Kashi by Terin Miller : A Review

On The Jacket –

Kashi is a tale of clashes of cultures, relationship experiments and religious and moral differences in the holiest of Hindu cities, just at the time India's second generation of independence comes to adulthood in the form of Sumita Meetha Sharma.

Meetha Sharma, educated, attractive, worldly, the daughter of a wealthy import-export businessman in the nascent new Indian middle - class, desires to be like her American and other expatriate friends. She chafes at old world ideas of behavior and conformity and longs to be seen as an equal in society. But her desires have consequences she doesn't fully realize, especially for the traditional Hindu musician to whom she was promised when she was 13.
A story of a generation of Indians unlike any that has come before them born in a free and independent country, a country only granted its freedom after much effort and sacrifice by their forebears, a country only granted the opportunity to rise in the world as its former colonial status fades into history.

Now, Review Time –

The story is narrated by an American John Colson who arrives in Varanasi and is working for the Wire Service. The atmosphere and beauty of Kashi, Banaras, Lucknow and other cities is very well described throughout the book. It brings the streets, sounds and smells and culture of different cities alive. Characterization is done very well.

One can smell India throughout the book. Book is written in very simple, yet effective language. His narration skills are good. But at times it becomes drab. At first it takes time to pick up. But then you keep turning pages one by one to know what happens next. Second half is more gripping and page turner and when I reached to second half, I couldn’t put the book down.

Only drawback which I found is grammatical mistakes at few places. But these mistakes can be overlooked as you find yourself engrossed in book.

Kudos to the author for the attractive cover page. It’s really appealing.

Verdict –

I would like to rate it 3.5/5. It’s a light weekend read. Pick it up if you want to have glimpse of Indian society in the 1980’s. You will enjoy it.