I hail from the state of Kerala in India where people speak the language Malayalam. While all my schooling and college education was in English medium, the influence of native language on me was quite deep. Having said that, by the year 1997, I had started with my second year of Pre-degree, the equivalent of grade 10 + 2 today. While authors who wrote in Malayalam was a clear favourite, English authors were not that alien to me.
Incidentally, this was the
same year the world was surprised to see Arundhati Roy, an Indian born, Kerala
woman who authored an English novel, her first, and bagged the Booker Prize! For
someone who stayed away from English writers for most part, I had no clue what Booker
Prize was. So, I took an effort to find out how big a deal it was and was indeed
impressed with the author for the win.
Everyone seemed to talk about
the book, ‘The God of Small Things’. While it was a fact that Arundhati had her
roots in Kerala, what was even more appealing to me was that the story in her
novel happened at a place called Aymanam which was near my hometown, Changanacherry
in Kerala.
I was thrilled and really
wanted to get a copy of the novel. As luck would have it, I came across the
book in the library of one of my uncles. Since he was quite particular about
not letting people borrow his books, I had to attempt to read the book at his
place. Attempt I did, but after a couple of pages, the novel turned out to be a
tough nut to crack for me. I just could not understand the plot. It was the language
perhaps or my limited exposure to English novels during those times. I promptly
placed the book back in the library and walked away. The next time I was to
touch that novel and buy a copy was almost three decades later. Even then, I simply
added that to my collection, planning to read it one day.
Life moved on. Obama came to
power in US. He got re-elected as well. I was totally at awe by his speeches
and the videos showing his surprise visits to local eateries. Without Obama even
knowing it, he had a huge fan in me, and I started following anything related
to him. Close to a decade after Arundhati published her book, Obama’s book came
out, ‘The Audacity of Hope - Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream’. Blinded
with idol worship, I thought this was the autobiography by the man and decided
to buy a copy one day. 18 years after Obama published his book, I picked up a
copy from a local store in Dubai.
I was reading a Malayalam
book at that time. Soon after I finished with that, I picked up ‘The Audacity
of Hope’ in eager anticipation of knowing all about the man I admired. I was in
for a shock that the book was more of a Political Biography and had little to
do with being an autobiography. I persisted. Afterall, I was no longer the
young boy in 1997 to drop a book just like that. Patience is a virtue, or so I
thought. First page gave way to the second, with great difficulty though. Page three
seemed far away. Nevertheless, I pushed myself to reach page fifty somehow. By
the time I was experiencing the feeling of self-betrayal and finally decided to
give a break to Obama.
As I replaced Obama in my
library, my eyes got stuck at the name Arundhati Roy. ‘The God of Small Things’
looked at me and smiled. I obliged. It had been two days today, since I picked
up the book. I must say what a relief it was from traversing through American
history and political philosophy to enjoying the simple landscape of Aymanam, a
village in my dearest state of Kerala. Arundhati was beckoning me this time, with
an almost seducing clutches to revive my interest in reading! And I must say, she
was able to push Obama away that, ‘The Audacity of Hope’ seemed to have lost
all hope forever.
Everything has its own time.
When it is meant to happen, it will happen.
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