Jhumpa Lehri tells the follies and inner thoughts of us and in the process make us more human.

Now i have read three of her stories from her book unaccustomed earth.She seems to be putting a light on the life and struggles of immigrant Indians and their children in America.It might be even a cathartic exercise for her.Her first person narration puts the reader in the middle of the story and let us all take roles which suites us. We may not take any roles if we choose not to we are only readers without any responsibility or traces of readership.

There is a need for honest narration for all the societies .We all have common stories .Indians have stories of elitism for the learning and the place in society they have brought with them.The power to be able to write in English has also helped them.The Genre Jhumpa has chosen real life fiction (i am not sure what she calls it)is a great way to reflect on our life in America.

In HELL-HEAVEN she tells the story of a young MIT student breaking ties with tradition and marrying the woman he loves and then against all the norms of India he breaks another norm and becomes more contemporary American by divorcing his American wife(who was charmed by Indian Culture and may be family ties which he had broken to marry her)by falling in love with a married Bengali woman and destroying two marriages in the process.

It is story of double jeopardy.Honesty is quite charming.That also in first person writing.It is beautiful genre.We can be villains,hero's ,ordinary crooks,youthful lovers and deceivers and charlatans.Writer is all powerful .

This is the story of first generation Indians who came to america in 70's and have become latest group of proud american and are changing themselves and their children are becoming part of this experiment we all lovingly called AMERICA.

While reading Jhumpa's stories

Oh it is very interesting .She weaves quite a web of ordinary Bengal life of transplanted child growing up.One finds the issues are no different here as there.People have loves, fears,aspirations,intrigue,morality, digression.On animal level we are more similar than not.Problems are separated by the station in life not the place.For sure it is tough to be autonomous in life and particularly middle class. Indians were more parochial and sheltered .

What is she doing is showing a side of the Psyche which is not normally exposed.Her narrative talks in first and third person allowing the reader in the mindset of the author and the characters.

I just read the last of the trilogy(only third part going ashore)the question comes to mind what age group she is targeting this story to. May be more appropriate question i would ask is at what age it is appropriate for a young reader to read this story and her views on it.

Other question is does she self censor herself ? does she wonder if her parents would read and what would they say or now she is autonomous adult she can write and read what she pleases.How does she feel about her children.Them reading her work.Would they think that she is just a writer of this fiction,spicy and at times sexual in nature.

She is not using language of rap but her honesty and bold language Say's a lot.The type of language she has used is not commonly used in mixed company( at least Indian).Then author is by herself and it is not biographical by any means.You may ask that who am i to ask such questions from a renowned Pulitzer prize winning author. One surely wonders how much biographical are the details when she writes in first person.

Tragedy of Kaushik's death in tsunami is described in a very subtle way like the memories of lost loves of the youth.In this case,narrator marrying a sort of arranged marriage having a baby and missing lost loves is too much like a Hindi Movie promoting the stereo type that it is divine will that she was to marry this guy.Then it is just a story not real life.Interesting just the same. Is it like symbolic murder of love so one marries a prince? It would have been a great tragedy of Shakespearean proportion if the narrator had killed herself on funeral pyre just to be , and get the revenge for the love she did not fully realise for her husband yet.The tragedy would be even worst as an innocent life of unborn child is sacrificed at the alter of this story of love, betrayal and love.Oh i forget , it is not my story.

Congratulations Ms Lehri.Thanks for giving us glimpse into your mind.

Jhumpa Lehri read from her story book "UNACCUSTOMED EARTH"

Yesterday at 7:30 PM Jhumpa Lehri almost a native daughter of Rhode Island,product of its schools and by proxy URI(since she was exposed to its culture as her father was employed by URI as a librarian),read from her latest book UNACCUSTOMED EARTH".This book has eight stories .I have not read the book yet from superficial perusing it seems to follow the life of immigrant youth in America in seventies and its many representations.By the way Dr Dilip Datta who is a dear friend and is recuperating in nursing home told me that he taught Jhumpa how to ride a bike.I am not sure if any of her stories are connected with that.They say all of her writings are some what biographical.Most of her stories seem to be about eighteen thousand words for any body who is keeping count of this sort of useless information.

She read from the middle of her trilogy of stories in the end of the book .It was a monotonous reading almost the way i read to my self most of the time.Narrator is a young man of Indian descent ( from Bombay).Narrator addresses a young woman (American)as you, who is a childhood friend of the family.The Scene revolved around narrator visiting his father and his new stepmother and two stepsisters.His father has remarried as his mother has died .It is very interesting,what is going on in the young mans mind .His dealings with this newer Bengali Immigrants who have landed as his close relatives in his life and seems without any permission from him.He is bothered by youth of his step mother who is not much older than himself.Jhumpa's details puts reader or listener in the middle of the scene her pictures take vibrant colour they possess.Her description of minute details make listener aware of the characters very vividly.She is indeed a master wordsmith.I would describe her as master word painter.

This is the second time I have met a Pulitzer prize winner.In this case from a distance as i was part of the 1000 or so members of the audience of Demystifying India Colloquium.Other time it was very intimate where Subhash and me had visited Albert Albee the playwright in his (loft) home in 1990 or so.HE was generous with his time. we had several hours and i think we have a tape of about an hour of conversation which he allowed to record graciously.Subhash had given him a Ganesh Idol.He accepted it graciously.He talked about Kafka.He very graciously made tea for us in his kitchen while we watched him.

Subhash had studied his plays and i had not known of him at all.Now i know he is very shy and is the only author to win three Pulitzers. His Video interview may be one of the rare interviews by two unknown people.

Attendance by 1000 people shows that reading and writing is alive and well in this time of history.Thanks to URI for the opportunities it provide.