A GOOD READ by Teresa Rehman

There is some merit to the premise held by cultural anthropologists that culture and tradition intensify away from the motherland. Cases in point: St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Chicago or New York are big events and the Indian Festival of Lights, Diwali — marked this year on Oct. 17— is celebrated in grand style worldwide wherever Hindus have settled.

Beginning in the 19th century under Imperial British rule, the colonies of Trinidad, Mauritius, Fiji, British Guyana, East Africa and South Africa were populated with Indian labour. Indians took with them their religions, their sacred texts, their cuisine and their stories, and today Indian culture thrives, not only in the South Asian diaspora, but in North America and Europe as well.

It is their stories on which I focus today. In celebration of Diwali, I would like to draw your attention to some of the notable books and resources by South Asian authors in our collection.

V.S. Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas is a tragicomic masterpiece of social manners in post-colonial Trinidad. Born in Trinidad but living in England since 1950, Naipaul is the winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in literature.

Leaving India, by Minal Hajratwala, explores her family’s journey from five villages to five continents. I find this novel particularly interesting as the author’s grandfather owned a high-end clothing store, Narseys, in Suva Fiji, where I used to shop as a teenager.

India’s deputy high commissioner in Pretoria, Vikas Swarup, has a new book. Six Suspects, an informative and entertaining satire on Indian politics and values, is witty, clever and interesting. If you have seen the movie Slumdog Millionaire, do not stop there. Swarup’s Q & A is a must-read. As yet, I have not seen the movie but I am thoroughly satisfied reading the book behind the film.

Canadian author Anita Rau Badami’s Can You Hear the Nightbird Call?, set in Vancouver, is a story of three women who are linked in love and tragedy over a span of 50 years. Badami is also the author of the popular novel Tamarind Mem.

Shani Mootoo was born in Ireland, grew up in Trinidad and has lived in Canada since the 1980s. Her third and latest novel, Valmiki’s Daughter, is set in Trinidad and centres on the dark secrets of a wealthy Trinidadian family. Interesting social, cultural and historical documentation of the island nation are a plus in this work.

Indian-American journalist Thrity Umrigar’s new novel, The Weight of Heaven, like her earlier titles If Today be Sweet and The Space between Us, juxtaposes yet celebrates family and the community in two countries, America and India.

Canadian author Wendy M. Davis’ Dal and Rice chronicles memories of her childhood in India. Her story is part social history, part travelogue but mostly a personal account of a relationship with an exotic, chaotic, and often mysterious country.

At the end of her acknowledgements, Ms. Davis mentions a dinner she had during Diwali of 2002 in Alberta, when she enjoyed dokhla, ground dal with ground rice, cooked together: “an exquisite dal and rice I had never before had that gave a new pleasure to eating those foods.” On a related note, check out Curry My Way at Coquitlam Public Library — a DVD of 15 Fiji Indian recipes filmed in my kitchen in New Westminster last winter by my friend John Yee.

These books, and more by South Asian authors, are available at the Coquitlam Public Library.

A Good Read is a column by Tri-City librarians that is published every Wednesday. Teresa Rehman is community services librarian at Coquitlam Public Library.