Guys Named Vikram

Do you remember that I mentioned earlier that India wasn't really on my list of places to travel? Not that I had anything against India, it just hadn't piqued my interest. Which is surprising really because two of the most enjoyable books I've read have both been set in India.


The first, is my all time favorite book. A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth. It's full of characters and multiple stories that converge upon one another. The main tale is about a Hindi family that is trying to find a "suitable boy" for their daughter to marry and meantime she falls in love with a Muslim boy. As I learned in this book - that's not something that's going to make the parents happy. I loved this book so much that I actually started reading it more and more slowly so that it wouldn't end. It's over 1,000 pages, so really there was no reason to want it to last longer. But I did. It was the first time I had read anything set in India (well, no, actually I think I had read Passage to India) but anyway I was just so enthralled with the characters and the history (it is set just after Partition). Later, I lent it to a friend and never got it back and I love it so much that I bought another copy - just so I could have it in my collection. Since then, I've read everything I can get my hands on by Vikram Seth.

Now, I'm just finishing a book called Sacred Games, by Vikram Chandra. You'd think I have a thing for guys named Vikram. This book is as big and bold as a Bollywood movie. The main characters are a Hindi gangster warlord, a Sikh cop, a corrupt politician, and an egotistical guru. It's set mostly in modern day Mumbai with flashbacks to other parts of India. This too is about 1,000 pages (so that makes 3 books I've read about India that are all 1,000 pages) and as I'm nearing the end I'm tempted to slow down except that there's a mystery to what's going on and I'm eager to find out the ending.

To be fair, I started Sacred Games while we were on our trip in India - so I really hadn't read it to have it prompt my interest to visit. But it sure was fun to read it while we were actually there - made many of the images in the book much more vibrant.

After this, I think I'm going to read A Suitable Boy again.