Lata takes us to places that are mostly homely, but get lonely
and forlorn as we get know them better. It’s a world that we wouldn't want to leave once we’re in
because it’s where we meet people who’re like us and yet quite different and
distinct, and they stay with us a long time; long after you’ve read the book.
It’s a world of cloistered neighbourhoods; of a lovable
though tragic character of Ammini (Brittle),
who savours peanut brittle. This seemingly inexplicable addiction, when
explained later in the story, leaves us with a lump larger than a brittle in
the throat, and one that refuses to melt.
In Eclipse, we
meet Divya, the flexible wife and mother who is eager to and therefore
successful in adjusting to a new life in Canada. Her husband, Sharma, a maestro
of sorts, is unable to make the transition; and is reduced to watch his world
transform radically from the sidelines. Suddenly, the difference in age between
the not-so-young wife and the old husband becomes an unbridgeable and an
ever-widening chasm, and he wonders, “Why had he not seen this, her agility
spanning continents, skipping oceans?”
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| Lata Vishwanathan |
These stories are of people in India, North America, East
Asia, and one that is of a young alchemist in medieval India, who is an expert
at making rose attar. Each milieu as carefully crafted as the characters.
In Lingering Tide,
the time difference between India and the US is described thus: “The hours
Surya struggles to fill in India have yet to be born in America.” Or Sharma’s
brother in Eclipse, experiencing the
vastness of Canada for the first time, observes, “Isn’t it odd; I haven’t seen
so much of the sky at one time.”
The coming of age of girls is described with subtlety and
tenderness. In Bat Soup, Robona’s
sister describes her thus: “Sitah noticed how Robona walked since she turned
sixteen. She wound her sarong tightly, pulling at the edges before tucking in.
Then when she walked, she swayed just a little, thighs brushing, small tight
buttocks seesawing; so glad to be alive.”
At the Fall launch of TSAR books, Latha read an excerpt from
Cool Wedding; a poignant and hilarious story of an
immigrant housewife, writing a letter to her sister.
Here’s a sample from that story:
“You will not believe the competition in America. What with
all the smart Chinese children. Thank God for the Americans. Without them, how
will our children shine in America? I, personally, am very glad about the one
child only per couple in China. Wish the Chinese in America would also take it
up.”
You can buy the book here: TSAR
Images: TSAR Publications
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