A Book to Cool Us Down

The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It was hot, way too hot and I wanted some respite. There was no option of going out in the mountains and looking at snow-capped peaks. And then I started reading this book in which the central character is an area called Kalimpong in Lesser Himalayas ranges with a majestic view of Kanchanjunga. Too Misty, severally cold and quite inconvenient for those who live there during winters but I was feeling relaxed in snug sweater of words Kiran Desai weaves so dexterously and effortlessly. Her mother is also a master story teller and it seems she is carrying the legacy in a way. Often I wonder about a better way to lessen our carbon footprints , travelling without travelling. This book is a perfect vehicle to take you to the mountains from the sweatiness of your terribly hot bedroom without many traces of those footprints. Amid mountains, there is a grumpy grandfather too conscious about his position and too finicky about his anglicized manner: position has long back left him anyway; his innocent anglicized prematurely out of a boarding school granddaughter; a tutor aptly named Gyan and Biju who is an immigrant labourer in the US from this side of the world. But this landscape is not only covered with snow and mist and trees. Many a times blood spills over for asserting the rights over land. A hotch-potch of characters living their life, even dying in the background of statehood violence fanned by the disgruntled inhabitants. Though not everything is gloomy. A young tender love story is also growing like fresh tendrils of pumpkin leaves but only to wither away. Take this book if you feel you can do meditation amid the chaos and travelling is not an option because of the hurly burly of life. A postcolonial novel if you tell me to categorize. And profuse praise for Ms. Desai from Salman Rushdi reinforces my belief. And yes if not bothered too much by such mundane affairs like getting rid of heat, you may find much more to relish and ruminate over: multiculturism, past and present, loss and near absence of redemption!


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