That's right. Kunal Basu's new book, The Japanese Wife
When Rika arrived in India Sunday, we decided to spend the afternoon poking around the neighborhood. We found a bookstore and in the bookstore we found a book reading by Kunal Basu and a theater actor named Munira Sen. They were reading from the title work in his collection of short stories, The Japanese Wife.
It's a pretty original take on a love story. A shy Indian boy writes a Japanese woman whose address he gets from a pen-friend magazine. They exchange numerous letters and eventually agree to marry each other, despite never having seen each other. For twenty years they exchange letters and gifts by mail. There's another level to it as well, but the story itself is very short, just 16 pages long. Still, it's very touching.
We also saw a preview of the movie they are making, and having now read the story, I'd guess that the movie will probably be even better. The movie should have the time to explore the concept a little more. Here's a decent review. I suppose it remains to be seen, however (pun intended). If you want a copy of the book (and don't want to pay $80 used through Amazon), let me know and I'll bring one home for you. It's about $10 hardcover here.
As for the rest of my wife's first day, well, about that...
My colleague, Deepak, arranged for a driver (Harish) to take me out to the airport to pick up Rika. On the way out we got a speeding ticket. 87 in a 50 zone. It was an interesting operation. Somewhere along the road they got a picture of our car and caught the fact that we were driving like screaming banshees. Then, three cops stood out in the middle of the road and waved to us to move to the side. If you pass the first one, the second (50 meters down) stepped in front. By the time you slowed past two cops, the third would be in front of you walking you to the side. It's treacherous business giving tickets here...
The ticket ended up being 300 Rupees ($7.50). I'm actually not sure if any of the payment aspect was legit, but I suppose it was. I paid the cop right there and then we left just as it started to rain. I want to ask Deepak but I don't want to get Harish in trouble, either, so I may never know...
My "ame onna" (rain woman, a joke nickname I have for Rika) came just as the clouds opened up and dumped a day's worth of rain in about 20 minutes. The 150 meter run to the car left us literally wet to the bone. We enjoyed a foggy-windowed, slightly slower drive back into the city. Then we left to check out the neighborhood.
We mostly walked around a mall and checked out various higher-end Indian stuff. We grabbed a bite to eat at the food court, where we saw two girls get the hugest puffy bread thing ever. I asked them what it is and they said "chole bhatura". So we got one. It was really tasty.
We then went to the market. Rika wandered up and down every aisle, and I stuck mostly to the cookies and sweets. We met a couple of Japanese guys in line which was pretty cool. Their opinion of India: "India is crazy. They have rules that make no sense. And they only follow those ones." It's hard to understand India when you come from a country where rules make sense (editor's note: sometimes!) and they are followed.
We then went to the reading. Afterward we got the book signed by Basu and had our picture taken by a reporter for the Deccan Chronicle, a large South Indian newspaper. The guy got a kick out of the fact that a Japanese wife was there at a reading of The Japanese Wife. We should be in the paper today. One day in India and Rika's already in the papers!
Comments