I finished reading Roald Dahl’s Boy, first part in his autobiography, it was a sweet read. Looking at his letters to his mom gives a sweet nostalgia and showcases the warm motherly bond, kids share with their moms. His mother was a strong woman, she single handedly raised 5-6 kids. His dad died after the death of one Dahl’s sisters, she was very dear to him. It was quite sad. Dahl’s mom used to take them to different islands during his holidays.
Then I picked up Slow Days and Fast Company by Eve Babitz, it is a fictive memoir or a semi-autobiography. It had an amazing vocabulary and gave a taste of Los Angeles (LA), an era forgotten, I have never been to US, still felt a vibe coming off from not so far away. All are told in form of stories – of Hollywood, the stars and the celebs. Gives a feel of the movie Fashion by Priyanka Chopra, told with wry humor and wit. The first page says – it’s a love story and the book is dedicated to this one person, the name we find only mentioned once. There is a certain way, she puts things in a way, is intellectual, totally loved her writing style.
The third book I picked is – Unfinished, a memoir by Priyanka Chopra Jonas – it gives an insight in the lives of a person who has lived through Bollywood industry and went and tried out singing with lots of big artists and then went to star in Quantico. Both her parents were army doctors, one of the first things she mentions is that her parents had a 50-50 partnership in the marriage. And we get to see the effect of their good upbringing in her throughout, she is privileged and acknowledges that. She narrates her experience of once visiting a village with her parents for a free medical camp, when she was eight. She was throwing tantrums because it was her summer holidays and she wanted the family to start away the summer getaway right away. In the first half of the day, she half heartedly volunteered to be a assistant to pharmacist and help with instructing the villagers on how to take the medicine. She recounts how the village mothers were bringing their sons to the hospital readily but nobody was bringing their daughters. So her mother and father talked to village ladies and men to bring their daughters as well for the free medical checkup. Some agreed and some didn’t. In the car when Priyanka was returning home in the back of the car, she started crying, she asked her parents “Why were the daughters being punished?”, she thought she goes for her medical checkup regularly, why are the parents not letting their daughters take one. Her mother replied and tried to explain to an 8 year old, that if the doctors checked their daughters, it would jeopardise the chances of them getting married. Drop.
That cut me deep, I didn’t expect this, now in hindsight, it kept making more sense. But the first time I heard it, I couldn’t believe it and tears flowed. And there are quite similarities of the boarding school experience from Dahl’s Boy and Pryinaka’s Unfinished. Worlds apart, yet relatable.
There are still 2 hours left to finish the Unfinished.
This post would be incomplete without adding words from Babitz’s book.
inadvertent – unplanned, not deliberate
ossified – turn to a bony structure (Usage: interject chaos in an ossified conversation)
ensconced – establish or settle (someone) in a secret, safe place
travesty – a false, distorted representation of something (Usage; That museum is a travesty of the Renaissance)
élan – energy, style and enthusiasm
lascivious – in a seductive manner
moribund – at the point of death, lacking vitality and vigor.
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