed there on the porch, talking, looking at each other, holding hands and basking in the glow of our new found love, until our friends woke up.

A year later we celebrated first anniversary of our day of love by tying the knot and exchanging Platinum bands. The bands now proudly shine on our ring fingers, representing our true and undying love for each other. Like the naturally white metal, our love is pure and pristine. Platinum does not fade or tarnish with time and that is what love is all about- Eternal.

This post is exclusively for Platinum Day of Love, powered by Indiblogger. 

The Croaking Froggy Princess- Voice lost& found!

Courtesy: google

A week ago, the morning saw me vaguely coughing. My health conscious side immediately kicked me for gulping down chilled nimboo-paani, which had become a ritual for me since mid Oct. In my defense, my motto of indulging in the tasty desi beverage was solely to beat the heat. But muaa nimboo-paani victimized my throat and by evening I was coughing like a pro. By night, an unwanted not-so-beautiful female frog camped around the base of my throat, making me croak whenever I wished to speak. And some of my close friends decided not to leave me alone and same pinched me the next day. *gets emotional*

My fear of loosing my voice, which happened to me a few years ago, took shape and the following day I couldn't speak. I remember how my dad and friends last time celebrated my muteness, *bachh gaye, isski bak-bak sunne nahi milegi*. However, this time they weren't that lucky and by evening my vocal cords healed itself to some extend and I was able to talk, albeit coughing.

  

Courtesy : google

To get my vocal cords and throat back on their feet (no they don't have legs, come on) before the end of the week, two tried and tested remedies along with the doc’s prescribed med made their way into my croaking life; the haldi-namak-honey wala hot water, haldi wala doodh and a lip smacking cough syrup. These along with many suggested home remedies by all my shubhchintaks (Such sweet souls, God Bless them) kept pouring in. Some even advised the much loved Rum, an idea I had to turn down cause, main madira nahi peeti ji. All along, wishing I had ten throats like Mr. Ravana to try all the interesting non-alcoholic remedies all at the same time. Soon an enlightening thought told me that it would have been such a pain in the wrong place to have ten soar throats, and eventually I gave up the wish. I stuck with the first three curing agents.

And did they work? Did the frog say good bye to me? Am I singing like Shreya Ghoshal? Whoa! Whoa! Hold on… gosh you ask too many question *rolls eyes*.
Well, yes they are working, although gingerly... the frog is bit stubborn, her three legs are out of my body and one is still weakly placed inside. Yes, she loves me… the virus loves me. I am so lovable. But unfortunately, I cannot live up to the Atithi Devobhava concept here, and my current prayers are mainly concentrating on farewell of these unwanted guests. Till then, I am counting my blessings; like my favorite cure happens to be the thick deep purplish anti-narcotic syrup which I am quaffing 4 times a day. It tempts me to guzzle down the entire bottle at one go. However, my sane self puts the leash on me every time I think of becoming a glutton. The other blessing is, I am not allowed to gorge on Diwali goodies to keep the soreness from aggravating, hence, keeping me away from piling on those extra kilos which is pretty normal every year during this season. (Okay okay…Shruti, I know I don’t put on much…stop rolling your eyes).
As for singing like Shreya Ghoshal- that phenomenon can't take place even when my throat is fit and healthy.

So, here I am nursing my vocal cords and writing about my throaty-adventure wishing to get well soon and scream… "I am Queen of the World". *fingers crossed*

And with that healthy wish…I the Froggy Princess wishes you a Grand Diwali and a Prosperous New Year! Be safe and enjoy. ;)

India Unlimited By Kulpreet Yadav: A Review.

Image: google

Book: India Unlimited, Stories From A Nation Caught Between Hype & Hope

Author: Kulpreet Yadav.
Publisher: LiFi Publications.
Genre: Fiction/Short Stories.
Pages: 198.
Price:  Rs. 190.
Rating: 4 out of 5.

India Unlimited, an anthology of 31 short stories, seizes your senses with its simple yet potent writing. The stories capture the reader's attention and wakes up a hunger to read more. Yadav, who has been published in several National and International Literary Journals-the featured stories are part of this compilation, with his penchant for detailing, styles the little elements by lacing the words lavishly.

To give you a glimpse of the author’s crisp artistic use of words, here are a few excerpts from “Faking It at The Conference” and “Samir in Rain”:

"The air-conditioned space I was locked in, along with about fifty others, tasted and smelt of words bouncing off the walls,rolling down gently here and there, before giving place to a just-arrived batch of fresh boring words."

"The sky was the last to give in to the urge, and it did with palpable vengeance, sending silvery cracks in the dissipating blue-black of the dusk."

The amalgamation of these short stories is a voyage that takes you to sundry sides of India, showcasing characters from a beggar to a wicked spiritual leader, from a spy to a man who talks to a fish, from a prostitute to an old lover. The diversity of these stories, the salient delineation of characters with the use of short sentences intermingled with lengthy ones along with simple still striking narration makes India Unlimited stay with the reader. Such diversity makes one wonder whether the stories are penned by the same author.

Picking favorites from such a collection is tricky, however, here are five of my prized ones:

•  Not the Only Peanut Seller Who Hasn't Heard of Osama Bin Laden.
•  The Family of Stars
•  The City of Mirrors
•  The Sahib and the Siesta
•  The Fish and My Wedding 

With his keen annotations on daily life, Kulpreet Yadav presents a set of fictions to cherish. You will adore a character, detest another, love a story, and dislike another but India Unlimited will adroitly hang about with you and you will pick it up again for an unlimited passage of the both known and unknown India.

I thank Kulpreet Yadav for letting me an opportunity to read and review the compilation of his wonderful works, "India Unlimited". 

Breezing Through Roads With Ambi Pur Vent Clip

Ambi Pur Mini Vent Clip Range

A suave paper bag arrived at my abode. A cute little clip filled with lavender fragrant liquid nestled inside the bag. It was the Ambi Pur Mini Vent Clip that was shipped to me for reviewing it.


The 2 ml mini clip, that promises (and delivers it) to do its delightful job for 30 days, is easy to activate and install in the car A/c ventilation grid. One of the great features of the clip is the fragrance control feature. One can adjust it from low to medium to high as per one's requirement. 

Once activated, the scent instead of gushing out with a strong and intense fragrance it fans out steadily with sweetness in its approach. Its no-leak technology helps in achieving this feat. Unlike other car fresheners, Ambi Pur Mini Vent Clip eliminates foul odors quickly while spreading its scent evenly, refreshing the car. Eventually one experiences a clean, fresh fragrance filled drive, even making you smile in the traffic jams.

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The one reaction I blurted out after my first trip with the Vent clip breezing its way in the car was..."Mood bana de".

Would I buy it? Recommend it? Definitely yes :)

This post is exclusively written for Escape Into Freshness, #FRESHNHAPPY Experience for Ambi Pur Mini Vent Clip, by Indiblogger.

Images: Google