Karma Cola - Gita Mehta
This book has been standing on my shelf for long with an interesting fast selling title, but as many other fated to just stand there untouched and unread, this one did too for quite a while until this weekend of spare time.
A weekend which started with me brooding over Karma and of the mysterious connect or disconnect of intent with deed and the backlashes thereof. Then also came the thought of the role of Dharma in defining Karma. With this muddle the title Karma Cola had a zing to it. If it was an answer i was looking for, i was definitely up the wrong alley. The book neither claimed to address those questions nor even in the remotest managed to.
It presented a lyrical and at the same time sharp commentary of the Western lure of Eastern (read Indian) mysticism, and the parallel mafia that the Eastern world seemed to become a home for. Gita Mehta has a racy style. She is sharp witted and filled with skepticism without making a judgment of either society. The book is a quick read of the numerous ways one could be hoodwinked in India with real and thus very interesting characters. Characters who very often one would encounter on the dope circuit - in search of God, love, peace and more often, in the process, losing themselves.
India with its rich history of mysticism, culture, mythology, religion that enthralls the world, has an equally colourful repertoire of hoodlums who claim to demystify the former for the Western world. The characters are extreme yet real all the way, jumping out of the pages in their orange, maroon and white robes, their long unkempt beards, the omnipresent chillums - of course the myriad skin tones and accents.
An experience worth a read!
A weekend which started with me brooding over Karma and of the mysterious connect or disconnect of intent with deed and the backlashes thereof. Then also came the thought of the role of Dharma in defining Karma. With this muddle the title Karma Cola had a zing to it. If it was an answer i was looking for, i was definitely up the wrong alley. The book neither claimed to address those questions nor even in the remotest managed to.
It presented a lyrical and at the same time sharp commentary of the Western lure of Eastern (read Indian) mysticism, and the parallel mafia that the Eastern world seemed to become a home for. Gita Mehta has a racy style. She is sharp witted and filled with skepticism without making a judgment of either society. The book is a quick read of the numerous ways one could be hoodwinked in India with real and thus very interesting characters. Characters who very often one would encounter on the dope circuit - in search of God, love, peace and more often, in the process, losing themselves.
India with its rich history of mysticism, culture, mythology, religion that enthralls the world, has an equally colourful repertoire of hoodlums who claim to demystify the former for the Western world. The characters are extreme yet real all the way, jumping out of the pages in their orange, maroon and white robes, their long unkempt beards, the omnipresent chillums - of course the myriad skin tones and accents.
An experience worth a read!
posted by Lavanya at
1:06 AM
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