An Indian's Blog: India Was One, page 19
April 9, 2012
Book of the Day
Today’s Book of the Day is a highly rated Fiction novel by An Indian. India Was One has an impressive 4.3 star rating and is $4.95. It has been described as “a story about love; love of each other, love of parents, love of friends, and love of country. A beautifully, well written book…”
“I was captivated by this book. The author tells the compelling story of a man, the woman he marries and their friends, starting out in Mumbai. The author builds suspense in subtle ways, giving us vignettes of their lives in Mumbai and later in the US, making us care about the characters. India Was One is a unique book, one I highly recommend to anyone interested in love, friendship, loyalty and suffering, no matter what their culture.” Donna F. – Amazon Reviewer
http://ereadernewstoday.com/book-of-t...
“I was captivated by this book. The author tells the compelling story of a man, the woman he marries and their friends, starting out in Mumbai. The author builds suspense in subtle ways, giving us vignettes of their lives in Mumbai and later in the US, making us care about the characters. India Was One is a unique book, one I highly recommend to anyone interested in love, friendship, loyalty and suffering, no matter what their culture.” Donna F. – Amazon Reviewer
http://ereadernewstoday.com/book-of-t...
March 31, 2012
Extended book analysis
“India Was One” is the story of love in all its many varieties; between a man and a woman, within a family, for children, and for country. It is, essentially, a story of conviction told through the deep understanding of how love occurs and evolves. It is the day to day expression of how people live their lives finding love, enjoying their favorite foods, attending festivals, practicing their religion and planning for their futures.
But, behind this journey of love there is a subtle undercurrent, a second protagonist who is voiced through the fears and worry of the characters. She gives shape to the thoughts and dreams of every character in this story, and She is India.
Her voice is that of a country that wasn’t long ago ruled by the Raj, the arbitrator of life. Her voice is the voice of a country not long from British rule. Even as today she is a country steeped in the democratic process, she is still a country diving headfirst into the cold waters of independence and representative government.
In her voice we can still hear the echoes of an archaic caste system even as she struggles to provide a free and fair opportunity for all to decide their future. Even as, on the outside, there are doctors, engineers, and computer specialists, the voice of India is more complex. The voice is echoed throughout the story of “India Was One,” answering the questions of outsiders who wonder how to get to know the people of India.
This subtle second protagonist answers the questions of outsiders asking about food and culture while silently wondering what is happening in India that her children are leaving in such large numbers. Her voice is often heard behind the headlines of the business news proclaiming that India is poised to become an economic giant with a diverse and willing population. Even as companies from all over the world line up to take advantage of this workforce, the voice of India asks if the country is tearing itself apart.
This is the voice that makes “India Was One” a deeper and more thorough look into the culture and mores of a country that many Westerners do not understand. Behind the stories of the main characters, “India Was One” takes the reader on a journey of affirmation and heart break all at once. The novel takes your heart and soul on a journey through the geographic land that is India with its richly diverse culture and people while at the same time the second protagonist takes you on a subtle journey of diversity and questioning.
You can hear the voice of India as you read through the sounds of the city, the sounds of vehicle horns and blasting music, the sounds of people talking and shouting.
Asking the question of how India would survive if it were physically divided, the author seeks to discover how the lives of her people would continue. How would her children live, work and contribute to so many other countries? The author explores how a physical division might mirror the cultural divisions that are happening within India. What if India were divided by a wall or a fence?
While no one can completely understand a culture that is outside their own, this novel does open doors to a more comprehensive knowledge of why India is at a crossroads both politically and economically. But more importantly, there is a rich undercurrent of warmth and love from an author who clearly loves India.
The story is clearly a story of love and imparts the outsider with an understanding of a richly diverse culture. India Was One delivers this story with warmth and skill while that second protagonist asks the outsider to consider why India is at such an important economic, religious and political crossroads and come to some understanding of why “India Was One”.
Source: http://www.parentslbb.com/books/2012/...
India Was One
But, behind this journey of love there is a subtle undercurrent, a second protagonist who is voiced through the fears and worry of the characters. She gives shape to the thoughts and dreams of every character in this story, and She is India.
Her voice is that of a country that wasn’t long ago ruled by the Raj, the arbitrator of life. Her voice is the voice of a country not long from British rule. Even as today she is a country steeped in the democratic process, she is still a country diving headfirst into the cold waters of independence and representative government.
In her voice we can still hear the echoes of an archaic caste system even as she struggles to provide a free and fair opportunity for all to decide their future. Even as, on the outside, there are doctors, engineers, and computer specialists, the voice of India is more complex. The voice is echoed throughout the story of “India Was One,” answering the questions of outsiders who wonder how to get to know the people of India.
This subtle second protagonist answers the questions of outsiders asking about food and culture while silently wondering what is happening in India that her children are leaving in such large numbers. Her voice is often heard behind the headlines of the business news proclaiming that India is poised to become an economic giant with a diverse and willing population. Even as companies from all over the world line up to take advantage of this workforce, the voice of India asks if the country is tearing itself apart.
This is the voice that makes “India Was One” a deeper and more thorough look into the culture and mores of a country that many Westerners do not understand. Behind the stories of the main characters, “India Was One” takes the reader on a journey of affirmation and heart break all at once. The novel takes your heart and soul on a journey through the geographic land that is India with its richly diverse culture and people while at the same time the second protagonist takes you on a subtle journey of diversity and questioning.
You can hear the voice of India as you read through the sounds of the city, the sounds of vehicle horns and blasting music, the sounds of people talking and shouting.
Asking the question of how India would survive if it were physically divided, the author seeks to discover how the lives of her people would continue. How would her children live, work and contribute to so many other countries? The author explores how a physical division might mirror the cultural divisions that are happening within India. What if India were divided by a wall or a fence?
While no one can completely understand a culture that is outside their own, this novel does open doors to a more comprehensive knowledge of why India is at a crossroads both politically and economically. But more importantly, there is a rich undercurrent of warmth and love from an author who clearly loves India.
The story is clearly a story of love and imparts the outsider with an understanding of a richly diverse culture. India Was One delivers this story with warmth and skill while that second protagonist asks the outsider to consider why India is at such an important economic, religious and political crossroads and come to some understanding of why “India Was One”.
Source: http://www.parentslbb.com/books/2012/...
India Was One
March 18, 2012
4.5 Star Review
Originally posted this review on my blog: picosplace-pico.blogspot.com
Took me awhile to read through this book. That was not the fault of the author but more my schedule and the format in which I received it. It was easy to read and it has several big pluses going for it.
It resonated with me for one very important reason. I live in a country that has threatened and constantly threatens to split because of cultural differences. My wife and I originate from opposite sides of that potential split just like the couple in this book. Jai is from Southern India while his wife Kaahi is from Northern India. The book opens with the two of them seeing each other across the guarded and barb-wired border. The entire book swirls around this important issue. The lesson is aimed at a culturally diverse India but by extension is an important issue for everyone living on this fair planet of ours.
This book also puts a lot of effort into explaining Indian cultures and terms as it moves along. For those interested in modern India this novel is worth reading just for the valuable information contains. It is added to the narrative in a way that doesn't distract from the story being told and at the same time adds an element of interest that would otherwise be absent.
It is obvious enough that the author's first language is not English. Don't let that put you off. It is not badly written and the quirks of language may even add a certain charm. I honestly recommend the book for anyone.
India Was One
Took me awhile to read through this book. That was not the fault of the author but more my schedule and the format in which I received it. It was easy to read and it has several big pluses going for it.
It resonated with me for one very important reason. I live in a country that has threatened and constantly threatens to split because of cultural differences. My wife and I originate from opposite sides of that potential split just like the couple in this book. Jai is from Southern India while his wife Kaahi is from Northern India. The book opens with the two of them seeing each other across the guarded and barb-wired border. The entire book swirls around this important issue. The lesson is aimed at a culturally diverse India but by extension is an important issue for everyone living on this fair planet of ours.
This book also puts a lot of effort into explaining Indian cultures and terms as it moves along. For those interested in modern India this novel is worth reading just for the valuable information contains. It is added to the narrative in a way that doesn't distract from the story being told and at the same time adds an element of interest that would otherwise be absent.
It is obvious enough that the author's first language is not English. Don't let that put you off. It is not badly written and the quirks of language may even add a certain charm. I honestly recommend the book for anyone.
India Was One
March 15, 2012
4 Star review
India Was One is not an easy read. It is not a love story, a mystery/thriller an adventure, a travel book or anything that fits into a structured genre. But India Was One is all of those things and so much more.
Looking deeply into the culture and mores of a country that most Westerners don’t understand, it takes the reader on a journey that is at once heartbreaking and life affirming. This novel will take you to the heart and soul of both the geographic land that is India and the richly diverse culture that is its people.
While none of us can fully understand a people or a culture unless we are part of it, it does open the doors to more comprehensive knowledge of why India is at a crossroad politically and economically.
But this isn’t a history book or a travelogue, it is a story of people who love. Living their lives as all of us do. Working, laughing, joking and taking care of themselves and their families. As they celebrate festivals and buy homes you will see people who are living their lives much as we do. Falling in love as we do.
But there is an undercurrent in this rich and warmly penned story. What if India were divided physically? How would that change the lives of the people of India who live there and the lives of those who now live, work and contribute to so many other countries? Are the cultural divisions that are happening so radically in India akin to a physical division. What if there was a wall or a fence dividing India?
For those readers who want a love story and an understanding of a rich diverse culture India Was One will deliver that with warmth and skill. For those that want to understand why India is at such a cross-roads, why so many people are leaving India and emigrating to other countries you will find many of the answers here.
I am glad I read this novel. It increased my understanding and I enjoyed the story. I was disconcerted all the way through the novel by the italic words explaining every native East Indian term used. It took away from the flow of the novel and if the author really felt it was needed a list could have been added to the end of the novel. Most of the words used are not so difficult to figure out in context and for most readers they are not unfamiliar. Other than that and a few editing errors, it was well written. It does use British English so those readers not familiar with usage and spelling will find some differences but they are minor.
It is high on my recommend list.
India Was One
Looking deeply into the culture and mores of a country that most Westerners don’t understand, it takes the reader on a journey that is at once heartbreaking and life affirming. This novel will take you to the heart and soul of both the geographic land that is India and the richly diverse culture that is its people.
While none of us can fully understand a people or a culture unless we are part of it, it does open the doors to more comprehensive knowledge of why India is at a crossroad politically and economically.
But this isn’t a history book or a travelogue, it is a story of people who love. Living their lives as all of us do. Working, laughing, joking and taking care of themselves and their families. As they celebrate festivals and buy homes you will see people who are living their lives much as we do. Falling in love as we do.
But there is an undercurrent in this rich and warmly penned story. What if India were divided physically? How would that change the lives of the people of India who live there and the lives of those who now live, work and contribute to so many other countries? Are the cultural divisions that are happening so radically in India akin to a physical division. What if there was a wall or a fence dividing India?
For those readers who want a love story and an understanding of a rich diverse culture India Was One will deliver that with warmth and skill. For those that want to understand why India is at such a cross-roads, why so many people are leaving India and emigrating to other countries you will find many of the answers here.
I am glad I read this novel. It increased my understanding and I enjoyed the story. I was disconcerted all the way through the novel by the italic words explaining every native East Indian term used. It took away from the flow of the novel and if the author really felt it was needed a list could have been added to the end of the novel. Most of the words used are not so difficult to figure out in context and for most readers they are not unfamiliar. Other than that and a few editing errors, it was well written. It does use British English so those readers not familiar with usage and spelling will find some differences but they are minor.
It is high on my recommend list.
India Was One
March 2, 2012
4 Star review on Amazon
I would advise anyone that may pigeonhole this book as being of interest only to people familiar with India to buy it and read it. This story will resonate with anyone on earth who has been through the trials of falling in love and suffering through circumstances beyond their control. The author used this common human crisis to paint a vivid picture of India and it's culture, I actually believe that people who are totally unknowledgeable about the country will get the most enjoyment from this journey. We are all humans, sometimes we love, sometimes we lose, no matter where it is you call home. I'm pleased to have stumbled onto this very worthwhile book, it needs to get in the hands of more people.
India Was One
India Was One
February 17, 2012
Review in India Post
BOOK REVIEW:
Divided we fall…
SRIREKHA CHAKRAVARTY
Almost a decade ago, as a newly-minted Community Reporter in New York City, I was on my first assignment to cover an event organized by a reputed community organization. Of the 200-odd members of the audience – mostly middle-aged and older men – many had been settled in the US for over 25 years and were naturalized Americans. Whatever the event, I was shocked and strangely embarrassed when at the end of the program, they arose in unison to shout: ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’. Privately, many of them were severely critical and even condescending of everything about India, but standing collectively, they almost by default were proud persons of Indian origin.
Thinking about it even today, I think the oft-repeated cliché is the most apt to describe this tendency of Indians, that you can take an Indian out of India but not India out of an Indian.
Reading through this new book ‘India Was One (Ek Tha Bharat)’, sent to me by the author who chooses to remain anonymous – preferring to call himself “an Indian” – that’s what I was reminded of, for here is a writer, no literary genius by any measure, but one that oozes sentiment and emotion for a country that he left a long time ago, but still calls home.
For most part, the book reads like a guide book for non-Indian beginners in India and fresh-off-the-boat Indians in America. Although well intentioned, you do wonder who the author’s targeted audience is.
Nevertheless, ‘India Was One’ seems to come from an immense yearning for the relatively simpler society of his youth and frustration over the deep politically-driven fissures in today’s India that the author fears might one day result in yet another Partition.
So, it would seem that the writer found a simple story based loosely on personal experiences – down to his obsession for cricket – to weave around the idea of a possible north-south division of India.
The story begins in a college canteen in Mumbai where boy meets girl, they fall in love, friends support, parents approve, they marry, move to the US and – with impossibly uncomplicated ease – are settling in towards a ‘happily ever after’ life, when they hear (on CNN) to their shock and dismay that India is divided. Fearing for the safety of their respective families back home, they decide to go back, only, they can’t go back together to the same city, because now the hero who is a “South Indian” has to go to one India and his wife who is a “North Indian” has to go to the other India.
The writer here lets his imagination run loose as to the possible scenarios of a horizontally divided India where in the absence of any “government” the army takes over.
While one wouldn’t bother with self-published books such as this one, I must admit I was touched by the utterly simplistic narrative – both in style and content. It comes straight from the heart and the message is not camouflaged in a verbal cloak.
The book reflects the innate emotions of every Indian who has left India to settle abroad – that sense of longing for their families, friends and all things mundane that was part of the everyday life in India; a sense of distance which keeps them from reaching out in time in times of trouble; and a sense of fear in the knowledge of the socio-political and geographical threats the country faces from within and in its immediate neighborhood spurred perhaps by a guilt that they may have abandoned their country when it needed them the most.
Suffice it to say that the book ends with a quintessential Bollywood-style twist while I leave you to spare a thought on the potential havoc that parochial and narrow self-serving agendas can wreak on the fragile multi-religious, multi-lingual, multi-caste and multi-regional India.
Meanwhile, here are some questions from me that the author has taken the time to answer:
Q. Why have you chosen to be anonymous as the author?
I really think that labeling my name as a Hindu, a Muslim, etc. would have pre-conceived notions in the reader’s mind. It is more important to me that it was written by ‘An Indian.’
Q. What is the message that you are trying to convey through the story?
The underlying message is that although we are coming from different states, with different languages and religion, we are all Indians. We all love India…in our own way.
Q. Does the idea of another partition come from a deep rooted fear, perhaps, in the context of contemporary Indian milieu?
No, not a fear but a gentle reminder. To show what can happen if things go out of hand.
{India Was One, available on Amazon.com $16.95 and in other e-book formats}
Divided we fall…
SRIREKHA CHAKRAVARTY
Almost a decade ago, as a newly-minted Community Reporter in New York City, I was on my first assignment to cover an event organized by a reputed community organization. Of the 200-odd members of the audience – mostly middle-aged and older men – many had been settled in the US for over 25 years and were naturalized Americans. Whatever the event, I was shocked and strangely embarrassed when at the end of the program, they arose in unison to shout: ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’. Privately, many of them were severely critical and even condescending of everything about India, but standing collectively, they almost by default were proud persons of Indian origin.
Thinking about it even today, I think the oft-repeated cliché is the most apt to describe this tendency of Indians, that you can take an Indian out of India but not India out of an Indian.
Reading through this new book ‘India Was One (Ek Tha Bharat)’, sent to me by the author who chooses to remain anonymous – preferring to call himself “an Indian” – that’s what I was reminded of, for here is a writer, no literary genius by any measure, but one that oozes sentiment and emotion for a country that he left a long time ago, but still calls home.
For most part, the book reads like a guide book for non-Indian beginners in India and fresh-off-the-boat Indians in America. Although well intentioned, you do wonder who the author’s targeted audience is.
Nevertheless, ‘India Was One’ seems to come from an immense yearning for the relatively simpler society of his youth and frustration over the deep politically-driven fissures in today’s India that the author fears might one day result in yet another Partition.
So, it would seem that the writer found a simple story based loosely on personal experiences – down to his obsession for cricket – to weave around the idea of a possible north-south division of India.
The story begins in a college canteen in Mumbai where boy meets girl, they fall in love, friends support, parents approve, they marry, move to the US and – with impossibly uncomplicated ease – are settling in towards a ‘happily ever after’ life, when they hear (on CNN) to their shock and dismay that India is divided. Fearing for the safety of their respective families back home, they decide to go back, only, they can’t go back together to the same city, because now the hero who is a “South Indian” has to go to one India and his wife who is a “North Indian” has to go to the other India.
The writer here lets his imagination run loose as to the possible scenarios of a horizontally divided India where in the absence of any “government” the army takes over.
While one wouldn’t bother with self-published books such as this one, I must admit I was touched by the utterly simplistic narrative – both in style and content. It comes straight from the heart and the message is not camouflaged in a verbal cloak.
The book reflects the innate emotions of every Indian who has left India to settle abroad – that sense of longing for their families, friends and all things mundane that was part of the everyday life in India; a sense of distance which keeps them from reaching out in time in times of trouble; and a sense of fear in the knowledge of the socio-political and geographical threats the country faces from within and in its immediate neighborhood spurred perhaps by a guilt that they may have abandoned their country when it needed them the most.
Suffice it to say that the book ends with a quintessential Bollywood-style twist while I leave you to spare a thought on the potential havoc that parochial and narrow self-serving agendas can wreak on the fragile multi-religious, multi-lingual, multi-caste and multi-regional India.
Meanwhile, here are some questions from me that the author has taken the time to answer:
Q. Why have you chosen to be anonymous as the author?
I really think that labeling my name as a Hindu, a Muslim, etc. would have pre-conceived notions in the reader’s mind. It is more important to me that it was written by ‘An Indian.’
Q. What is the message that you are trying to convey through the story?
The underlying message is that although we are coming from different states, with different languages and religion, we are all Indians. We all love India…in our own way.
Q. Does the idea of another partition come from a deep rooted fear, perhaps, in the context of contemporary Indian milieu?
No, not a fear but a gentle reminder. To show what can happen if things go out of hand.
{India Was One, available on Amazon.com $16.95 and in other e-book formats}
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