I had waited a long time to start reading Srinath Perur's "If It's MONDAY It Must Be MADURAI". I must admit, I had very high expectations .I had read quite a few appreciative reviews, the title was very catchy
and the concept seemed fresh and different. A funny take on group travel - you don't come across many of those.
As you might have guessed from my tone, I was disappointed to begin with. The very first chapter, "The Grace of God" depicts probably the most common form of group tourism in Southern India - the temple Darshan rounds. It describes a typical Indian middle-class middle-aged group who have come on the tour with the specific purpose of "covering" all the major South Indian temples. In contrast, the author and his photographer companion are on an assignment from a magazine, expecting a very different outcome from the trip.
From Page 1, it turns out that the author is dabbling with every stereotype that is out there. There is generous
reference to middle-age or retiree teachers, bank executives, civil servants and so on making a large part of
the group. While one agrees with him that coming from a different generation, thought process and probably a more liberal background, the company might have seemed exhausting to him, a little more effort on his part to try to understand the group's perspective, instead of prejudging them, a little more empathy to their world view, could have opened up an opportunity to understand a whole different cross section of society. We no longer live in a homogeneous society, value system and thought-process-wise. That is the bone of contention for most of the social struggles today. The younger generation favors a more westernized, individual-oriented world view, whereas their parents' generation sticks more to a community or religion-centered world-view. The whole intention of travel is to open oneself up to the unfamiliar, to expand one's horizon. If the writer blames the tour group that they failed to fulfill that objective, I did not get the feeling that he fared much better by choosing to consider himself intellectually superior to the rest of the group and not truly opening himself up to them. If only he had the notion that, even though his dressing and ponytail might matter to them and they choose to judge him based on that, he will not allow himself to be judged and compartmentalized based on his looks alone, will attempt to ignore their judgement and be truly open with them, the whole exercise could have proved a lot more fruitful.
Throughout the book, while he is perfectly happy to guess his tour-mates' ages, he never reveals
his own, leaving us to guess that he is among the younger lot. Also, in any writing, some things are better
left unsaid. In the Uzbekistan tour, the part where the group comments about the debauchery of the Indian political system, while being on sex tourism themselves was ironic by itself. It would have served the author well to keep the barb about the group itself being adulterous tax-evaders left implied.
However some anecdotal references show a glimpse of the heartfelt and that is where a reader connects with the author. For instance, the bits where he compares the girls in the Uzbek hotel to video game characters or the squalor turning to spectacle in case of dead babies used for begging come off as very genuine. On the whole, it is as if the author is more forgiving of the sex tourists to Uzbekistan than the temple tourists in South India. Its completely understandable given the fact that one is always more critical and unforgiving towards one's own.
The book gets considerably better after this initial judgmental phase and becomes more observatory from the Uzbekistan tour onward. There are many good bits as in where he questions the urge to catalog each and every animal one sees on a safari rather than observe and be a part of nature in "According to their own genius", about college bands creating their original compositions and the result in "the Same Water Everywhere" or when he talks about the Kabir project. I really liked the line where he interprets " Kabir is a winking, shimmering presence, an idea, a way of thinking that can manifest itself variously." It is evident that in the subsequent tours he is among the kind of people who "get" him. Hence his comfort level increases considerably.
From the number of reviews I saw on Goodreads one can safely conclude that you can either love the book or hate it, but you cannot ignore it. My final qualm is that Rs.500 is a bit pricey for a book from a new author. It warranted many more and much better photographs covering the trips. Probably the author could do a follow-up coffee table book or publish a photo collection as a supplement.
Summary Review:
Book: If It's MONDAY It Must Be MADURAI
Author: Srinath Perur
Type: Travelogue
Rating: 4 ( out of 5, 5 being the highest)
I Recommend: For an innovative take on group travel
and the concept seemed fresh and different. A funny take on group travel - you don't come across many of those.
From Page 1, it turns out that the author is dabbling with every stereotype that is out there. There is generous
reference to middle-age or retiree teachers, bank executives, civil servants and so on making a large part of
the group. While one agrees with him that coming from a different generation, thought process and probably a more liberal background, the company might have seemed exhausting to him, a little more effort on his part to try to understand the group's perspective, instead of prejudging them, a little more empathy to their world view, could have opened up an opportunity to understand a whole different cross section of society. We no longer live in a homogeneous society, value system and thought-process-wise. That is the bone of contention for most of the social struggles today. The younger generation favors a more westernized, individual-oriented world view, whereas their parents' generation sticks more to a community or religion-centered world-view. The whole intention of travel is to open oneself up to the unfamiliar, to expand one's horizon. If the writer blames the tour group that they failed to fulfill that objective, I did not get the feeling that he fared much better by choosing to consider himself intellectually superior to the rest of the group and not truly opening himself up to them. If only he had the notion that, even though his dressing and ponytail might matter to them and they choose to judge him based on that, he will not allow himself to be judged and compartmentalized based on his looks alone, will attempt to ignore their judgement and be truly open with them, the whole exercise could have proved a lot more fruitful.
Throughout the book, while he is perfectly happy to guess his tour-mates' ages, he never reveals
his own, leaving us to guess that he is among the younger lot. Also, in any writing, some things are better
left unsaid. In the Uzbekistan tour, the part where the group comments about the debauchery of the Indian political system, while being on sex tourism themselves was ironic by itself. It would have served the author well to keep the barb about the group itself being adulterous tax-evaders left implied.
However some anecdotal references show a glimpse of the heartfelt and that is where a reader connects with the author. For instance, the bits where he compares the girls in the Uzbek hotel to video game characters or the squalor turning to spectacle in case of dead babies used for begging come off as very genuine. On the whole, it is as if the author is more forgiving of the sex tourists to Uzbekistan than the temple tourists in South India. Its completely understandable given the fact that one is always more critical and unforgiving towards one's own.
The book gets considerably better after this initial judgmental phase and becomes more observatory from the Uzbekistan tour onward. There are many good bits as in where he questions the urge to catalog each and every animal one sees on a safari rather than observe and be a part of nature in "According to their own genius", about college bands creating their original compositions and the result in "the Same Water Everywhere" or when he talks about the Kabir project. I really liked the line where he interprets " Kabir is a winking, shimmering presence, an idea, a way of thinking that can manifest itself variously." It is evident that in the subsequent tours he is among the kind of people who "get" him. Hence his comfort level increases considerably.
From the number of reviews I saw on Goodreads one can safely conclude that you can either love the book or hate it, but you cannot ignore it. My final qualm is that Rs.500 is a bit pricey for a book from a new author. It warranted many more and much better photographs covering the trips. Probably the author could do a follow-up coffee table book or publish a photo collection as a supplement.
Summary Review:
Book: If It's MONDAY It Must Be MADURAI
Author: Srinath Perur
Type: Travelogue
Rating: 4 ( out of 5, 5 being the highest)
I Recommend: For an innovative take on group travel
No comments:
Post a Comment