Indian

Cover of "Bombay Time: A Novel" — Cover of Bombay Time: A Novel

Cover of "Junglee Girl" — Cover of Junglee Girl

I still cannot believe the words that come up on this screen. My cup of tea steams, waiting for me to drink it down. The dog watching my every move, believing any second now I will take her for walk. The quietness of the morning, interrupted only by rare passing cars or the random barks of dogs who think they can take on the cars, seems loud. The hardness of the chair I am sitting on, digging into my butt deeper and deeper as if looking for something inside me, makes me realize how much effort it takes to put on these tiny words onto this screen.

The remnants of a dream come to me just now. An old couple I am visiting insist I take the 2 books I was admiring in their library. I don’t know who they are, but I confidently tell them to feel free to come borrow anything from mine. I also brag that mine is bigger (Freud anyone). At that, I look around and see what I have. There’s Bharati Mukherjee‘s The Holder of the World right next to by Bombay Time by Thrity Umrigar. Then there is Junglee Girl by Ginu Kamani, overwhelming Love from Punjab by someone named Dhillon. My Indian collection is a source of pride for me. I used to visit the book store, and look for any Indian authors because I believed it was important to have them in my library. I don’t know when my enthusiasm waned, or when I stopped buying any books. Perhaps it happened when I realized that I had more more than I could possibly read in 6 months or maybe it came when I look at the titles, and most of their stories don’t come to me. Lately, my memory is not what it used to be. It is a fact that I am painfully aware of, and makes me want to reread all the books in my library especially the Indian ones. Salman Rushdie‘s Shalimar the Clown beckons me, and does the anthology Our Feet Walk the Sky. But then I realize it’s not just about the Indians, it’s about all the words that surround me. They all are staring at me, almost wishing for me to create my own. Silence…