Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard: Chapter 2

Reshmi

29/8/13

English: Literature

Summary:

Twenty years have passed. Sampath has grown into a scrawny and oversensitive young man, unable to sleep with the loud breathing of his family around him. Sharing the one ceiling fan with his father, mother, grandmother Ammaji and his sister, Pinky, he is suffocated by the lack of air that reaches him. He rushes to the roof of the house where it’s just as hot as it is inside. He walks back and forth all night, singing and wishing he had somewhere else to go. When dawn breaks and the town starts to come to life again, he sees his father come out with a yoga mat. His grandmother notices Sampath’s tiredness and worries about the amount of sleep he’s got.

Opinion:

I found this chapter a bit tedious and unexciting.

Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard: Chapter 1

7/24/13

English-Literature

Summary: 

There is a massive heat wave in the small Punjab town of Shahkot, India. People from all over the country are making proposals to induce the monsoon. The situation gets worse and worse and finally gets to the point where famine relief camps have to be set up. Hope for monsoon has completely vanished. And in the midst of all the madness and heat, the newly-wed, twenty-one year old Kulfi Chawla is pregnant, growing incredibly large as the days go by. As the drought gets worse, she gets bigger and hungrier, but none of the relief planes coming with supplies reach them. Kulfi is extremely hungry and she’s literally selling everything in the house for food. She is so obsessed with food and delicacies that she starts to draw pictures of them on the walls, and when her drawings had taken over each and every blank space in the house, Sampath is born. It is also the day the monsoon rains finally shower upon Shahkot. At the same time, a Swedish relief plane drops a crate right in front of the Chawla house with all kinds of food in it. Everyone assured Kulfi that her son was destined for greatness and fortune and that led to naming him, Sampath, good fortune.

My Opinion:
The first chapter was packed with a lot vivid details that painted a clear picture in my mind. Although I didn't really like how the book started out, it got better towards the end of the chapter, like every other book that starts out boring but gradually becomes exciting as you read more and more.