Book Box | The Reading India Project
A book club sets aside bestseller lists, to discover India, one book at a time
Dear Reader,
On Independence Day, we wake up in Shrivardhan, a small village in coastal Maharashtra. The day is spent driving down NH-66 with stunning hillscapes on either side and then through winding coastal roads, carrying with us, one dark chocolate birthday cake, bags full of books and other odds and ends.
It is evening when we reach Palshet. We climb up to a house on the hill that overlooks the beach and unpack our books. My husband is reading Growth: A Reckoning by future work guru Daniel Susskind, and our middle daughter has The Black Orphan by S Hussain Zaidi. As for the youngest, she has a whole bag of gift-wrapped murder mystery books waiting for her – for tomorrow is her birthday and this road trip is the celebration she wanted.
I am reading Despite the State by journalist M.Rajshekhar. “Reporters need to belong to the times they live in”, he says, as he spends 33 months reporting from Mizoram, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Punjab, Bihar and Odisha. It is an Indian story we each need to read. Like these stories on India’s marginlands.
It is a good question to ask ourselves this Independence Day weekend --- how do you read India?
My answer to this question arrives in a mystery package. Opening the parcel, four books tumble out — all set in Assam.
“I’m guessing these are from you — sooo many books, thank you, thank you”, I text Dr P, my Assamese book buddy.
For weeks afterwards, I am lost in the tea gardens and plantations of Assam in Then Came The River, moving along the Brahmaputra in Next Door in short stories by Jahnavi Barua and back in time to the Chinese Indians in Assam in Chinatown Days.
As I read, I am reminded of something many readers in my book clubs have been talking about — how much our reading list is swayed by western booklists — The New York Times lists, the Obama and Oprah best book lists, that the media throws our way.
“Can’t we read more regional translations; more books set in the different states? ” they say.
And so, the India Reading Project is born. We decide against reading the brilliantly beguiling institution-of-marriage-analysing Wellness by Nathan Hill. We resist reading Butter, the feminist Japanese murder mystery sensation. At least for now.
Instead, we embark on Step 1 of our Reading India Project.
We create a shared Google document database of books set in different states. This first step is revealing. We realise how little we know of regional literature. Within states, we have an imbalance in our book awareness — states like Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Mizoram and Manipur don’t feature in books we know about.
The next step is to start reading. From Tami Nadu, we pick Poonaachi. A simply- told earthy story of a young goat growing up, this subtle yet searing indictment of the state shows how hard life is for a female kid. How can a novella about a goat say so much about an entire country? This is the brilliance of Perumal Murugan, whom we read in translation — from One Part Woman to Pyre to Fire Bird — each one of his books is a marvel and much recommended.
From Haryana, we read Black River, a gritty crime novel set on the outskirts of Delhi, that brings you to life in a Haryanvi village. From Karnataka, we read a gem of a novella by the talented Vivek Shanbhag, in Sakina’s Kiss, we see how history haunts us, in the story of a young girl and her family, who bear the weight of happenings that go back to the Naxalite movement.
The Naxalite movement moves northwards to West Bengal in There’s Gunpowder in the Room, a heartrending novella set in prison, written by the firebrand Manoranjan Byapari. And then back to Kerala, to KR Meera in Hangwoman. This is grim stuff, for here is the writer-as-social-reformer – these are the Munshi Premchands of our time. These are books that we, the citizens of India, need to read, in the same way that we unfurl our flag and stand up for the national anthem.
What about your dear Reader? What are your favourite regional reads? Do write in with recommendations. On another note, in keeping with this festival week, there are book gifts for your brother or sister, and books on brothers and sister relationships for Rakhi day this Monday.
And until next week, happy reading!
Sonya Dutta Choudhury is a Mumbai-based journalist and the founder of Sonya’s Book Box, a bespoke book service. Each week, she brings you specially curated books to give you an immersive understanding of people and places. If you have any reading recommendations or suggestions, write to her at sonyasbookbox@gmail.com
The views expressed are personal
Books referred to in this edition of Book Box
Growth: A Reckoning by Daniel Susskind
The Black Orphan by S Hussain Zaidi
Despite the State by M Rajshekhar
Then Came The River by Devapriya Guha
Next Door by Jahnavi Barua
Chinatown Days by Rita Chowdhury
Wellness by Nathan Hill
Butter by Asako Yuzuki
Poonachi by Perumal Murugan
One Part Woman by Perumal Murugan
Pyre by Perumal Murugan
Fire Bird by Perumal Murugan
Black River by Nilanjana Roy
Sakina’s Kiss by Vivek Shanbhag
There’s Gunpowder in the Room by Manoj Byapari.
The Hangwoman by K.R Meera
