I finally completed Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie and I am a bit disturbed. Nothing unusual since a book that touches me deeply releases these sentiments in me. I remember for over a year some of my friends had been insisting that I must read Salman Rushdie. He has been so much in the limelight at all times given the controversies that his books have been subjected to, I never really wanted to read them. I assumed he would be yet another sarcastic authtor who would cast his creativity to showcase what is so wrong with India.
Sometimes I listen to my friends and then am glad to have done that. The book from the Introductory note by Rushdie was an amazing experience. I am an avid reader of fiction but have never read writing that is so mesmerizing (ignore Garcia to prove a point here). Before I knew I was picking out sentences from the book and using it on my blog. As I leafed through the pages I would hope this book lasts rather long. It did since I was reading it extremely slowly.
Saleem Sinai and his interpretation of everything around him just leaves you with an awe for the writer who has managed to make sense of the most inane things in life. A boy born on the Independance Day of India and Pakistan and how all the kids born around the midnight hour had there lives entwined. It just took me to my childhood and how I would imagine myself to be somebody of far greater importance to the world than I have shaped up to be. It always seemed like I was meant for bigger things and as I grew older those bigger things became career decisions and choice of a partner. The obvious became a parameter of accomplishment.
As the Saleem Sinai moved from childhood to teenage and to adulthood, the changes in his life follow the pattern of excitement, sadness, pain and anguish like the newly formed country had been facing. Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister and anarchy during emergency and the vasectomy drive and how it led to so much turmoil seem so easy to comprehend when he narrates its impact on himself.
The character that intrigued me the most was brass Monkey alias Jamila Singer for her dejection towards people who cared for her. It has been a great read and a recommended read for everyone.
The book helps you face alot of realities head on without the blink of an eye lid. I have just started reading another book, "Afterwards". Seems interesting so far....
1 comment:
Very nicely written post...have tried reading Rushdie before but couldn't read him...your post makes me want to pick up his book again.
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