Meeting on January 19th, 2015

THE BOOK CLUB

will meet on

MONDAY 19th January 2015

at 6.15 pm

at the U S Library, Poona Club

to discuss

Sita’s Sister

by 

Kavita Kane

Sharon Edwards at The Book Club on 5th January '15

Pioneer Boulevard presented by it's author Sharon Edwards

Serendipitous, it seemed, Sharon Edwards herself graced The Book Club on 5^th January 2014  to read from Pioneer Boulevard. The author referred to the book to share her background, education and travel sojourn and the description in the ten stories left the audience wanting to ask her more.

The ten stories in Pioneer Boulevard, named for the Artesia, CA street that is known as Little India, are set in the Indian community of Los Angeles. Most of the protagonists are, like the author, women who have migrated to LA from India, but the book is populated with characters from other countries, including Mexico, El Salvador, Vietnam, Pakistan, and England. 

Set in the context of the recent economic crisis, the sense of an overstretched, underfinanced world pervades these narratives. One woman must clinch the job that will sponsor her work permit; another has to sell her wedding necklace to pay the bills. A third learns about an unplanned pregnancy days after her husband has received notice of an impending layoff. 

Farcical and somber, wry and tender, these stories draw us into the chaotic, comic world of the pioneer, where habits of consumption and ways of relating—and even of speaking—are constantly in flux.

Post the reading, she succinctly answered all the questions coming from the listeners bringing forth the mentality of the immigrants, the perception of the Americans, the undertones of a sense of belonging to a nation, patriotism via experiences of Indians in America. A few comparisons made with writing by Jhumpa Lahiri, Sharon Edwards spoke of her voice in the book as her take, yet not making it seem autobiographical.

Reported by Seema Chinchore

SEASONS GREETINGS!!

May your 2015 be replete with Good Health, Good Luck, Good Friends,  Good Books, Good Plays, Good Movies & Good Times!

Have Fun, Guys!

 

Mohini & Satish

To A Bird In The Cage by Kusum Gokarn

To A Bird In The Cage

You who are born

In a cage within a cage,

Are you happy?

Can you conceive any thought,

You who are fed

On the crumbs of charity?

Can you fly into dream,

You whose feet are clogged

To reality?

And even if you could,

How far would you go?

There’s always a cage within a cage.

Balanced on the edge of void,

You have at least,

The comfort of the bars.

You cannot help surrendering

To the nature

Of your singing.

Surely, you must look

For happiness

Within.

Kusum Gokarn

From- The Desert Blossom (pub 1972)

Excellent presentation by Mukul Ahmad

I appreciated very much yesterday's presentation by Ms Mukul Ahmed  of Maya Angelou's autobiography - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. It was a very well researched talk that covered the various aspects of Maya's life and writings that gave us a proper perspective of the author's anguish as she grew up amidst her  trials and turmoils.

I was reminded of a poem written by me in 1971 which co-incidentally bears a similar title - To a Bird in the Cage. It is included in my second book of poems The Desert Blossom that I got printed on my own for private circulation in 1972 in Mumbai. I was studying Vedanta for the first time then in S. Chinmaya Mission study group. I had also come across mention of a human being's life seeking freedom as that of a bird in a cage in one of J. Krishnamurthy's writings. That inspired me to write my poem as mentioned above.

I had not heard of or read any writings by Maya Angelou then. So I was surprised to see the similarity in the title of her book though written in a different milieu and context. Enclosed please find the poem To a Bird in the Cage.

You both are doing a wonderful job in promoting good literature and
conducting it all very efficiently.

Kusum Gokarn

Mukul Ahmad leading the discussion on 22nd December '14 on Maya Angelou