Saraswati Park by Anjali Joseph
Fourth Estate, $38.99
Set in Mumbai, Saraswati Park is a vivid portrait of intergenerational family dynamics in an ever-changing, modern day India.
The family inhabits the "comfortable" ground between those cocooned by extravagant homes, servants and European cars, and those living on the streets begging for pennies, unsure where their next meal is coming from. Saraswati Park, therefore, offers a fresh and intriguing insight into India's growing middle classes who, in Joseph's carefully constructed fictional world, rely on higher education, government jobs, and a sense of ingrained, borrowed Englishness to get by.
Mohan, nearing 60, is held hostage by his self-imposed routine: each day he awakes and makes tea for his wife, disregarding the fact she neither wants it nor drinks it, and then, with tiffin box tucked under his arm, makes his way to the post office.
There, while he harbours dark regrets about his lack of a university degree and his inability to write something substantial, he works as a letter writer, even though no one requires his services any more - the internet and cell phones have left him stuck firmly in the past.
But Mohan's day is about to get a timely makeover thanks to the arrival of his nephew, Ashish, who is repeating his final year of studies at the local university. Ashish offers him a project, something other than his own inner thoughts to concentrate on. Unknown to Mohan, however, while Ashish is supposed to be focusing on English literature, he instead spends the majority of his time fawning over a series of inappropriate men, wondering about his homosexuality, and whether he will ever be happy. His character is a clever mix of annoying teen-angst and vulnerable naivety - the perfect counterpoint for the ever-predictable Mohan.
As with all things, it takes tragedy to move these two into action. When it happens, each must face up to not only who they have become, but who they are destined to be. If Mohan is to save his marriage and give his days a purpose, he must exit his life-long rut and start to actually live, rather than just exist.
For Ashish it is a time to grasp his opportunities, take charge of his life, and make decisions that are right for him - just like India itself, Joseph seems to be saying, both must adapt and change.
Saraswati Park effortlessly transports you to the centre of another culture and instantly integrates you into its foreign world.
But at its heart, this is a novel about the sacrifices, both large and small, that family make on a daily basis for each other, and how, at the end of each of those days, this is to be cherished and never taken for granted.
Steve Scott is an Auckland reviewer.
