Have you heard the Bihari pop song "Aara Hile, Chapra Hile, Devariya Hile (everything wiggles and jiggles)"? Tomb of Sand is every bit as homespun and rustic as this song. Author Geetanjali Shree immerses you in India, with her International Booker Prize winning effort. She’s in no rush and if you've decided to pick up this book; then you mustn't rush either. Because you may just miss the various literary joys hidden in the book.
There is a reference to how women “flee one type of surveillance, to fall under the eye of another”, a sharp reference to transiting from daughters to wives. A special mention must be made of pages 129 to 131 where the
The book is a laugh riot. One would imagine that a highly decorated book like this must be terribly serious. But Geetanjali Shree is out there to tickle you; plain and simple. The character of Serious Son (who later becomes Overseas Son) for instance is appalled that ‘when he says Ustad Amir Khan, then everyone thinks about Aamir Khan from QSQT!’ And how his colleagues miss the Guest of Honour speech but show up in time for cocktails or when the secretary brings ‘Gujarati pizza with sugar sprinkles’. Aren't we all guilty of this?
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The focus of the plot is of course on the matriarch protagonist Maa; who won’t look out, even though everyone opens the window for her! She also takes on the curious role of a ‘wishing tree’ and then suddenly disappears one day. That’s as much as I will reveal about the plot. Interlaced between all the humour is deep wisdom. And like petals showered on a deity; they are there for those who see them. Here are five wonderful tracks from the book.
1. The author talks about several languages of the world that are fast disappearing and a reluctant admission that ‘what is gone is gone.’ However, she warns,‘if you spend too much time on Google you may be gone too’!
2. In several large families, the chores done by the young daughters-in-law of the household, by and large go unacknowledged and unappreciated. A meandering sequence of thoughts, laced with ample humour, establishes this subtly. And then comes the clincher; ‘just as no one knows what's going on in Delhi, no one knows what is going on in a family.”
3. A question for all menstruating beings, ‘these joys of the body, they throw you off balance. Is a heavy flow more fun, or a light one?’ Lets talk about this!
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4. There is a cheeky reference to the failure of Muhammad Bin Tughlaq whose ideas were ahead of his time and the success of Mahatma Gandhi, whose ideas were right on time. Ok!
The book mirrors life itself in saying that ‘every single topic is endless and no topic is ever complete.’ Phrases like ‘colonial amnesia’ and the playful question ‘is our Imran Khan better or your Kapil Dev,’ remind you of the longevity of Maa’s journey, her loneliness and her search to reconcile with her own past. And just like a child who says whatever comes to their mind without fear of judgement, Tomb of Sand is utterly simple and joyous.
Translator Daisy Rockwell delights with moments of relish; such as the tiny word ‘so’, which she says, is not as insignificant as one might think. ‘Important linguists since the time of Sanskrit to the modern day Annie Montauk have been quizzing the meaning of "so" wondering what makes it so puzzling,’ she wonders. The languid progression of the book, the journey of Maa, all the diffused chatter in her head and her meandering voice, compel us to re-examine where we stand. That’s a tall order.
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