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Good Reading : July 2008
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JULY 2008 ı goodreading 51 As a writer I’ve always nurtured the ultimate dream that most writers have − to be left alone to ponder, plot and plough away on the laptop, to create believable characters and weave stories that would hopefully manage to inspire and entertain readers. I realised this dream in India in a small town called Hoshiarpur, in the northern region of Punjab. ‘Hoshiar’, meaning clever and ‘pur’, meaning town. In the last six years that I’ve shared with my Punjabi husband, I’ve spent a good two years and a bit in this ‘clever town’ and let me tell you, it has been a journey of a lifetime for me. Let me share with you a typical long day in this gorgeous small town. There were days when the mind went blank and all I did was sip endless cups of steaming hot cardamom-spiced chai … mmm … my favourite books to keep me company. Sitting on my jhula, a swing chair that is fashionably found on rooftop terraces of Indian bungalows, I would wave my daughter goodbye as she sped off on daddy’s motorbike (hugging his back tightly) to the neighbourhood kindergarten. Every now and then I would lift my eyes from the page I was reading and breathe deeply, almost tasting the aroma of freshly made parathas (Indian pancakes) wafting from homes nearby – my cue to go downstairs and mingle with in- laws and some women friends from the village. A generous breakfast of parathas and a large drink of sweet lassi (yoghurt drink) were followed by an hour of checking and responding to email.While the rest of the home busied themselves with delegating chores to the hired help, I happily enjoyed surfing the internet and listening to Bollywood music on the local radio channel. Despite online communication I had my moments when I yearned to escape to a proper coffee shop with my Western girlfriends an get a real cup of authenti latte over some great gossip. Or when I would almost cry from missing the feeling of walking into one of Sydney’s cosy bookshops and smell the crisp pages of new books. This is when the magazine you are holding right now came to my rescue. One of the things I did before leaving for India for this lengthy period of stay (apart from required vaccinations) was subscribe to Good Reading Once a month I eagerly anticipated the moment when the postman, a small, thin man with a shiny bald head and a grey beard, would blow his whistle outside our eno gates and announce, ‘Madam ji, your magajin coming. Here, come quick’, his tiny head wobbling with each word. I would trudge down the stairs like a child, cheering and gasping for air while signing his register. In time the little fellow sensed my total dependence on this monthly arrival and sweet-talked me into giving him ‘baksheesh’ for the ‘vunderphool magajin’. Of course, I relented and gifted him a twenty rupee note in exchange for the magazine that filled my void of reading about all that was new, hot and sometimes not so hot in the literary world out there. After the launch of my debut novel The Girl Child in New Delhi last November, it was time for us to head back to this side of the world. Now that I’m back I’ve gained respect for things that I always took for granted in the West, for example, public toilets. My experience in my second home in India has taught me tolerance and patience, and made me a better writer I believe. I am happy to be back, although I do miss my maid Sunita, bless her. It is great to be back, to taste real coffee again, to meet friends for lunch and go to the markets. Good Reading now arrives at my new flat in Sydney and I’ve bought a new vacuum cleaner and named it Sunita. The Girl Child is published by Landmark Press, rrp $24.95. For more information visit www.thegirlchild.com Our readers live all over the globe. Author and avid reader, PRINCESS R LAKSHMAN, shares with us the joy of receiving her monthly copy of gr. a dream come true View from my writing retreat up in the mountains 3 hours from Hoshiarpur, a little town called Dharamsala (more commonly known as the Tibetan Government in exile). Me outside a Hindu Temple in Chennai. readers life
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