Vegemite Vindaloo by David McMahon and win a copy of Richard B. Wright's Giller Nominated "October"

• Published by Penguin Books India
• Published: March 2006

• Pages: 336
• Classification: Fiction/Immigration









I have read a lot of East-Indian fiction and through those books I have been introduced to some delightful characters from the various different communities of India, but one community that remains elusive in Indian fiction is the Anglo-Indian community, so when I saw David McMahon's book "Vegemite Vindaloo" which features an Anglo-Indian family , I knew I just had to read it! Before I go on to give you a synopsis of the story perhaps I should tell you who the Anglo-Indians are:

The term "Anglo-Indian" is commonly used to describe people who have mixed Indian and English ancestry (not to be confused with Indo-Anglians an adjective applied to literature in English produced by Indian authors.) When Britain ruled India they imposed a hierarchical racial order, one that favored people with European heritage and lighter skin, so the Anglo-Indian community (with their fair skin, English manners and education) did very well for themselves during the British Raj. When the British left India in 1947, many Anglo-Indians followed suit (most went to Britain but many also left for Canada and Australia), the ones that were left behind felt out of place in the new nationalistic India because they were more aligned with a western way of life, and over the years they have learned to embrace local customs and traditions. However, Anglo-Indians continue to immigrate to the west and their numbers in India have dwindled over time.

David McMahon's entertaining first novel "Vegemite Vindaloo" chronicles the immigration to Australia of one such Anglo-Indian family. Steve and Hilary Cooper are a well-to-do couple living in Calcutta with their son Clive. When they decide to make the move to Australia, in an altruistic gesture they legally adopt, Azam, their house help's son so that he can avail of the opportunity for a better life. Anyone familiar with the caste system in India will be aware that such a thing is almost unheard of. Adopting kids is fine, but most Indians would draw the line at adopting a maid's child (because maids are much lower down on the hierarchical ladder) Despite the odds, the Coopers persist with the adoption and their dream of a better life in Australia is realized.

While a chunk of the story revolves around the Cooper family, they are just 4 people in an ensemble of very fine characters in David McMahon's story. Also blended in is the story of Ismael (Azam's father) who had to run away from his village in Bihar after he stole money to buy medicine for his sickly son and due to a lack of funds was forced to become a pavement dweller on Calcutta's busy and dirty streets until in a happy synchronicity, he meets Steve who employs Ismael and his wife to work in the Cooper house.

David McMahon is a very fine storyteller and although Steve Cooper struck me as a little naive and his wife Hilary a little vain, I would say David crafts some delightful and interesting characters... what makes the story really moving is that he places them in situations that make it necessary for them to abandon all that is familiar to them and to courageously take on the challenges of a brand new world.

This book held many charms for me. As I have mentioned before, I loved the story and the characters, I loved learning about Calcutta a city I know so little about, the cultural assimilation of the Cooper family in Australia, but best of all I loved learning about the Anglo-Indians and their way of life. So, if, like me, you love discovering another culture with its different rhythms, tastes, smells, lingo and ways of being human, allow the Coopers and friends to be your guide.


David is a Melbourne-based journalist who's as adept with images as he is with words. Check out some of his photographs at:

http://david-mcmahon.blogspot.com/

**************



The Scotiabank Giller Prize long list was announced today. I'm thrilled to see that Michael Ondaatje ("Dividsadero"), M.G. Vassanji ("The Assassin's Song") and Richard B. Wright"October" are among the authors that have made it to the list.

In addition to Ondaatje, Vassanji and Wright, the authors on this year's longlist are:

• David Chariandy for his novel Soucouyant (Arsenal Pulp Press)
• Sharon English for her short-story collection Zero Gravity (The Porcupine's Quill)
• Barbara Gowdy for Helpless (HarperCollins Canada)
• Elizabeth Hay for Late Nights on Air (McClelland & Stewart)
• Lawrence Hill for The Book of Negroes (HarperCollins Canada)
• Paulette Jiles for her novel Stormy Weather (HarperCollins Canada)
• D.R. MacDonald for his novel Lauchlin of the Bad Heart (HarperCollins Canada)
• Claire Mulligan for The Reckoning of Boston Jim (Brindle & Glass Publishing)
• Mary Novik for her novel Conceit (Doubleday Canada)
• Daniel Poliquin for A Secret Between Us, translated by Donald Winkler (Douglas & McIntyre)
• Michael Winter for his novel The Architects Are Here (Penguin Books Canada)
• Alissa York for Effigy (Random House Canada)

I have a copy of Richard B. Wright's "October" (courtesy Harper Collins, Canada) to give away, so if you are interested and if you think you can read and write up a review for it before Oct 30th, please leave me a comment, thanks! The draw is on Thursday. Next week I might have another book by a Giller Prize nominee to give away so please stay tuned!

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

Title: "The Reluctant Fundamentalist"

Author: Mohsin Hamid;

Publisher: Bond Street Books;

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 192;

Price: $29.95;

Pub. Date: March 7, 2007

Listen to the author on NPR's "Fresh Air"



Over the past five years, bookshelves in stores are becoming increasingly heavy with titles that draw on 9/11. SOme books deal with the incident itself...what happened, how it happened and the bravery of the victims, the firefighters and the police force; others deal with the politics that may have caused the incident and still others deal with how it affected seemingly ordinary people directly or indirectly. Books in the latter category can be both, fiction or non fiction and a recent one that jumped out at me and which came highly recommended by both Laura and Sanjay is "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" by Mohsin Hamid (please click the name to find out more about this brilliant Pakistani novelist)

Written in first person it tells the story of Changez, a 22-year old Princeton graduate from Lahore in Pakistan. Months before 9/11, as an employee of an elite and reputed firm in New York, Changez seemed destined for the fast, jetsetting life of a young executive, but after the incident Changez couldn't help but notice that people (New Yorkers) treated him differently. It was subtle at first, but when he returned from a vacation in Lahore with a beard, their attitudes seemed to grow more hostile. This unfriendly reception, initially simply on account of his physical appearance, made him question his purpose in America, his goals, his loyalties, his patriotism, the cultural barriers between the east and the west and most of all, his identity. When formerly it would have been true to describe himself as a citizen of the world, he was now finding himself pulling for the people of his clan, which indicates to me that no matter how "globalised" the world gets, when it comes to the crunch many of us align with our tribal identities.

What I liked about the book:

• Hamid employs a wicked narrative strategy...telling his story (a monologue) to an unamed American over the course of a meal at a Pakistani cafe in Lahore. The concilliatory but patronising tone that Hamid gives Changez as he talks to the American contrasts sharply with the upbeat tone gives him while Changez was pursuing the American dream. Also, by employing a first-person narrative the reader gets a wonderful insight into how a person from the east might view 9/11.
• 
  
• It had the power to make me feel uncomfortable (and I like books that will do that to me) because Changez is quite critical of the American way of life, its culture, society, values, and government...criticisms most of us would shy away from bringing up in our conversations.
• 
  
• Also, it made me look at young Muslim men more compassionately realizing that it isn't always easy to walk in their shoes in this part of the world.
• 
  
• I liked reading a Pakistani perspective on India...it helped me see the Indo-Pak situation from the "other" side.
• 
  
• On a personal level, Hamid's book caused me to think about my dual identity and what it means to me to be a citizen of two countries.
• 
  
• FInally, who can resist a love story? Yes, it is that...read and find out more!

This is a wonderfully-written novel and depending on your viewpoint you will either love it or be discomforted by it, but I can't see anyone being indifferent to it.

At the time of writing this review, The Reluctant Fundamentalist was # 13 on the NYTimes' bestsellers list.