Mira Nair's 'The Namesake'

This is a book, written by Pulitzer-Prize winning Jhumpa Lahiri, that I must say is the most perfect one I've read in a few years. I highly recommend it to ANYONE who likes cross-cultural themes, or precise, concise writing, or are trying to balance two cultures, or just basically like a good story.

The Namesake refers to Gogol, an Indian-American born to migrant Bengali parents in the US. The novel spans his life from the time he's born to when he comes full circle with his own identity - something he seems to be searching for in most of the novel, with an elegant and exquisite pain that many other authors tackling the same issue fail to capture.

While the story unfolds with a sure calmness as a result of Lahiri's confident voice and writing, her characters are complex and endearing and will stay with you. While Gogol is the protagonist, it is Ashima, his mother, that many readers feel both passionate and compassionate about. As a first generation migrant to a Western country at a time where all Indians were equated with vegetarianism and weird-looking Hare Krishnas, Ashima's silent isolation from everything familiar is captured quietly but effectively. ( Personally, it resonates Mrs Sen, one of Lahiri's short stories from her The Interpreter of Maladies. )

The movie 'The Namesake' is being filmed as we speak, directed by Mira Nair ( who overnight became one of my favourite directors after I saw Monsoon Wedding, a movie that left me breathless ). Tabu, a well of talent from Indian cinema, plays Ashima, while Kal Penn of Harold and Kumar and Dude Where's the Party fame plays Gogol. Of the latter choice, I cannot complain, I can almost visualise Kal's 'lost and confused' look which is the essence of Gogol ( I had my reservations about Abhishek Bachchan, a mainstream Bollywood actor just coming into his own, who was the first choice ). But despite my ardent admiration for Tabu, I somehow feel Rani Mukerji, the current Bollywood top actress who was also first choice for Ashima, would've looked the part more - my take on Ashima is a blend of confusion, strength and fragility, and being a Bollywood fanatic, I can safely say I can picture Rani doing perfect justice to the role.

That said, I have faith that Mira Nair 'gets' The Namesake very well ( http://in.rediff.com/movies/2005/may/23namesake.htm , http://in.movies.yahoo.com/050522/43/5ymue.html , http://nowrunning.com/news/news.asp?id=3411 ) and I'll wait with an open mind ( and bated breath! ) for the release of this movie.

By the way - Kal Penn is also writing a blog on the making of this movie. He's alternately funny ( in a Zach Braff in Garden State sort of way ) and passionate - and young. Take a peek - http://thenamesake.typepad.com/blog/

Comments welcome!

Hail Brisbane!

It's May, and it's been too long. Life has taken on the appearance of an ice-cream with swirls of opaque unrecognisable stuff, obscuring the view of the actual ice-cream and its suggestion of sweetness.

For those not in the know - Brisbane, where I live, is famous for its tropical sunshine and odd houses called Queenslanders. Yet, in testament to global weather phenomena, we were privy to one of the most freakish weather episodes in the past 10 years.

It started about 5.30pm on Thursday, May 19, while I was still at work dealing with information that my beloved library might be closing down ( I'll elaborate in a later post ). My boyfriend in a recently uncharacteristic show of spontaneity and emotion had surprised me by dropping by the library. It was such an out of context image that for a second I didn't recognise him when he first walked in.

I introduced him to Ryan, one of my colleagues, and Ryan spoke of a thunderstorm warning near Indooroopilly ( we live in neighbouring St Lucia ) and Ram said he saw green clouds on his way over, which is always a sign of hail. This was our first sign of the freakish night to come.

As I was closing up, Ram, who'd had a call from his mother (Mami )at home, rushed back into the library and urgently said we had to hurry, since the hail had hit the entire Toowong/St Lucia area. Moreover, it had broken our roof, and both hail and rainwater was gushing into our living room from the air-conditioning vent.

Just as we were about to leave, the storm broke upon us, forcing us to rush back into the building. Calls to our realestate agent to report the damage did little since their office itself was flooded as well! Calls to the SES ( State Emergency Services ) also gave us little hope since priority was to people reporting houses with roofs ripped off, etc.

So we called Mami back and told her to switch off all electrical appliances, and to wear slippers so as not to get electrocuted.

Then we waited.

When the rain finally calmed down, we drove back...and the closer we got to Toowong, the more my jaw dropped. At first I saw just patches of ice on the road, which I was fine with. But as we neared St Lucia, all I could keep saying was "Ram! Look at this! Ram! Look at that!" for there were just blankets and blankets of ice on the sidewalks, covered by the green latticework of fallen leaves and branches. The further we went in, the thicker it got. Suddenly Brisbane looked like an European country in the middle of winter, with its first snowfall. I kid you not.

Ram had to slow the car down since the sleet was unbelievable. We had a tough time parking it in the garage...our driveway was almost iced-under. It took us awhile to get to our apartment, what with me running almost headlong into the ice in my enthusiasm to check it out, and meeting several neighbours in the building who had come out to greet us ( faces we had NEVER seen before, but had been living next to...that's urban culture for you ) who'd had similar problems ( one guy nodded knowingly when I mentioned my boyfriend's mum was alone at home...he went "yeah, I know, I said hi to her earlier", leaving me absolutely stumped ).

When we finally got home, I was a little relieved that the damage wasn't as bad as Ram and I had feared. The carpet was absolutely soaking, but otherwise everything else seemed okay. That settled, we took Mami out to show the ice ( after marvelling at the ice on our very own balcony...even the sofa! )...and we even took the camera, to take pictures in the ice, albeit amidst much slipping and skidding. We weren't alone...a neighbour couple also came outside with us, gushing at how similar to snow it looked like. In fact, scores of people in the entire area were outside, taking pictures and playing with the ice. Cars passed by with their fog lights on, since the mist from the ice was heavy enough to obscure normal vision, and mist came out of our mouths as we spoke. The ice was about a foot deep, seriously. I was expecting a scattering of ice pieces. No, this was true, thick, deep, WHITE, COLD, snow material.

We wanted to take the car and go for a drive...vain thoughts. The car refused to barely move with all the huge amounts of ice underneath...and despite efforts by Ram and myself to push the ice aside with our feet ( I had to pour boiling hot water on my toes afterwards! ), it was still too thick for the car to move in, and so we had to repark it in the garage....which took another whole episode of ice-moving-with-inappropriate-shoe-laden-feet.

All this has very much brought home to me, the reality of haphazard weather patterns due to overall global weather change. Whether this is due to unwise use of our natural resources, or more astronomy and space-related phenomena, I've realised this erratic weather behaviour is no longer stuff of Hollywood movies. It's real, and its affecting my backyard. Its time something gets done.