Why I love this book

Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy

- post colonialism, post partition, free India. it would be an understatement to say the book is set in one of the most interesting times.

- has the social, political and historical backdrop of the country. the ignorant can learn a lot about those times. the knowledgeable can enjoy the vivid and charming descriptions.

- set in few of the most beautiful, ancient, historical and my favourite cities of India - Lucknow, Calcutta, Delhi.

- no melodrama, no high-tension plot, not a strict page-turner. you cannot hurry to the end. this is a book that is like life. keeps going on and on and on. with ocassional spike of something interesting. then again settles down in its languid pace.

- 1350 pages of close-spaced, times new roman font, size 10 (meaning: really small) writing. if you read multiple books at a time, you can read this book in the background. take your time to read it. 2-3 months.

- on a lazy holiday afternoon, with a nice cup of tea or coffee, if you are not in the mood for brainstorming, mysterious, life-altering writings, then this is the perfect one. you have already read the book once. you can still pick-up this paperweight of a book and open any random chapter and read.


- this book fits my perfect description of trying to have a library where all the books occupy the shelves because you have read them, loved them and then bought them.

oh ! did i mention Kabir Durrani ?! Sighhh..... ;)