Mar 22, 2006 07:17 PM
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(Updated Mar 24, 2006 11:33 AM)
This one is a must read for all Indians. Why Indians? Well, even foreigners will find it good but only if they are able to decipher the funny and strange Indian references being made in all portions of the book. That said, The Inscrutable Americans is a book that will force you to laugh while turning its pages and even afterwards when you remember and imagine the scenes in solitude.
After killing my time with Nelson Mandela’s biography I needed a book with the ability to rejuvenate my skills in reading it in a go. The Inscrutable naturally was a very good choice. I was able to finish it in two sittings! The book is downright funny. I remember myself settling with the novel after having had a full meal. The first few pages were irresistibly hilarious, I laughed so much that I almost threw up the meal (this is not funny).
Quite obviously, if the opening of a novel is inviting it tempts one to continue reading. So was the case with The Inscrutable Americans. Why was the opening funny? Well, for starters let me tell you that TIA is a story based on an Indian student who decides to pursue higher studies in America. Once he has reached America he finds everything new and Amerikkaan. He writes a letter to his friend. The novel actually begins with a letter. This is what he writes:
Beloved younger brother,
Greetings to Respectful Parents. I am hoping all is well with health and wealth. I am fine at my end. Hoping your end is fine too.
Thus begins this guy Gopal’s journey. His liking for coke (he drinks so much coke on the airplane that the airhostess laugh at him when he gets down), weird American lingo (an american tell him to ‘watch his ass’. Gopal is amazed because he wonders how did the American know he has a donkey at home in India), girls, vegetarian food, hanging out, his disastrous English, his liking for American billboards showing near naked women and so many other concepts purely American (read sex) changes him soon.
The novel is loaded with many such funny references. At no point does anyone get bored. Every detail about Gopal drawn by Anurag Mathur is typical of what any Indian would do in the big A. (that stands true for two decades back but now with globalisation I guess it may not stand entirely true). In America he makes a friend. When he meets him for the first time the guy introduces himself as, ‘Hi I am Randy?’. Gopal is taken aback and says, ‘Why?’ Randy says, ‘What do you mean why? I am Randy!’ Actually Gopal had never heard a man named Randy and he was comparing the meaning of the word with its Indian counterpart.
Towards the end the novel grows serious but remains funny. It becomes serious because Gopal begins to like the freedom associated with America. However, his desire to have sex remains unfulfilled. Also, he starts liking Randy a lot and sees a similar vibe coming from him. In a way this is a complete novel. There is a portion where Mathur discusses racism. Some Americans who do not like Gopals presence in their land hurt Gopal. But towards the end Mathur also points out that America as a whole was an experience worth living for Gopal.
A wholesome entertainment. Do read this one. It does not even cost much –Rs95.
