Laughing through the Lockdown

Everyone has discovered their inner Anthony Bourdain, during the lockdown. I also tried and baked bread, as a change from boiled vegetables and rice – a big family favourite and am now seeing why. My first clue should have been that I had to use a large cleaver and ‘chop’ the bread! The family was ecstatic when we went back to boiled vegetable rice. People have also discovered all kinds of other hidden talents. I don’t have opposable thumbs so can’t do stuff which require fine motor skills. Ok I HAVE opposable thumbs, but they aren’t opposabling as much as they should. It’s a thing. I checked on google. So that left me with oodles of post-work time, which I didn’t want to spend on TV/other multimedia. What with decreasing grey cells and increasing grey hair – couldn’t take a chance. Instead of twiddling my semi opposable thumbs, I just had to step up the reading – from 2 books per week to at least 3. Like a good sandwich, a reading list should have intermittent heavy duty non-fiction that need chewing, laugh-out-loud crazy light capers and heart-warming-tear-jerking gooeyness. Sharing some from the second category, to help you through those hair-tearing days. Most of them are non-award winning and not on Bill Gate’s reading suggestion- a list I follow religiously. Not even on Reese Witherspoon’s book club list. 1. Major Pettigrew’s last stand – everyone knows a Major Pettigrew. The gentle uncle next door, who is at a loss most of the time and tries to hide whenever confronted by friendly, talkative people. I am a Major Pettigrew myself, to a large extent. The book is a happy love story in times of racial bias, based in the UK.

2. The town that laughed – the cover had me. And then the book got me by my throat. It’s a tale of a town drunkard, a very hairy policeman, his niece and a dog. In a small town anywhere. Written beautifully, making you laugh and cry at the same time. 3. Bombay Balchao- sticking to my practice of judging a book by its cover, I discovered this gem. It takes you through 100 years of east-indian, anglo-indian, Portuguese and other kinds of Christians’ history, in a small colony in South Bombay. You will want to eat copious amounts of Goan and Anglo-Indian food after this. And what’s more, you will know the difference. 4. The bookish life of Nina Hill- Nina Hill likes and understands books more than people. Who doesn’t? When she is not reading, she is participating in quizzes. Then a series of fun events happen and it all ends happily. 5. The Rosie Project – OK this was in Bill Gates’ book list but I read it before knowing that. The protagonist is a very good looking, athletic academician with Asperger’s. While that alliteration is a good enough reason to read it, I got excited about his eco-consciousness. Just like any other thinking human being, he treated the planet as a home that needs to be nurtured for his own survival. I admit this is NOT the focus of the book and I may have dwelled on it for more than the author intended. 6. The 100 year old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared – along with cover, I judge books by their title and can you think of a better one? A 100 year old man, basically climbs out of a window. And goes out to commit crimes, unintentionally! Flashbacks to communist Russia, Karl (Marx) and pre-war Sweden, make this an ABSOLUTE delight. 7. The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry- Harold Fry, a middle aged man, decides to walk 500 miles to meet a friend. He doesn’t have a plan or a map or provisions. But he knows that he must walk. So obviously I had to read it.

While the following 3 books didn’t make me ROFL, they were surprisingly funny. 8. Good Economics for Hard Times- Nobel Prize winning Esther and husband Abhijit, make compelling arguments for looking beyond GDP. Replete with witty anecdotes and tongue-in-cheek digs at authority –be it traditional economists or leaders of states, the book is a gripping piece on what economics should be. It is humble. And like all intelligent humans, they suggest and provoke rather than tell. 9. A beginner’s guide to Japan – like other Pico Iyer books, this one takes you deep into the Japanese Psyche. He brings out the contradictions of the Japanese mind like an insider. As he should, having lived there for more than 30 years. 10. The hidden life of tree – Racist comment alert. I had postponed reading this forever, because it’s written by a German. So I expected a dull thesis on tree life. It turned out to be a pun-per-line, hilarious account of trees of Germany. Though the protagonists are Birch, Firs, Oaks and family, they could easily have been about humans, collaborating to survive. Icing on the cake is the foreword by our very own honorary ‘tree’, Pradip Krishen.