India is a country that is very intriguing to me, and I would love to visit it someday. Until then, reading books about India will have to suffice so I thought I'd do a little round up here.
I read Behind the Beautiful Forevers, in it's entirety, on a train trip to and from Chicago. It was very good, and very heartbreaking.
In this brilliant, breathtaking book by Pulitzer Prize winner Katherine Boo, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human through the dramatic story of families striving toward a better life in Annawadi, a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport. As India starts to prosper, the residents of Annawadi are electric with hope. Abdul, an enterprising teenager, sees “a fortune beyond counting” in the recyclable garbage that richer people throw away. Meanwhile Asha, a woman of formidable ambition, has identified a shadier route to the middle class. With a little luck, her beautiful daughter, Annawadi’s “most-everything girl,” might become its first female college graduate. And even the poorest children, like the young thief Kalu, feel themselves inching closer to their dreams. But then Abdul is falsely accused in a shocking tragedy; terror and global recession rock the city; and suppressed tensions over religion, caste, sex, power, and economic envy turn brutal. With intelligence, humor, and deep insight into what connects people to one another in an era of tumultuous change, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, based on years of uncompromising reporting, carries the reader headlong into one of the twenty-first century’s hidden worlds—and into the hearts of families impossible to forget.
I read Lion by Saroo Brierley, as well as watched the movie. Both were very enjoyable. It is very common in India for young children to be "left to their own devices" while their parents work or else are forced to work at a young age themselves to help support their families. While helping his brother one day, 5 year old Saroo falls asleep on a train and finds himself lost. As much as he tries, he cannot find his way home. After surviving the rough streets, he is lucky enough to get adopted by an Australian family. As an adult, he spent countless hours on Google Earth to find his village and eventually reunites with his Mother and family. As a Mother, I cannot imagine losing a child and "not knowing" what happened. And how scary it must have been for Saroo to have gotten lost.
I really enjoyed This Is How I Save My Life. I related to Amy because she is a Virgo like me, and it's hard for us to step out of our comfort zones, we agonize over decisions, and rack our brains about the what ifs. After the long road of being diagnosed with Lyme disease, Amy has already been to dozens of doctors and has tried countless medications and treatments. She eventually decides to try an experimental stem cell treatment only offered in India. Upon completion, she feels better and can actually have a functional life. But she begins to wonder if she owes her recovery to the treatment itself or the new mindset she has after being forced to life a completely different lifestyle during her stay there. Very inspirational, and it makes me question the health care system.
It has been a while since I read and watched Eat, Pray, Love, but India was one of the three countries Elizabeth Gilbert spent her year sabbatical. Again, being a Virgo I am in admiration of Elizabeth's brave journey and choices!
In her early thirties, Elizabeth Gilbert had everything a modern American woman was supposed to want—husband, country home, successful career—but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she was consumed by panic and confusion. This wise and rapturous book is the story of how she left behind all these outward marks of success, and set out to explore three different aspects of her nature, against the backdrop of three different cultures: pleasure in Italy, devotion in India, and on the Indonesian island of Bali, a balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence.
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