Book Review

BackgroundoBook Title: BUDDHA’S ORPHANS oAuthor : Samrat UpadhyayoGenre : Fictiono Published in July 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Samrat Upadhyay is a professor of creative writing at Indiana University. He is Nepalese but writes in English, making him a “first” and therefore something of a phenomenon. This notable achievement is underpinned by the fact that he is a marvelous storyteller, literate and engaging, lyrical and sensitive. He has already produced two volumes of short stories, ARRESTING GOD IN KATHMANDU and THE ROYAL GHOST, and his debut novel, THE GURU OF LOVE.BUDDHA’S ORPHANS is his second novel, a saga that sprawls out in time and place, from America to Nepal, from the birth of his main character Raja, abandoned as a baby, to Raja's meeting with his star-fated child love Nilu, to the birth of a granddaughter, a child who will not be abandoned and fought over and dragged from household to household or grow up in the thrall of an addicted parent, but will be surrounded by loving, real relatives.

Synopsis Set against the background of Nepal’s political upheaval from the 1960s to the present day , the story follows two

lovers, Raja and Nilu, through their complicated lives and personal struggles, which include the suicide of Raja’s mother when he was an infant, a street vendor-turned-servant ,Kaki’s attempt to raise him, Nilu’s alcoholic, pill popping mother, and the corrupt adoption of Raja by a middle-class man , Ganga da with a mentally ill wife ,Jamuna ,that devastates the woman who has raised him.

Raja and Nilu reunite in late adolescence , fall in love, and elope amid the political turmoil of Nepal in the 1960s and ’70s. Raja remains jobless for two years, often participating in political rallies, but eventually finds work when a son is born to the couple. While still in elementary school, the boy suddenly dies when Nilu is unable to seek medical care for him due to a massive demonstration that clogs the roads. The marriage begins to slip away, as Raja moves out “for a while” because of Nilu's obsession with their dead child. “Days drifted by, and Raja still lived in Dillibazar, and she still didn’t turn on the lights when she got home in the evenings.” Then Nilu discovers that Raja has begun keeping company with a young music student, claiming that he is merely teaching her English, a thin excuse it seems to Nilu, who once had to teach English to Raja when he was still a rough street urchin. Nilu starts to believe that he may be unfaithful. She then finds comfort for herself, and perhaps revenge, in mothering a weak younger man.

Somehow, the two drift back together again, bound by their complex past. It is then, in the flowering years of their co-existence, that they learn that their daughter, Ranjana, who has gone to the U.S. to attend Northwestern University and has suddenly stopped communicating with them. Fearing the worst, they are about to set off for Chicago to find her when Nilu, sensing that the daughter is in Kathmandu, decides to stay.

Later, it turns out that Ranjana had gained alien interest in a Black American whose personality she’d found

appealing ,who was the reason behind her mysterious pregnancy being aware of which she avoided him and left him unacquainted about it since she had no interest in being hooked up with him for the rest of her life . In the eighth month of her pregnancy she returned to Kathmandu secretively . But soon , Nilu found her and the family was back together with the birth of Kali , their granddaughter whom they accepted whole-heartedly despite whatever happened.

Raja still missed his mother, who suicided and abandoned him when he was a baby. Even after Nilu stepped in his life the thought of his real mother still saddened him . Even when he tried to forget about her she would still come in his dreams . This might have forced the author mention the reason behind his mother’s suicidal , Mohini who was brought up by a strict father and in her teenage years , the days at the old times when people would get their daughters married she fell in love with a boy , her big brother’s friend, with whom she eloped on the day of her wedding ,but she was betrayed on their way to India as the boy had just played with her ,leaving her stranded with an unwanted memory , Raja .

Though in the same situation , there was a vast difference in

them ,looking how bravely Ranjana handled it , making Kali a gift of her life rather than a curse and a shame .

Themes o We all have problems in our life which ought to be faced with bravery. The problems start from Raja’s helpless

mother who in the narrow society of 1960s could not face the troubles in her life and commited suicide , Raja ,the orphah who still missed his real mother , Kaki ,who had been abandoned by her own son and later Raja the boy she had raised going through such hardships and who later died of all this , Nilu ,who too felt like an orphan as she never experienced parental love due to her dead father and alcohol struck mother ,Ganga da ,the innocent man who lived to revive his mentally ill wife , Bhairavi ,their landowner who had too been discarded by her son and daughter , Shiva , the man whom Nilu considered as her brother , was too dumped by his brother ,Ranjana , who found her life so dark during her pregnancy but who with time got stronger and finally kali , who is called ‘habsi’ at times by people near by ,but at such a young age ,learned to face it bravely.

o The reality of the Nepali society can be seen in the novel from the scenes of neighbourhoods making a fuss about the internal matters in someone’s house and insult a family if a member would break the norms . Eg. When Nilu and Raja were seen together in their teenage years, when they eloped , how people would watch family fights from the window . The racism has also been presented by how Mohini’s brothers marriage with the girl of a lower caste was not accepted by his family , how the low- caste women were called witches, whores , Nilu’s mother never liked Nilu being with Raju when he came as a servant in her house and it took her a long time to accept their marriage . The political influence in innocent Nepal lives has is also shown by showing how the rallies had disturbed the livelihoods of the poor , how the poor would become Maoists with the hope that they can live good lives , how Raja was criticized by police (even jailed once ) for speaking against the government infront of them ,participating in rallies and writing articles against it as a journalist . The corruption in the society has also been shown by how Ganga Da illegally makes Raja’s birth certificate and how he passes the legal confirmation for a building for money for his wife’s treatment . It also shows the present society , how the youth are interested to go for abroad study through Ranjana

o It shows how difficult situations at present can remind us of the past but its upon us to give them a good or a bad ending . Where Mohini gives birth to a son and suicides in the pond that a king had made in memory of his dead son . Later the same son has to go through the death of his son which for a short time separates him from his wife . His daughter goes through the same condition that his mother went through but who faces it strongly .

Relevance to the societyo Most of the time, the novel follows middle class families in what is one of the world's

poorest countries. This allows a great deal of exploration of honour, class, caste and wealth. The Nepalese society that is depicted is on the one hand quite ruthless, but on the other it is deeply compassionate - but common to both sides is the great sense of order which governs a land of such apparent chaos. certain aspects of the society--for example, the image of Nepali propriety. There's a tendency in our society to sweep under the rug all those things that we don't want to admit exist. We blame the West for its corrupting influences on our culture, as though there's one solid Nepali culture, pure and pristine , that we need to cling to. The government was everywhere in the novel , on the billboards in Kathmandu and on Radio Nepal, which paid homage to the king and the one-party Panchayat system . Nepal shudders as caste lines and gender roles break down and protesters jam the streets. Occasionally Upadhyay seems to be hurrying through a checklist of major events: the Maoist rebels, “with their old, clunky rifles,” make a brief cameo appearance, as does the crown prince who gunned down his entire family, precipitating a constitutional crisis. But while Raja blusters about the king “sipping his wine and playing billiards and smoothing his mustache,” that’s about as deep as the political discussion gets.

Weaknesso At times , I felt that perhaps if there had been a glossary and a map in the

book it would have been better as there were many Nepali terms ( which were rarely explained ) and places in Nepal specially Kathmandu for giving foreign readers better reading experience.

o I felt that the romantic side of the book has been bit overused , something responsible for the incredible length of the book (460 pages ) and at times made me sleepy reminding me of typical bollywood movies and feel that it would have been better without it .

o What he has harder problem with is maintaining a sense of momentum with which to make his point. The central character of Raja remains quite a cipher and never particularly compelling , and his weakness at the thematic crux results in lots of meandering story full of awkward time jumps and point-of-view changes. I find it a missed opportunity to not focus the novel solely on Nilu, whose empathy and strength and (perhaps most importantly) ambition could’ve leant a much greater incisiveness and statement to the proceedings.

Despite the weaknesses ,it crucially reveals the generational cycles of love and rejection that so often seems to dictate the direction of individual family members’ lives. And ultimately, it resolves the question of whether it’s possible to break free from those cycles. The name ‘ Buddha’s Orphans ‘ was relevant for the book since it displayed spiritualism and suffering in mankind and Raja and Nilu the orphans as they are deprived of love from their real parents . As a whole , although there were a few things that I did not like , I still found it to be a page-turner and I enjoyed the story right through to the end. Overall I recommend this book.