When Jhumpa Lahiri came to UCSB

On October 13, Jhumpa Lahiri came to UCSB to give a talk. Having read most of her books, I decided to go. I was surprised to see the hall fully occupied with well dressed people, while I plodded my way through with my huge bag and scruffy beard. I managed to reach my allotted spot without stepping on anyone's toes, patted myself on the back and observed my surroundings. There were a lot of old people - I even saw a few ladies who looked like Charlie's mom from Two and a Half Men. There was a buzz in the air as everyone waited for Jhumpa. A couple of people introduced her, one of them providing a short biography.

                And then she came. She read out one of the stories from "The Unaccustomed Earth". The story, "Once in a Lifetime" is written from the POV of a young bengali girl in New Jersey. You would have read it if you were a fan, I guess. Am I a fan of Jhumpa Lahiri? I still do not know. I have read her books but most of her stories left me feeling weird and kind of empty inside. So when Jhumpa was done with her reading, we had a QA session. She came out as very aloof, cold and unwilling to talk more than required. She never smiled or made jokes. No sarcasm. A lady asked her why her stories were so negative and, if Jhumpa had heard about positive psychology. I know, lol. Jhumpa said she wanted to write more about the realities in life and interpersonal relationships, etc. Someone asked her what she thought when people reviewed her work. She replied saying that she never cared for other people's opinions of her work, and that she was very private and felt uncomfortable in public situations, like the one she was in right then! That sounded brutally honest, though it made me think - why does she have these "readings" at all? Weird!
            
                I had a couple of questions I wanted to ask but I was in two minds whether to go ahead or not - and finally decided not to. I am not sure whether I was scared or I felt I would be intruding on her "space"! (I am pretty sure she is NOT going to read this!). Her mannerisms were not unlike that of an ice cold evil queen ordering her minions of orcs to bring down all of mankind. Maybe that was too harsh? But then she said the authors who inspired her were Thomas Hardy and Leo Tolstoy. Gulp. Now we know why!

                Puns aside you can give Jhumpa Lahiri a try. Especially if you want to know about how Bengalis feel when they move to the US from India and how they miss Calcutta and how their kids don't really like India and blah. Even though I will bracket her in the NRI category of Indian authors, I would say she isn't half as bad as the others - especially the ones who are in a race to inform the world how screwed up India is (don't we all know that already? Ho hum.)