Book review: 3 Books on Food, Nutrition and Wellness

1. Don't Lose Your Mind Lose Your Weight
 
Author: Rujuta Diwekar
Publisher: Random House India
Pages: 288
Price: Rs 199
Genre: Non Fiction / Self-help / Health / Nutrition
Rating: 10/10
Format: Paperback

 Of all the books I have ever read about food and nutrition, this book has been the best and the simplest to follow. I first read this book about 4 years back and incorporated a lot of learnings into my lifestyle. I benefitted tremendously along the way; but no matter how motivated you had been, you lose some amount of enthusiasm as time passes. So, I re-read it recently.

I first read about Rujuta Diwekar when Kareena Kapoor accredited her for her own metamorphosis during Tashan.

When Rujuta wrote this book, it was lapped up by everyone. The best thing about this book is its simplicity. The book is easy to read, even for non-readers. The language is very simple; in fact, it is very conversational (with a liberal use of hinglish). This was perhaps the first time a nutritionist talked about the wisdom of eating traditional Indian food and giving more importance to local food.

She tells you to follow some basic principles and use your common sense. For example, don’t start your day with tea or coffee but with a fruit. She asks you to eat every 2 hours and keep the food portions small. Eat more during the day. Food should be directly proportional to your level of activity. Give importance to nutrition over calories. Add Ghee to your daily diet. There are several such nuggets of information which are easy to understand and adopt. Once you understand the basic principles, you can plan your own diet according to your lifestyle. But she cautions, just eating right without exercising is only half the battle won. Both are equally important. She writes “….exercise is a part of adopting a better lifestyle but it is NOT an alternative to eating right.”

She says that food has unnecessarily been made into a villain, when in fact; all food is good if eaten wisely. Follow a diet which you can follow all your life. Any sort of extreme diet doesn’t work because they are not sustainable. This is what I love the most about this book, you are not asked to eat some fancy or exotic things, you just need to eat regular Indian food – but you must take care of the proportions and timing.  

I have always recommended this book to everyone and cannot say enough how life-altering this can be. It is every bit worth the time and money.

If you want to read only one book on food and nutrition, this has to be it. I have also read the author’s second book ‘Women and the Weight Loss Tamasha’, but it didn’t appeal to me much. I do wish to read her latest book ‘Indian Superfoods’ though.

2. The Great Indian Diet

Author: Shilpa Shetty Kundra, Luke Coutinho
Publisher: Random House India
Pages: 288
Price: Rs 299
Genre: Non Fiction / Self-help / Health / Nutrition
Rating: 7/10
Format: e-book 

Shilpa Shetty has, unarguably, one of the best bodies in Bollywood. She is a strong proponent of healthy living. She managed to shed all the weight she had gained during her pregnancy through healthy eating and exercising. I had read some excerpts from the book and found it interesting. This book has been co-authored by Luke Coutinho who is a nutritionist, master coach and mastermind behind GOQii’s lifestyle and health coaching model. 

In its approach towards healthy eating, this book is similar to Rujuta’s ‘Don’t Lose Your Mind…’ but it certainly has a lot of additional information about different things that create the Great Indian food. 

It dwells into the evolution of Indian food, the incredible health benefits of common spices, different oils and variety of grains that we usually eat in Indian homes, the Acidic and Alkaline food, reading labels before buying packaged food, and so on. 

Obviously, different books and authors bring different things to the table, so one needs to use common sense and not blindly follow anything. Shilpa recommends 3 main meals and 2 in-between meals as against Rujuta’s recommendation of eating every 2 hours. Shilpa starts her day with tea, while Rujuta’s first principle talks about never to start your day with tea or coffee. 

In my opinion, this can be a good book to read in addition to Rujuta’s Don’t LoseYour Mind, Lose Your Weight’.

3. Eat Delete: How to Get Off the Weight Loss Cycle for Good

Author: Pooja Makhija
Publisher: Collins
Pages: 248 
Price: Rs 199
Genre: Non Fiction / Self-help / Health / Nutrition
Rating: 6/10
Format: Paperback

I have a fascination for books on food, nutrition and health. I have read quite a few books in this genre and several are on my TBR list. It never kills to learn more, right? You always take away something useful from each one of them.

This book came to me a long time back through the publishers. Pooja Makhija is also a celebrity nutritionist (like Rujuta Diwekar). 

The cover page is vibrant and appealing. The book comes with a little booklet to record your diet. The back cover informs: For the first time in India, a leading nutritionist has worked with psychologists to give you a combined mind-body weight loss solution. Figure out not just what to eat, but also why you eat the way you do. Tackle the problem at the source.

Much of the initial part of the book dwells into convincing the reader that food is not an enemy, neither should it be considered entertainment. As they say ‘it’s all in the mind’. I have read this often about running too. To beginners, even 1 Km looks impossible but people are doing ultra-running like it is a jog in the park. So, Pooja targets the psychology of people first in her book. Will power is not something that you are born with; you can cultivate it with practice. If you want to lose weight, you need a strong will power. She has even given tips on how to avoid a party or how to stick to your healthy eating plan if you must attend a party, because most people flounder when they eat out. 

There are questions which show you if you are in the red zone of weight loss. The book discusses different mindsets of people and why inspite of the fact that so many people want to lose weight, they even know that they should be eating healthy; and yet their will power is not strong enough.

In her book, Pooja also talks about the significance of eating frequently and exercising. She advises how one can go about restricting certain food items initially to achieve the desired weight loss. She says “Whatever you want to eat can be re-integrated into your system when you have lost the weight you wanted to. Long term weight loss is about balance, proportion and control.”

She has certainly put me into a spot by saying that drinking warm lemon water can cause bone leeching! I haven’t found any solid proof to support this; on the contrary I have found several articles on benefits of drinking that. I even checked with a doctor, who said that lemon water may not have any benefit (though I disagree) but it surely does no harm.

Personally, I found this book as an average read, however, the experience of reading any book is unique to every reader. To someone who hasn’t read anything on food and nutrition and requires some conditioning of the mind to get on the path of eating healthy, this book can certainly offer much more.    

Review Book Courtesy: HarperCollins India

Book Review: Aisle Be Damned by Rishi Piparaiya

Title: Aisle Be Damned

Author: Rishi Piparaiya

Publisher: Jaico Books

Pages: 216
Price: Rs 250

Genre: Non Fiction / Humour

Rating: 9/10

Format: Paperback

The moment I saw this book, I was immediately taken in by its unusual cover page and the title. Both do justice to the theme of this book. ‘Aisle Be Damned’ is a work of non-fiction that finds humour in every aspect of air travel. The humour is not forced. What really works in this book is that the author has pulled out some common observations which anyone with air travel experience can relate to. I finished this book in one sitting and laughed a lot till the end. Every person who has done a bit of air travel will get the humour in this book.  

By virtue of being a frequent traveler, the author offers loads of wisdom and suggestions on how to make the most of your air travel, peppered with plenty of humour. He has thought of everything, right from the baggage trolleys to airport, the boarding strategies to seats one must opt for, trivia and funny anecdotes related to air travel from around the world, and several such pieces that will tickle your funny bone. He tells you stuff like when are the business tycoons likely to travel, how can you get your economy class ticket upgraded to business class, how to choose your seat well, how to handle immigration officer, etc.

The author confesses at one point that several publishers found this book niche, but air travel has become so common that I am certain there is a huge target audience for this book.

It was a fun book to read, except perhaps the last chapter [Commerce, Literature and Zen] which looks a little forced. The book is perfect without that extra chapter. You must pick it up if you are feeling a little down or feeling stressed, this book will instantly perk you up. This can also make a nice gift. The only prerequisite for enjoying this book is a little experience of air travel. It is one of those books which you can pick any time [even after you have read it], read random lines again; and it will still give you a few laughs.

Here are few funny lines from the book:

[During Immigration] He will languidly open your passport, look at the photograph, look at you, then look back at the photograph. You can see the nuts and bolts in his brain rasping, straining to draw some correlation to the grotesque face in the photograph and the pasted smile standing in front of him, but there is none…….He lets it go though – it’s not the right time or place to empathize with you on the shortcomings of your gene pool.”

 “I am always on a first name basis with anyone from Sri Lanka, neither of us being able to pronounce the other’s last name.”

“There is a sign above the basin that says the water is not for drinking. Okay, thanks for letting me know. Because I usually love to drink water from bathrooms.”

“An experienced pilot earns well over $100,000 and flies about 800 hours a year. That’s $125 an hour for essentially playing Flight Stimulator. He has no monthly goals, no boss and all his colleagues are hot. The job calls for some travel yes, but stay is at luxury hotels, meals are included and life is one long MTV Grind party.”

Note: The text in italics have been quoted from the book.

Review Book courtesy: Jaico Books 

Image source: Jaico Books 

Book Review: Meena Kumari by Vinod Mehta

Title: Meena Kumari - The Classic Biography

Author: Vinod Mehta

Publisher: HarperCollins India

Pages: 248 
Price: Rs 350

Genre: Non Fiction / Biography / Films

Rating: 8/10

Format: Paperback

I read about this book somewhere and then chanced upon a chapter in The Greatest Show on Earth. Life of a movie star is intriguing and there is a dearth of such biographies about any Indian film star. I don’t know why I wanted to read about Meena Kumari. I haven’t even seen too many of her films, and it was from my mother. I first came to know that Meena Kumari was known as the tragedy queen. In fact, people of her generation had started using the term ‘Meena Kumari’ as a word for ‘sad’ [in the way, the term ‘Devdas’ is still used]. So, when people would say “don’t be a Meena Kumari”! They would mean ‘sad and melodramatic’. Whether she was one of the best actors of all times is highly debatable, but certainly her life was intriguing.

This book was written in 1972, immediately after her demise [republished in 2013]. The author confesses “I found that it was impossible to collect even one ‘undisputed’ fact about this woman. Everything connected with her life had atleast four versions" [quoted]. He never met the actor. He admits that facts and opinions were piling up and weighing him down, and without being over-ambitious, what he sought to achieve was to offer a few glimpses of who Meena Kumari really was; for who can really claim to know a person completely.

The book begins with everyone’s reaction on Meena Kumari’s death. The chapter is interestingly titled “Lies” to connote how all the reactions by film industry as well as media were superficial. The various chapters in this book tell us about the circumstances she was born into, her family, her early life, her romance with Kamal Amrohi, her journey as an actress [which started at the tender age of seven] as well as her turbulent personal life, her various relationships, her addiction to alcohol, her self-inflicted depression, the most important movie of her life - Pakeezah, Meena Kumari – the actress, Meena Kumari – the woman, and her death [few weeks after Pakeezah’s release]. Even with her disturbed personal life and poor health, she worked relentlessly and did very well professionally.

“Despite unreliable lovers, despite unreliable alcohol, despite unreliable dinner, despite unreliable friends, she had Bahu Begum, Manjhli Didi, Noor Jehan, Abhilasha in various stages of completion. All of which goes to prove that India’s No. 1 tragedienne did not live by bread alone.” [Quoted]

Her alcoholism is legendary. But surprisingly, she drank seriously only for three years. What started as a small peg to cure her insomnia later became addiction. This continued till she died of cirrhosis of the liver.

“The question is how could she stop drinking. She had as she saw it, no emotional support; her family life was not exactly ideal; and the possibilities for the future looked extremely grim. In these circumstances she needed a crutch, and for people the world over in her state the bottle has been the most potent, if disastrous, crutch.” [Quoted]

Meena Kumari as a person was known to be generous, attentive and empathetic. The author believes that most of her pain and depression was self-inflicted because she felt she was let down by her relationships. She did not get love, and fell into the trap of her screen image. Perhaps she always missed a part of her life she never lived – a normal childhood. Isn’t it widely known the world over, the fate of most of the child actors?

“The great tragedienne Meena Kumari became the great tragedienne not only in front of the camera but behind it. And this is the real sorrow, she aided the latter.” [Quoted]

I liked the book. May be I haven’t read any outstanding biography to compare it with, but generally speaking, I liked reading about the many aspects of Meena Kumari’s life. There aren’t too many biographies or autobiographies of Indian film stars, and if you like this genre, I certainly recommend it. It is always interesting to know interesting people. 

Read an excerpt from the book here.

Review Book courtesy: HarperCollins India 

Image source: Flipkart

Book Review: Pakeezah by Meghnad Desai

Title: Pakeezah - An Ode To A Bygone World

Author: Meghnad Desai

Publisher: HarperCollins India

Pages: 160

Price: Rs 250

Genre: Non Fiction / Film

Rating: 8/10

Format: Paperback

About the Book [from the blurb]

An entertaining look at one of the landmarks of Hindi cinema.

Meghnad Desai tracks the film’s tortuous journey and reveals fascinating, little-known aspects of it. He foregrounds the craftsmanship, perseverance and perfectionism of its maker, Kamal Amrohi, who would wait weeks for the perfect sunset. The director even took on MGM, because the CinemaScope lenses they supplied were out of focus by 1/1000 mm.

Desai sees the film as a ‘Muslim social’ set in a ‘Lucknow of the Muslim imagination’; as a woman-centric film with a dancing heroine at a time when they were a rarity; and above all, as a film that harked back to an era of ‘nawabi culture with its exquisite tehzeeb’, a world that is lost forever.

Pakeezah: An Ode to a Bygone World is a fitting tribute to a film that Meghnad Desai calls ‘a monument to the golden age of Hindustani films’.

My thoughts:

I love reading about films, especially Indian films. I feel there is a dearth of literature in this genre despite the fact that so many films are made every year in India and the fact that we recently completed 100 years of Indian cinema. I think it is commendable that HarperCollins India saw the need. This book is part of the recently released HarperCollins India’s Film Series, which also includes books on Amar Akbar Anthony and Mughal-e-Azam.

The author of this book, Meghnad Desai, says that “if there has been a film which has captured Muslim culture of a certain period albeit with contemporary resonance, it has to be Kamal Amrohi’s Pakeezah.”

His approach is methodical in analyzing ‘Pakeezah’ - what makes this movie iconic. He discusses every aspect of the film to offer a complete perspective - the story, the origins, the making, the rewriting, the many themes in the movie, the man behind the movie - Kamal Amrohi, the stars of the movie and the unforgettable music. Take for example, the story. By culling information from various sources about the film, he speculates on what the original story might have been and how it must have been modified over a period of time, considering the movie took 15 years to complete, Meena Kumari’s health deteriorated towards the end and interpersonal dynamics changed a great deal between Kamal Amrohi and his wife, Meena Kumari. Did you know that the movie initially did not get a good response on its release? But probably Meena Kumari’s untimely death within a month of its release piqued people’s curiosity and they started queuing up to watch the great tragedy queen in one of her most memorable roles of her career. If Pakeezah could not have been made without Kamal Amrohi, it is hard to imagine Pakeezah without Meena Kumari as well.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves reading about films. After all, the making of a movie is as fascinating as the movie itself; more so, a classic. Imagine we are talking about the times when scripts weren’t finalized before filming; they were developed on the sets, on locations, under the influence of a lot of things. At 150 pages, this book isn’t too long, though may be a few times repetitive. Nevertheless, I personally loved it. It offers a lot of insights, observations and information about the film, and at the same time quite easy to read.

Review Book courtesy: HarperCollins India 

Image source: Flipkart

Book Review: Legacy: Letters from eminent parents to their daughters by Sudha Menon

Title: Legacy: Letters from eminent parents to their daughters

Author: Sudha Menon

Publisher: Random House India

Pages: 272

Price: Rs 399

Genre: Non Fiction / Essays / Letters / Journals

Rating: 9/10

Format: Hardbound

When I first read about this book, I was instantly drawn to it. Distinguished people writing letters to their daughters; the concept appealed to me dearly. It held a lot of potential to learn and be inspired. I was also curious about what lessons or advice these high achievers would pass on to their daughters.

The book lived up to its promise.

I loved the cover page instantly. It has a warm appeal to it. Foreword is by Kiran Mazumdar Shaw. It is inspiring to read her write about her unconventional choice of career, encouraged by her father, and struggle during the initial years as a lady brewer in a man’s world.

Notes by Deepika Padukone and Nandita Das to their respective famous dads, on the insides of the cover, are heartwarming.

The book is quite well-organized. The writers have been featured in the alphabetical order of their names. Each letter is preceded by a note about the person writing the letter, which beautifully sets the mood for the letter and helps the reader relate to the letter in a better way. Each letter is a reflection of the letter writer’s own journey through life, his learnings and values that he or she holds close.

Ajay Piramal, Amit Chandra, Capt. Gopinath, Chanda Kochhar, Deep Anand, Ganesh Natarajan, Jatin Das,, Kishore Biyani, K.V. Kamath, Mallika Sarabhai, Narayana Murthy, Pradeep Bhargava, Prakash Padukone, P.P. Chhabria, Renuka Ramnath, Sanjeev Kapoor, Shaheen Mistri and Zia Modi make the 18 personalities who have contributed in this book to pass on the legacy of learnings, values, beliefs and wisdom, not only to their own daughters but to inspire all the Indian women at large.

Chanda Kochhar thinks adaptability is a great quality to possess, while Captain Gopinath demonstrates by his own life to reinvent oneself constantly; Amit Chandra highlights the power of wealth and how not to get carried away with it, while Kishore Biyani stresses on the importance of people, relationships and human behavior; Mallika Sarabhai advises her daughter to be fearless about what she can do while Shaheen Mistri crafts a beautiful poem for her daughters about empathy and equality – there are several such gems in the book.

Though each letter is a lesson in life-skills, my personal favorites are letters by Captain Gopinath and Kishore Biyani. I was pleasantly surprised at the modern outlook of Mr Biyani when he is perceived as rooted in traditions. He came across as a very open-minded individual who held both his daughters in high esteem for their capabilities. Captain Gopinath’s ability to rise from the ashes every time as a phoenix comes across very clearly. The way he reinvents himself constantly is exemplary for everyone.

What stands out is that each one of them is rooted in their past, stress on the importance of giving back to the society, the need to be there for the family, and shower love and respect on their daughters as independent and capable individuals.

It is easy to get intimidated by these stalwarts for their lofty achievements but when they write to their daughters, one gets to know their real, warm personalities and concerns of an ordinary parent.

I certainly recommend it wholeheartedly.

Review Book courtesy: Random House India
Image source: Random House India

Book Review: Why Loiter? by Shilpa Phadke, Sameera Khan, Shilpa Ranade

Title: Why Loiter? Women & Risk on Mumbai Streets

Author: Shilpa Phadke, Sameera Khan, Shilpa Ranade

Publisher: Penguin India

Pages: 280

Price: Rs 299

Genre: Non Fiction / Urban Studies / Women issues

Rating: 10/10

Format: Paperback

“Why Loiter?” is a transformational book. It suggests that women must fight for the unconditional right to access public space. It is surprising how we, as women, have got so accustomed to justifying our presence in the public space that it is now internalized in our systems. 

If we are waiting for a friend on the road, we would rather wait at the bus stop or fiddle with mobile phones, all to imply that either we are waiting for the bus or busy with some important call or message. Why can’t we loiter? Why can’t we be unapologetic about having fun in public space, and also not judged? Quoting from the book “..when there are visible public attacks on women, the discussions inevitably focus on how the women could have prevented it. Clothing is the first target: its length, width, cut and even colour are debated in the blame game of national sexual politics…”

It is a common perception that ‘Bombay girl’ is having most fun. It is a benchmark for almost all women across India, to live life like a Bombay girl. You really sit up and notice when the authors tell you why they chose Mumbai to offer their arguments: “For if this is the standard of access to public space in the country, then perhaps we lack both ambition and imagination.”

This book “draws on the findings of a three-year-long research project, the Gender and Space project that focused on women and public space in Mumbai to demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that despite the apparent visibility of women, even in urban India, women do not share equal access to public space with men.” The problem is women have accepted their marginalization in the public space.

Here are some standout points and thoughts from the book, which may compel you to read it:

• ‘Loitering’ is considered frivolous. Demonstration of purpose to justify being in public space is important at all times. Even feminists who fight for women’s rights are wary about right to loiter because it will impact the seriousness of their work.
• Poor infrastructure like lack of or significantly less number of public toilets, toilets which have been insensitively designed and many times closed during nights, poor road lighting, poor transport facilities etc further impacts the usage of public space by women. 
• Public spaces should be designed to maximize engagement. “One key obstacle in the good design of public spaces is the assumption of a neutral universal user of space….the ‘neutral’ user is usually male.” 
• Fighting for unconditional right to access public space is a larger issue than focusing on crime against women in public space. Because when you focus on the crime, the access for women is further reduced, women start living a more protected and chaperoned life. Because then people start focusing on why you were there in the first place? With whom? Wearing what? Doing what? The struggle against violence and the quest for pleasure cannot be separate things. 
• The society is obsessed with controlling women’s movement. But the concern is more about the reputation and family honour rather than their physical safety per se. 
• Supposedly safe places for women like malls or cafes are really private-public spaces and you need to have a certain consumption power to be able to enjoy that space.
• In the global vision of the city, women, old people, disabled, poor and people from certain religion do not feature. It raises questions on rights to citizenship. Why should a city be claimed / owned only by a specific group?
• How we lament flourishing malls and vanishing parks! How our weekends are spent at malls in consumption rather than doing nothing in public spaces. Perhaps that is what global city is all about. Loitering is a threat to that dream global world. You must consume all the time.
• Then who is having fun? Muslim Girls? Rich Girls? Slum Girls? Working Girls? Night Girls? Can Girls Buy fun? Differently-abled girls? Homosexual Girls? Old Girls? The authors have dissected and concluded that no matter what the social status, economic class, age or orientation, their ‘fun’ is always conditional. Nobody is having unadulterated, pure fun.

Of course, there are many more arguments, well-represented in the book. So, read it.

I highly recommend it to every girl, every woman. Read it, if you can. And why only girls? Everyone should read it. It brings forth a strong argument and thought-provoking perspective. And men should also read it to understand how women in their lives negotiate access to public space on daily basis.

Note: Text in italics has been quoted from the book.

Image source: Penguin India

Book Review: Nobody Can Love You More by Mayank Austen Soofi

Title: Nobody Can Love You More

Author: Mayank Austen Soofi

Publisher: Penguin Viking (Penguin India)

Pages: 240

Price: Rs 399

Genre: Non Fiction / Society / Anthropology

Rating: 10/10

Format: Hardbound

‘Nobody Can Love You More’ by Mayank Austen Soofi is an attempt to bring out the ordinariness in the extraordinary lives of the women of GB Road, the notorious red light area of Delhi. The author is gently probing, deeply observant and extremely patient in following the lives of sex workers of kotha (brothel) number teen sau (300) for three years. The best thing about this book is that though it keenly observes, it never judges; neither does it seeks pity for those women. It never interferes in your own inferences as a reader.

The author started going to GB Road to teach English to Sabir Bhai’s (a brothel owner) children. The children lost interest in English after a couple of months but Soofi found himself “fascinated by the ordinary aspects of the lives of people who, I think, have been shepherded by circumstances into living extraordinary lives.”

Kotha (brothel) number teen sau houses the malik, Sabir Bhai and five women – Sushma, Fatima, Phalak, Nighat and Sumaira (and Mamta and Roopa for some time). Soofi finds it easy to talk to the elderly Sushma who talks about her experiences, her distant past and her dreaded future, her ‘working hours’; and even cooks for him.

In the stories of these women, are the reflections of several others who are cooped up in the dingy brothels (80 of them) in 42 buildings of GB Road. There are chapters on the lives of sex workers, their children, the brothel owners, pimps, people connected to the sex workers or GB Road like shopkeepers below their brothels, priests and caretakers of a temple and a Sufi shrine, people who knew about the evolution of these brothels over the years, and so on. Each chapter starts with a black and white picture that sums it up.

Although the author is repulsed by the idea of eating food, drinking water or sharing meals there, because of the filth and lack of hygiene; yet he understands that he cannot expect them to open their hearts to him if he does not even agrees to share food. He admits that sometimes it was suffocating and depressing to be part of lives of those people; his own life was in complete contrast to their’s. 

The lives of sex workers are surprisingly ordinary. They cook, pray, raise children, fight among themselves, earn money and have ‘working’ hours. They do not behave differently anywhere except at the place of their trade and during their ‘business hours’. They are modest in places of worship, and like any other customer when in a shop.

It is interesting to find out about the evolution of kothas over the years. Earlier rich and royalty used to be their patrons. The nautch girls were associated with courtesy, etiquettes and sophistication. Things took a dramatic turn after independence, and more importantly after Emergency. Over the years, the condition of kothas deteriorated. Now the red-light districts are full of dingy, dirty, tiny cells where women sleep with strangers for a measly sum of Rs 100-200 and a constant fear of losing youth. Their mannerisms are crude and in-your-face.

What stood out for me was how their daily routines were effortlessly entangled with the conversations with Soofi. On one hand Sushma talks about her past, while she cooks dal for him and also wonders how he can have just boiled dal. Also, in the scene where Soofi is conversing with Roopa and Nighat, they behave like any other ‘shopkeeper’. When they get customers, they go with them, return in a couple of minutes, take the money, ask the customers to come back again, and join back the conversation with Soofi – all with matter-of-factness. 

It is also ironical how this section of society generates intense curiosity and yet behaved as if they do not exist. For example, the shopkeepers below these brothels say pointedly that they have nothing to do with those women; they never talk or wish each other on any occasion. Also, as Hasan Khurshid, the ‘legal’ journalist points out that they were told to never look up while crossing GB Road because it brought shame to be found looking at those women.

The cover page is impressive; and it suitably teases you with the hints of what lay inside the book. The image of cheap cosmetics and ornaments with the blurred image of a woman on the cover page, and a green locked door with jasmine gajra on the handle reeks of a brothel.  

Nobody Can Love You More is a remarkable work of non fiction that handles a sensitive subject delicately, while at the same time offers an intimate commentary about the lives of women of kotha number teen sau and their surroundings. 

Review Book courtesy: MySmartPrice Books - Get the Best Deal on Books!

Image source: Penguin India

Book Review: Holy Cow by Sarah Macdonald

Title: Holy Cow! An Indian Adventure

Author: Sarah Macdonald

Publisher: Bantam Books (Random House)

Pages: 320

Price: Rs 375

Genre: Non Fiction / Travel / Memoir

Rating: 8/10

Format: Paperback

I first read ‘Holy Cow’ in 2006 or 2007. It was interesting to look at Indian diversity and idiosyncrasies through the eyes of an outsider who wanted to make sense of the chaos. I loved it. But in order to appreciate this book, you must have the ability to laugh at India’s eccentricities. It is one of the very few books which I have re-read and enjoyed.

Sarah Macdonald, an Australian journalist, broadcaster and presenter, did not like India on her first visit and never wanted to return. But she returns to India after almost 11 years to be with her boyfriend Jonathan Haley. “Holy Cow” is more of a spiritual journey of the author which takes her through interesting experiences and people.

She writes right at the beginning: “India is Hotel California: you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.”

In her early days, her cynical self only finds the problems: widespread poverty, no respect for time, no sense of space and privacy, people gawking at western women, dirt and filth, the unbearable heat, poor medical standards, etc., etc. But soon she decides to make the best of her stay in India, since Jonathan was away most of the time for long duration owing to wok commitments. Sarah’s experiences were diverse: finding anything but peace in the spiritual ‘market’ of Rishikesh, brushes with death in the forms of earthquake and double-pneumonia, making sense of the Indian marriage scene (its close connection with family and honour), cleansing of mind and finding inner peace through Vipassana, learning about Sikhs and meeting a unique group of white Sikhs, grim realities of a paradise lost in Kashmir, experiencing Jewish rituals, getting blessed by Mata Amritanandamayi, meeting film stars, exploring Christianity at our Lady of Velangiri, to name a few.

There are several such books by western travellers / journalists / explorers but Sarah Macdonald has a distinguished voice. Some may find a few of her observations or comments offensive, but you must remember while reading this book, or any such book, that this is a personal journey of the author. In this particular book, we find Sarah Macdonald transform from an atheist to someone who begins to enjoy the expansive spiritual roads India offers, its many religions. At the end of it, she is humbled by India’s accommodating culture, affectionate people, diversity and experiences. At the end, if you really read it with an open mind, there is not a thing to offend. She sounds a little conceited in the beginning but I think, it is purely to bring out the contrast in her transformation from someone not amused by the situation in India to someone who had begun to enjoy the “organised chaos”. 

Few gems from the book:

About the Hindi she learnt from her teacher who scoffed at the use of street language:

When I thought I was asking a taxi driver to take me somewhere I was really saying, ‘Kind sir, would thou mind perhaps taking me on a journey to this shop and I would be offering you recompense of this many rupees to do so, thank you frightfully humbly.’ And I have been greeting filthy naked street urchins with, ‘Excuse me, o soul one, but I’m dreadfully sorry, I don’t appear to have any change, my most humble of apologies.’

These lines beautifully capture her thoughts on religion:

“I realise I don’t have to be a Christian who follows the church, or a Buddhist nun in robes, or a convert to Judaism or Islam or Sikhism. I can be a believer in something bigger than what I can touch. I can make a leap of faith to a higher power in a way that’s appropriate to my culture but not be imprisoned by it.”

She says about her trip to Pakistan:

“I feel like I’ve travelled between two divorced parents who are trying to outdo each other.”

About war against Afghanistan

This war has shattered my Great Australian Dream – the fantasy that I could be part of the world community with all its benefits but isolated enough to be safe and separate from its violence and brutality.”

And finally, her thoughts on India towards the end:

”India’s organised chaos has exuberance and optimism, a pride and a strong celebration of life. I truly love it. There’s no place like this home.”

It is an interesting book; and people who love to read about India, or Non Fiction in general or travel stories in particular will love it.

Review Book courtesy: MySmartPrice Books - Get the Best Deal on Books!

Image source: MySmartPrice Books