Title: Jamba- The Joint Family
Author: Sriram Balasubramanian
Number of Pages: 208
Genre: Fiction
About the Book:
In an age when families are becoming more nuclear, Karthik’s family was an aberration: It was a large joint family with its own complications, contradictions and commonalities. Two love stories and a wedding get intertwined within the family at the same time. One of them could make or break the joint family, will the family survive? Will the love story succeed? Will the younger generation respond to the needs of the family? How will the older generation respond to the changing perceptions of the younger generation? Will the family eco-system survive?
In an India swamped by globalization, this racy and humorous story tries to dissect the generational changes in Indian society and how the Indian society is responding to the changes.
Review:
When I read the blurb of the book, I knew I had to read it. In this modern era of nuclear families, it is always a fascinating fact to know about the values and traditions that was once an inevitable part of our society of joint families. The story makes you hooked and involved right from the very beginning.
Karthik lives with his paternal grandmother, Jamba Patti, in Madras. He dreams of becoming a journalist. While his parents live in Dubai, Jamba patti is his guiding light. Their love is mutual. His maternal side of the family is a big joint family of 13 members living on three floors of an ancient house, Vrindavan, in Mylapore in Madras. It is this story of the joint family of a Tamil Brahmin community, that the author walks us through. – the drama, the traditions, the food and Chennai city is beautifully narrated with adequate dose of humour. Since I had been in Chennai for two years, reading about the city was like re-living those days and hence the story felt more personal to me.
What caught my attention was the beautiful typesetting and it was a delight to read on my Kindle with fancy patterns on the pages. I do like the cover photo but the title misleading. The character build up is good with detailed understanding of generation gap and the TamBrahm slang. Though there is an excessive usage of the TamBrahm language, I enjoyed the story which was simple and mostly predictable. The young lots respecting the elders and the latter accommodating the interests of the young generation is a commendable detail.
It’s a laughing riot and a good read!
Verdict: 3.5 on 5
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the book from the author via book r3vi3w in return for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for the same. Thanks for the opportunity.
Book Links:
http://www.amazon.in/dp/8193136063
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30614726-jamba-the-joint-family
https://www.amazon.com/JAMBA-Joint-Family-Sriram-Balasubramanian-ebook/dp/B01HC2KWAG/
About the Author:
Sriram Balasubramanian is a Writer who has contributed extensively to international publications such as NYT, WSJ, Foreign Policy, Forbes India, and The Hindu among others. He has interacted with a variety of global business leaders and policy makers in his experience as a journalist and writer. His main area of focus has been on human development, education and socio-economic issues with a global context.
Besides this, he has a Master’sDegree from University of Southern California and is pursuing another degree at Columbia University in NYC. He is also authoring another book on the World Chess championship which was held recently.
He is very passionate about India, its cultural ethos & socio-economic evolution. He can be reached at @Sriram316or http://www.facebook.com/jambathenovel20or http://www.srirambala.in
Leave a Reply