Ganesha
Goes to Lunch: Classics From Mystic India
- Kamla K. Kapur
If I have to sum it up in one word,
it would be - boring. My recommendation to anyone familiar with, or interested
in, stories of Indian mythology, is to seriously avoid it.
Let me clarify first - I have a keen
interest in Indian mythology; I grew up listening to stories told by my
grandmother, and reading them by bookloads as I grew older. They have always
enchanted and intrigued me, always arousing a curiosity to find more - stories
that I haven't come across, as well as hidden layers in the ones that I have.
Which is why I am on the lookout for new books on this subject matter. I have
read several adaptations of the Mahabharata, and enjoyed most of them.
I decided to buy this book based on the high Goodreads rating, and the blurb that indicated a promise of new stories, and of a retelling aimed for the modern reader. Disappointment would be an understatement, and the reasons are manifold. First, I have come across most of the stories earlier - only one or two were new to me. Second, the narrative was painfully labored - rather than capturing the beauty of the story in a lucid style, the author seemed more intent on creating a beauty of language. Hence, long sentences filled with similes and adjectives, at times appearing to be semantically incorrect (could be my misunderstanding), but difficult to comprehend in any case. It also has deviations from the conventional threads, which I found rather jarring. Usually I am open to interpretations and interpolations (I loved the Immortals of Meluha, and appreciated the premise of Asura), but in this case, the incidences tampered with were a little too familiar to accept the change. The book comes with a beautiful cover, and wonderful imagery inside, but all I can say is that an attractive presentation cannot compensate for the appeal of content. I had to push myself to finish it; but for a flight and a considerable wait at the airport, I might have abandoned it.
A couple of stories into the book, I started wondering about the target audience. I felt that it is aimed for the western readers who view the ancient culture and tradition of the east as something exotic. An Indian reader would typically be familiar with the stories, and would have come across different yet interesting narratives of the same stories, and would not find an appeal in this collection. To get a counter-viewpoint, I had my brother take a look into it (he has a far greater knowledge of ancient texts like Puranas than I do), he dismissed it altogether.
After finishing the book, I looked
at the sources cited by the author, and found that most of the material was
drawn from books by foreign authors, and prominent amongst them were adaptations of Mahabharata and Ramayana by one author. I don’t know how others feel about it, but I
find it hugely ironic that an Indian author, to write a book on Indian
mythology, would turn to a foreign author’s retelling of the great Indian
epics. However, this is just an afterthought, and has nothing to do with my impression of the book, as I saw
it after finishing the book.
