“Behind the beautiful forevers” by Katherine boo.
“Behind the beautiful forevers” by Katherine boo.
To write Non-fiction with a flair of fiction is a literary art that few writers possess, and very few books exhibit. I am not talking about historical fiction – a genre that has great many exponents- which help us relive an era or a life with period prose and reasonable factual accuracy; but rather, to write accurately about current state of affairs as a journalist would; and be able to weave the message into a spectacular story told with great sympathy, lucid prose, deep understanding and a rare insight into the underbelly of India - is something that is quite extraordinary. It is in this context that I rate Katherine Boo’s “Behind the beautiful forever’s” as one of the finest books to be written in modern times about glaring inequalities in contemporary India- its moral putrescence and tragic apathy. The author picks a mundane real-life incident in an urban slum in Mumbai and weaves a frank tale of reality; a happening that otherwise would not be reported or known through the quagmire of media - pitiably skewed towards presenting a cosmetic picture of the country. Spending nearly four years in India’s financial capital, interviewing hundreds of slum dwellers in Annawadi (near Mumbai’s new international airport); getting into the skin of their beliefs, hopes, aspirations and way of life; transposing her learning into characters that throb with stark realism; providing a frank back drop into the corrupt, mismanaged and almost inhuman conditions of living and governance, juxtaposed with overflowing affluence all around; writing with dispassionate detachment that can come only with deep resonance within, of human suffering and joy; showcasing lives that live by standards and ethics that are alien to us - urban Indians; making a subtle mockery; without sounding condescending, of the lop sided growth in India- which has no relevance or meaning to more than half its population ; yet , demonstrating that goodness, virtue, compassion and ambition can flower under the direst of circumstances, regardless of one’s economic or social conditions - is the gist and tale of this wonderful book by Katherine Boo.
I am slightly skeptical of Westerners, who attempt to define India after a brief sojourn in its metros; but, when I picked this book from my shelf, I knew the author was not one of those flippant writers who could or would reach grave and biased conclusions based on a few stray encounters in India’s vast, rich and diverse landscape. Katherine belongs to a distinguished, rare brand of journalists whose sensitive understanding of underprivileged have opened many eyes to the realities of poverty, discrimination and neglect in the United States and elsewhere. I have read her vivid essays in prestigious New Yorker magazine, for whom she has been working as a senior investigative journalist for many years now. A Pulitzer award winner (2002) and a MacArthur “genius” awardee for her brave and candid Journalism - and with this book, the National award for Non-fiction (2012), prestigious Samuel Johnson prize were among many other crowning felicitations that were conferred on her.
This is her first full length book. What is truly extraordinary in the narrative is the total absence of Journalistic prejudices. Though based on real time conversations with innumerable individuals, Katherine manages to remove herself completely from the flow of events. The prose, dialogues and circumstances are brusquely matter of fact and chiseled to perfection. Her understanding of Mumbai, its cultural diversity, the minutiae of daily living among thousands of under-privileged in that overcrowded city; divorced from mainstream urban development and psychological consequences of it- are captured with raw intensity and frankness. Above all, what comes at the end of reading this book is feeling of human resilience and moral integrity that cannot be crushed, no matter, how much humiliation, oppression and poverty comes its way.
If it is true that a study of microcosm can reveal a Universe; then, to live with the slum dwellers of Annawadi in the pages of Katherine boo’s book will open a new vista of understanding and empathy that could be extrapolated beyond those turgid slums. A sensitive reader will, I am sure, turn the last page of the book realizing that words like progress, development, quality of life and justice are chimeras - which sound good in urban living rooms surrounded and buffeted from harsh realities of living; and for millions out there they are either empty words or irrelevant or inapplicable to their survival. Perhaps, some of us would close the book; chastened a little, become broader in our understanding of blessings and privileges, and possibly, contribute a little to bridging the yawning chasm that goes unnoticed in a world that predominantly boasts of increasing prosperity and a bright future.
Highly recommended!
God bless…
To write Non-fiction with a flair of fiction is a literary art that few writers possess, and very few books exhibit. I am not talking about historical fiction – a genre that has great many exponents- which help us relive an era or a life with period prose and reasonable factual accuracy; but rather, to write accurately about current state of affairs as a journalist would; and be able to weave the message into a spectacular story told with great sympathy, lucid prose, deep understanding and a rare insight into the underbelly of India - is something that is quite extraordinary. It is in this context that I rate Katherine Boo’s “Behind the beautiful forever’s” as one of the finest books to be written in modern times about glaring inequalities in contemporary India- its moral putrescence and tragic apathy. The author picks a mundane real-life incident in an urban slum in Mumbai and weaves a frank tale of reality; a happening that otherwise would not be reported or known through the quagmire of media - pitiably skewed towards presenting a cosmetic picture of the country. Spending nearly four years in India’s financial capital, interviewing hundreds of slum dwellers in Annawadi (near Mumbai’s new international airport); getting into the skin of their beliefs, hopes, aspirations and way of life; transposing her learning into characters that throb with stark realism; providing a frank back drop into the corrupt, mismanaged and almost inhuman conditions of living and governance, juxtaposed with overflowing affluence all around; writing with dispassionate detachment that can come only with deep resonance within, of human suffering and joy; showcasing lives that live by standards and ethics that are alien to us - urban Indians; making a subtle mockery; without sounding condescending, of the lop sided growth in India- which has no relevance or meaning to more than half its population ; yet , demonstrating that goodness, virtue, compassion and ambition can flower under the direst of circumstances, regardless of one’s economic or social conditions - is the gist and tale of this wonderful book by Katherine Boo.
I am slightly skeptical of Westerners, who attempt to define India after a brief sojourn in its metros; but, when I picked this book from my shelf, I knew the author was not one of those flippant writers who could or would reach grave and biased conclusions based on a few stray encounters in India’s vast, rich and diverse landscape. Katherine belongs to a distinguished, rare brand of journalists whose sensitive understanding of underprivileged have opened many eyes to the realities of poverty, discrimination and neglect in the United States and elsewhere. I have read her vivid essays in prestigious New Yorker magazine, for whom she has been working as a senior investigative journalist for many years now. A Pulitzer award winner (2002) and a MacArthur “genius” awardee for her brave and candid Journalism - and with this book, the National award for Non-fiction (2012), prestigious Samuel Johnson prize were among many other crowning felicitations that were conferred on her.
This is her first full length book. What is truly extraordinary in the narrative is the total absence of Journalistic prejudices. Though based on real time conversations with innumerable individuals, Katherine manages to remove herself completely from the flow of events. The prose, dialogues and circumstances are brusquely matter of fact and chiseled to perfection. Her understanding of Mumbai, its cultural diversity, the minutiae of daily living among thousands of under-privileged in that overcrowded city; divorced from mainstream urban development and psychological consequences of it- are captured with raw intensity and frankness. Above all, what comes at the end of reading this book is feeling of human resilience and moral integrity that cannot be crushed, no matter, how much humiliation, oppression and poverty comes its way.
If it is true that a study of microcosm can reveal a Universe; then, to live with the slum dwellers of Annawadi in the pages of Katherine boo’s book will open a new vista of understanding and empathy that could be extrapolated beyond those turgid slums. A sensitive reader will, I am sure, turn the last page of the book realizing that words like progress, development, quality of life and justice are chimeras - which sound good in urban living rooms surrounded and buffeted from harsh realities of living; and for millions out there they are either empty words or irrelevant or inapplicable to their survival. Perhaps, some of us would close the book; chastened a little, become broader in our understanding of blessings and privileges, and possibly, contribute a little to bridging the yawning chasm that goes unnoticed in a world that predominantly boasts of increasing prosperity and a bright future.
Highly recommended!
God bless…
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