Saturday, 24th January 2009
The Namesake
A book that has intrigued me for a while now was The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. Recently I enjoyed reading the book and decided to compare the book to the film. That was foolhardy because there is no way a 90 minute movie could do justice to the Lahiri's writing, which is characterized by her elaborate descriptions of struggles, anxieties, and biases. In the book no gesture, no sorrow was spared but all of that was missing from the movie.
The book does a great job to chronicle the nuances and details of immigrant psychology and behavior. However I felt that some of the comparisons made between western and indian-immigrant cultures were too harsh and unfair.
The story describes the struggles and hardships of a Bengali couple who immigrate to the United States to form a life outside of everything they know. Through a series of errors, their son's nickname, Gogol, becomes his official birth name, an event which will shape many aspects of his life. Gogol struggles with his Indo-American identity and subsequently changes his name to Nikhil.
When I moved to the US, I too naturally expected that my name would be butchered down to three characters, but I didn't mind it since i have been addressed as such ever since I was born. I personally like my name and the obvious 3 character version of it, but what about people who dislike their own names. After all they played no part in picking it. Some people always felt so embarrassed by their own name, as if they feel like they're causing someone pain just by being who they are.
Now that my name has been made famous by a book and a movie what next, and is A rose by any other name is still a rose?
Posted by Nikhil on Saturday, 24th January 2009 in Life in General | Books Reviews | Fun