Jhumpa Lahiri

This morning, i woke up and cleared my mailbox. It has been more than week since the last time. Out came new yorker. Back in my apartment, while flipping pages on my sofa, there is the name - Jhumpa Lahiri. The article is titles - Trading Stories and is under the Reflections section of the magazine. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/06/13/110613fa_fact_lahiri

I start reading the article, and suddenly it all comes back. In terms of literary style and i am no expert in judging it by any means, the style is very simple - an easy to read fiction, the same style of JK Rowling. But, if words from Rowling create the fantasy world, words from Jhumpa is simply like listening to classical music. They are the notes, so soothing to listen, so calming, creating the sense of longing, taking the mind to a place from where it does not want to return. Like Ruskin Bond, Like Gulzaar. It is so good if some one can write about one's own life as a poetry. A poem that is told with such honesty that it would seem to be fiction yet it doesn't seem so.

If Uncle TOm's Cabin is the book to read about that time and slavery, if Grapes of Wrath is the book to read about that time and era, Jhumpa Lahiri's collection of stories is the place to go to understand the dilemma of an immigrant family and the inner struggles witnessed by children who are born here. And in this essay of Trading Stories, Jhumpa reflects on how she got into writing and how her background influenced her stories and if truth be told, this story is no different from Jhumpa's fiction stories and it is her magical ability that she can equate both fiction and non fiction in the same style.

So, Jhumpa, Thank you. For sharing this story.