Speedpost

Been reading Shobha De's Speedpost. In it , the author writes letters to her children on various issues of everyday life, things she couldn't tell , things to be remembered.

I thought of saying it's not a common novel but then no novel is common. There is at least one person who enjoys and even loves any particular novel.

But this one is a must read. It would do well as a family reading also....hmmm...that's a new concept that needs to be explored....

Here are a few thoughts that I really liked from it (black portions are explanatory, rest is quoted) :


Who cares if you follow social norms at the expense of our loved ones? Nobody does. Then why do we do it?Because we adults are cowards. We get our priorities wrong. We give undue importance to unimportant things. Basically we are fools.

Women are not encouraged to display overt emotions, especially if they are negative - never mind their validity or context. ....i resent the idea that I have to be calm, composed, an angel of good humour at all times ............it's unrealistic.


Do childrens' calls have to deal with emergencies? Can they not be about sharing a small moment, a thought, a feeling? Yes, it's extravagant but for me it's essential to stay in touch and any price is worth that electric charge that I get when, in a strange city at an odd hour in an unfamiliar setting, the shrill of a cellphone nestling in my handbag galvanizes me into action.

I regret that you don't have a dish that you associate exclusively with me.

In my anxiety to keep up with your world.....but I should have invested the same amount of time drawing you into our world, your grandmothers' and mine. Then we could have participated in each others' world more fully, more completely.

It's such a warm, comforting thought to that there are at least three individuals in the world who know you inside out and what's more , accept you exactly the way you are.They have seen you at your worst... Nobody had judged you. You have slipped up, been insensitive...Oh well, these things happen.

How could she possibly know the pleasure of hearing high-pitched voices coming home joyfully, knowing with certainty that their mother would be there to greet them?


You will do fine...even if you a get a little less marks...I want you to look at the bigger picture. To learn to be curious, to be alive, to absorb, to enjoy.

It wasn't the question of defiance alone. I preferred to make my own mistakes.

...how much more fun it is if you're lucky to be married to someone who shares your progress with you, enjoys the journey with equally and is there to hold your hand every step of the way and say 'Bravo' when you succeed and 'Don't worry' when you fail.

Will add more ....this book is one to be absorbed...not just read.