BOOKWORM
AGAINST ALL ODDS
Here to Stay by Gitika Rudra, Rutgers University Press. Today, South Asians are a rapidly growing demographic in the United States, comprising nearly two per cent of the population. But there was a time in the not-too-distant past when the US was far less hospitable to South Asian immigrants.
Have you heard of Akhoy Kumar Mozumdar? Or Bhagat Singh Thind? You are likely not the only one who hasn’t. These men, and many others who made a place for themselves in the US in the first half of the twentieth century remain largely unknown footnotes in American history.
Gitika Rudra, a second-generation Indian immigrant and American history buff, takes readers on a journey across the US to unearth little-known histories of South Asian Americans. She shows how they made a home for themselves in America, despite racist laws that only granted citizenship to European immigrants until 1952.
She writes about a history book that she was assigned in grade 7, A History of US – a pun that was not lost on her. “The history of your country is your history. The history of the United States was supposed to be my history. Except, it wasn’t.”
Later, as a student of history and American studies at university, she was still unaware that this history existed.
Her research reveals that when people like Mozumdar or Thind arrived in the US, “they were not classified by their country of origin, like the Chinese or Japanese. They were not called Indians or British subjects. They were called Hindoos by Americans.” When many of them were in fact, not Hindu.
She also introduces readers to Mozumdar who, in a bizarre but landmark case, was successful in proving in 1913 that he, as brown as we come, was, in fact, white and therefore eligible for American citizenship.
And to Thind, an immigrant who had enlisted in the US Army to serve his adopted country in World War I, but who was later denied citizenship and took his case all the way to the Supreme Court.
Then there was Taraknath Das, who founded the Hindustan Association of America and published a newsletter, the Hindustanee Student, with tips for international students.
And the Stanford professor Har Dayal who founded the Ghadar Party with the vision to overthrow the British in India.
There are priceless images from newspapers of the day, including ones of Mozumdar and Thind, as well as of Kala Bagai, whose nose diamond caused much interest in the fashion circles.
“Studying history is almost like reviewing a photo negative of what actually happened. People tend to record what happened and not necessarily what didn’t happen.”
And sometimes, our stories lie between the lines.
Fun fact: The much-used expression “the melting pot” comes from Israel Zangwill’s play of the same name.
AN ENIGMA CALLED ELIZABETH
Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes, Alfred A Knopf, $26. Elizabeth Finch is the educator we dream of being blessed with. “I am not employed to help you,” replied Elizabeth Finch, firmly and yet not rebukingly. “I am here to assist you to think and argue and develop minds of your own.”
She teaches a course on Culture and Civilisation and tells her students that history is “not something inert and comatose, lying there and waiting for us to apply a spyglass or telescope to it; instead, it is active, effervescent, at times volcanic”.
She decants her cigarettes into a tortoiseshell case and “naturally”, she suffers migraines.
Was she single? Was she Jewish? As her students try to figure her out, she refuses to be labelled. “You are trying to stick labels on me. I am not a steamer trunk.”
And describes herself thus: Of course, my kind of woman is out of fashion. Not that I have ever sought fashionability, or indeed ever had it. Sustainability is more what I sought.
It is something she achieves, retaining her place in the lives and memories of her students decades after they’ve moved on to other things.
Neil, one of the students who idolized her and is considering working on her biography wonders, And what category did my love for EF fall into? Well, I’d say it was Romantic-Stoic, which was appropriate.
But how well did he really know her? What about her “other side”?
Imagine a whole book – a slim volume for sure, but nevertheless an entire book – devoted to the description of a single woman and you might wonder what is he going on about. But the smart, surprising, and keenly attuned to the times Barnes – the Booker Prize award-winning author of The Sense of an Ending – presents an engrossing narrative that turns on the death of a vivid and particular woman, and becomes the occasion for a man’s deeper examination of love, friendship and the mysteries of biography.
WOMEN OF LETTERS
Letters to Singapore by Kelly Kaur, Stonehouse Publishing, $22. Simran escapes the future her family has all planned out for her to come to Canada as an international student in Calgary.
Letters exchanged between her and her mother, sister and friends in Singapore reveal that no matter which path women take, traditional or independent, life gets in the way of the best-laid plans.
The letters drive the story forward as the women share intimate details of both the mundane events and the dramatic turns in their lives.
Simran’s mother writes that her father, who had come to drop her off at university, described Calgary as quiet, no-action, dead place.
“Good. Better that way. Like that, it can be safe and sound for you,” she decrees.
Her friend Anita doesn’t quite get why Simran had to go cold, distant Calgary.
“Me, I love Singapore. Nice. Safe. Secure. Hot. Perfect.”
Simran tells her mother that having spent her teenage years looking over her shoulder to make sure her father was not following her as he had threatened to cut off both the legs of any boy he spotted her with, she continued to do so in Calgary.
She learns new things every day.
That prized sweaters shrink in the dryer, a contraption she had never had to use in sunny Singapore.
And that Canadians have pork chops with applesauce and not ketchup like she did back home.
She tells her sister Amrit that she is alone at the university residence over the Christmas break and that she is terrified, asking her not to tell their mother this.
As Anita’s husband gets abusive, she turns to Simran for solace and advice. Amrit, too, is facing issues in her marriage. And Simran’s friend Amy, in her romantic relationships.
Full of the love between family and friends, and packed with advice, insights, and recipes, the book that celebrates a sisterhood also tracks Simran’s growth from a frightened newcomer to someone who misses Calgary when she’s back in Singapore on a visit.
Someone who doesn’t let an unfriendly immigration officer faze her.
Odd, right? Belonging to and missing two places at the same time. Here and missing there. There and missing here.
A CONSPIRACY OF RAVENS
Kismet by Amina Akhtar, Thomas & Mercer, $24.95. The darkly funny thriller about the weirdness and wackiness of health and wellness “gurus” also has bodies of victims of gruesome murders strewn about the gorgeous red rocks of Sedona.
Ronnie Khan is a New Yorker of Pakistani descent, described as an “Amrikan” by her aunt.
Ronnie was just another desi with an identity crisis. She was Amrikan now. Any instance of her having a backbone was dismissed with that insult.
She escapes the abuse her aunt subjects her to by moving to Sedona with a new-found friend Marley. However, this new lifestyle of hiking, meditation, crystals and organic smoothies is hampered by the presence of Marley’s new friend.
And then there are the bodies.
Ronnie always thought that if she found a dead body, she’d scream. Or faint. Or something. But she didn’t say a word. She couldn’t. She opened her mouth and nothing came out.
Ravens figure so prominently in the narrative, narrating their own chapters, communicating with Ronnie, watching, always watching, the book could well have been called A Conspiracy of Ravens.
Fun fact: Unless I missed it, the word Kismet doesn’t actually show up in the book, though karma makes an appearance a few times. Both are often used interchangeably, but mean two different things entirely.
Amina Akhtar weaves a wickedly smart tale. That she refers to a female servant as nokari (and not naukarani), doesn’t get in the way of trying to decipher the clues and sidestep the red herrings. Resist the temptation to skip to the last page, the revelation is well worth the tension!
GREENS ON THE GO!
Plants on the Move by Emilie Vast, Charlesbridge, $22.99. Feathery dandelion seeds fly to other gardens. Strawberry tendrils creep. Maple seeds spin. A unique look at ways plants move and grow by falling, clinging, floating, burrowing, even exploding! And getting eaten.
TEEN REVIEW
By ZAHRAH KHURRAM
The Catcher in The Rye by J.D. Sallinger, Little, Brown and Company, $22.49. This book is considered a classic and is referenced in pop culture. I wanted to read it to see if the admiration was justified and was thrilled to see it at Brampton Library!
The poetic writing style and realistic pacing was interesting. It emulates the way a teenager would think: choppy, sparse, with an edge of angst to it. Although this book was written in the ’50s it has the eternal essence of the “teenage identity crisis” that even I can relate to.
It follows Holden Caulfield after his expulsion from his prestigious high school. As he explores the world on his own for the first time, it sheds light on his mental state. It’s a fascinating commentary on how appealing the quick and easy pleasures of life are when you’re down: alcoholism, clubbing, smoking excessively, and hooking up. Although he claims he is over his brother’s death, his melancholic view of life since the tragedy is evident. Pain and grief keep him unable to forget his troubles. It’s a look at depression through the eyes of a young person in a society that urges boys to repress their feelings and be strong. Discovering if he gets out of this bad place is another reason to pick up this book.
The Catcher in the Rye is a wonderful read for anyone looking for teen fiction that strikes a chord. A timeless work .
• Zahrah Khurram is a youth volunteer at Brampton Library.