Oct 01, 2007 12:30 PM
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He had hardly touched American soil, or more accurately American concrete, and already he was in love. She was the classic American beauty hair like flowing gold framing her face, eyes blue as artic lakes, she lay stretched in a negligee some thirty feet long, with breasts of a size that made you expect to see rock climbers clambering on them. The spotlights on the words below her urged everyone to use her favorite tampon. As they drove away the billboard, Gopal craned back desperately.
The story starts from here. A small town boyfrom Jajua (India) arrives in America(read US of A). He has come here for studies. He wanted to do a higher diploma in chemical engineering so that he can improve his family business of hair oil. He talks about his experience in Eversville and in general his experience of a different culture. Eversville is a small town in USA where his college is located. He sees the difference between the life style of Indians and the life style of Americans and the book captures this difference in a very nice way.
He finds some of the Americans very strange. He doesn’t understand why they have made wooden houses in stead of concrete houses. He doesn’t understand why American women are so different from American girls. His English is disastrous and he conveys confidently in his style. Sometimes it seems hilarious. He writes some letters to his younger brother about his experiences in America. Those letters are worth reading. He even tries to do bargaining at malls. That part where he is trying to bargain with sales girl and her manager in the mall is uproarious. He also sees some serious things in America. He finds a black American in his college. That person takes him to their colony in America and there he sees a poor and dirty America. He sees how black Americans live in a very piteous environment. He came to know that America only preaches others about humanity they themselves don’t follow it. Black Americans are poor and live a pitiable life. When he visited Randy’s(his college friend) house, he got to know that mothers are mothers everywhere. It doesn’t matter how advance society has become the feel of motherhood remains same everywhere. Every mother finds her son thin when he returns home after a long time. She tries to force him to eat more and put on weight. He also came to know that fundamentalists are not only present in third world. They are very much active in America also.
This book also demonstrates emotional part of Gopal. He falls in love with an American girl, or rather say woman. Her name was Sue. With Sue, he had sensed that she touched a part of him that he had never known existed. Even after just their fleeting moments together, he felt so betrayed by her weekend with another man that he couldn’t bear to think of them together. He felt numb at the consequences to him in case the spent more time with her then wandered away with somebody else. Strange creatures these women, he thought warily. Looking so soft and weak, but what troubles they are causing. He was in love and he had felt this feeling first time. In India he could have got so many other things to avoid such craze or to protect him from becoming so weak about it but in America there was nothing to protect him. He felt helpless. He was very emotional. He got hurt by this wired behavior of this woman.
This book was written way back in late 80s and hence there are lots of things which seem interesting in this book. USA of late 80s had many things which were strange for Indians but now context has been changed. We have adopted some of things from their culture and hence we won’t find it very interesting. Like, we won’t do bargaining in malls even in India. A guy may be a boy friend for a girl not the boy friend. You may find lots of foreigners studying in our colleges and working in our companies. They don’t look strange to us.
This book is really hilarious and funny but also serious sometimes. It has been recommended by many media organizations and eminent persons. I found one of the recommendations very nice. I have mentioned it below.
“Through his disastrous English and pious judgments(his ears ringing with predictions of doom from mother and grandmother if he so much as looked at beef or girls), Gopal retains a gentle dignity and a startling shrewdness. In the process he arouses an exasperated affection from friends, colleagues, teachers and most of all the readers.”
I wish we had got some time,
*So I could make you mine.
*I know you’ll find a love as fine,
*In some unexpected time.
Hey please don’t think I’m bored of fictions and started writing poems. This a sweet wish from a sweet lady of Eversville to our sweet Indian, Gopal(Goh-pal as pronounced by Americans).
I hope you’ll enjoy this joyride.
