Entertaining!

The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri, is a book that would do well in my small library collection. It's powerful, thought-provoking and realistic enough for me to relate to it at different points in the narration.

Let me touch upon a few scenes that lingered behind in my head - one particular scene is where Gogol, an American born Indian, has dinner with his American girlfriend's parents. He is impressed with their style of entertaining - expensive cutlery, candles, good wine, a casualness different from the hustle-bustle, almost disorderly way of entertaining that he has seen at his own home. His parents always invite more people than they can seat, always eat the last and act like servants in their own home. Contrastingly, at the American household, the guest list includes a tasteful mix of a few artists, entrepreneurs, family friends - just the right mix for an intelligent dinner conversation...

And that got me thinking, what is wrong with a bit of disorderliness? Why must we have the right cutlery and the right silverware and the right wine to entertain? What if children run behind their parents creating cacaphony all around? A fun get-together does not have to be smooth-sailing and orderly all the time, infact the fun is in the disorderliness that a crowd generates...

Anyway, that's probably the difference between how I think and one day, my American born child might think!

All said and done, a must read. Be prepared to be impressed and confused at the same time :)

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