Tag Archives: Books

In My Hands Today…

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Water – Bapsi Sidhwa and Deepa Mehta

Set in 1938, against the backdrop of Gandhi’s rise to power, Water follows the life of eight-year-old Chuyia, abandoned at a widow’s ashram after the death of her elderly husband. There, she must live in penitence until her death. Unwilling to accept her fate, she becomes a catalyst for change in the widows’s lives. When her friend Kalyani, a beautiful widow-prostitute, falls in love with a young, upper-class Gandhian idealist, the forbidden affair boldly defies Hindu tradition and threatens to undermine the ashram’s delicate balance of power. This riveting look at the lives of widows in colonial India is ultimately a haunting and lyrical story of love, faith, and redemption.

In My Hands Today…

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Leap of Faith : Memoirs of an Unexpected Life – Queen Noor of Jordan

“Leap of Faith is the dramatic and inspiring story of an American woman’s remarkable journey into the heart of a man and his nation.” “Born into a distinguished Arab-American family and raised amid privilege, Lisa Halaby joined the first freshman class at Princeton to accept women, graduating in 1974 with a degree in architecture and urban planning.Two years later, while visiting her father in Jordan, she was casually introduced on the airport runway to King Hussein. Widely admired in the Arab world as a voice of moderation, and for his direct lineage to the prophet Muhammad, Hussein would soon become the world’s most eligible bachelor after the tragic death of his wife. The next time they met, Hussein would fall headlong in love with the athletic, outspoken daughter of his longtime friend. After a whirlwind, secret courtship Lisa Halaby became Noor Al Hussein, Queen of Jordan.” “With eloquence and candor, Queen Noor speaks of the obstacles she faced as a naive young bride in the royal court, of rebelling against the smothering embrace of security guards and palace life, and of her own successful struggle to create a working role as a humanitarian activist in a court that simply expected Noor to keep her husband happy. As she gradually took on the mantle of a queen, Noor’s joys and challenges grew. After a heartbreaking miscarriage, she gave birth to four children. Meshing the demands of motherhood with the commitments of her position often proved difficult, but she tried to keep her young children by her side, even while flying the world with her husband in his relentless quest for peace. This mission would reap satisfying rewards, including greater Arab unity and a peace treaty with Israel, and suffer such terrible setbacks as the Gulf War and the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin.” Leap of Faith is a remarkable document. It is the story of a young American woman who became wife and partner to an Arab monarch.

In My Hands Today…

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Freedom at Midnight – Larry Collins, Dominique Lapierre

First published in 1975, this 2009 edition is a new edition of the best-selling book described as irreplaceable by Le Monde, Paris. It is a poignant reminder of the defining moments of the end of the British Raj, the independence of 400 million people, their division into India and the newly created Pakistan. Time Magazine raised a poetic salutation to this brilliantly written book, hailing it as the Song of India . . . illuminated like scenes in a pageant .

The significance of the new edition lies in engaging the minds of two generations born into a free country, to enable them to empathetically understand the aspirations and goals that united our leaders then towards the common cause of freedom. The significance lies in invoking the re-awakening of the Indian spirit. Surely it is time for the over 1 billion people in India to ask themselves honestly what their contribution has been thus far towards realizing an India free from poverty, illiteracy and inequality.

While numerous tomes have been written on the Indian freedom struggle, the popularity of Freedom at Midnight lies in its easy narrative flow which veers from the thrilling to the enlightening, sometimes poignant and ever-compelling style.

In My Hands Today…

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A Good Indian Wife – Anne Cherian

Handsome anesthesiologist Neel prides himself on his decisiveness, both in and out of the operating room. So when he agrees to return to India to visit his ailing grand­father, he is sure he’ll be able to resist his family’s pleas that he marry a “good” Indian girl. With a girlfriend and a promising career back in San Francisco, the last thing Neel needs is an arranged marriage.

Leila is a thirty-year-old teacher in Neel’s family’s village who has watched too many prospective husbands come and go to think her newest suitor will be any different. She is well past prime marrying age; her family has no money for a dowry; and then there’s the matter of an old friendship with a Muslim boy named Janni.

Neel and Leila struggle to reconcile their own desires with the expectations of others in this riveting story of two people, two countries, and two ways of life that may be more compatible than they seem.

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Bombay Bhel – Ken Doyle

Like the ubiquitous snack food, bhel puri, Bombay Bhel blends a variety of ingredients to serve up glimpses of life among the Goan and Anglo-Indian communities–minorities in one of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities. The interlinked stories are set in the late twentieth century, before a wave of anticolonialism crested across India and resulted in Bombay’s rechristening.

The stories feature everyday characters who face challenges unique to Bombay life, from the schoolboy who forms an unlikely friendship with a street vendor to the retired serviceman whose livelihood is threatened by the city’s notorious bureaucracy. Readers familiar with Bombay will reawaken their memories, while those new to the city will experience a taste of its varied flavors.