The Thank You Blog Book Review For : From Pashas to Pokemon

About the Book

At 25, Aisha has seen more than many people do in a lifetime and has understood one thing: no matter who you are and where you are from, there are things that you can study and others that you can learn from and grow.

Lively tales from family history and everyday life in Mohammad Ali Road colony in Mumbai form the background of Aisha’s internal journey. Childhood memories mingle with her experiences while studying in London, and are woven into a sharp commentary on the transformations in India over 20 years as she ponders her place in this ever-changing world.

Narrated with a distinct humour and a throbbing heart, rooted in Urdu sensibility, the debut novel of Maaria Sayed is the story of a family caught in the shift to the new millennium, a touching story of love and compromised values, of West and East, of childhood and adulthood.

About the Author

Maaria Sayed is an Indian filmmaker and writer whose work focuses on the sexual and spiritual liberation of women, evolving Muslim identities, and South Asian life. She has been supported by Cineteca di Bologna, Sharjah Art Foundation, and Busan Film Commission, among others, and was a delegate and jury for the UN-backed Asia Peace Film Festival in Pakistan. She regularly holds workshops on cinema for students and teaches intercultural communication to executives of multinational companies. She is a graduate of literature and cinema and obtained her fellowship in Asian media production and collaboration in South Korea. She is passionate about Sufi poetry, folk music, Indian theatre and cats- big and small. This is her debut novel.

The Thank You Blog Book Review

The Novel takes the readers on a time travel back to the 90s. Aisha the protagonist shares her life experiences in a humorous yet thoughtful way. From childhood growing up in Mohanmad Ali Road, Mumbai belonging to a Muslim family where happiness and success are always celebrated by inviting relatives and relishing Biryani together. I enjoyed the way how Aisha describes the food prepared by her mom during get-togethers in the Dakini household.

“Every  Indian household has such delectable food stories and that is what makes us Indians.”

Aisha is so enthusiastic in nature and learns and eventually starts to drive well which is contrary to what her dad believes.

On a humourous note that is how a whole lot of Indian dads believe in negative motivation and thankfully millennials transform those words into success.

Daughters get a different level of happiness when they win challenges that their dads want them to win.

Life with her (Naani jaan)Meternal grand mom

The most memorable phase of a girl born and brought up in India would be the time she spent with her grandmom.

Aisha is no different she learns about the life of her grandparents, their family legacy and even how their grandparents met and spoke when they saw each other for the first time years ago.

”Believe me, Grandmothers never share such stories of their lives with anyone other than their granddaughters”

The cards Aisha sent to her grandmother.

She sent colourful cards with rainbow sketches and multiple colours extensively decorated and stated her grandmom to be the best and she always used only superlatives to describe her. And as years rolled by the last card that she sent had only the wishes and her signature she had tried to figure out for herself. Such is the pace of time and that is the change that time brings to us once we grow up. It is not that we become less creative it is that we try to ace the speed of time and go on with life.

How beautiful were the days when handwritten letters written by loved ones carried tons of emotions?

How blessed one has to be to see the letters they once wrote to be kept safe by the receiver. Nothing of such joy is possible in this era of a digitalized world where each of us seems to be near to the other but distanced farther than we can ever imagine.

Aisha moves to London for studies and self-introspects in a self-reflective way leading her to Self-realization

She walks through a path of self-discovery. Western world seems different to her. She meets new people and she gains different perspectives on life that are quite different from the life she lived, and the circumstances she witnessed back at home.

But once she gets back to India she realizes though people have changed, times have changed, she is a strong woman capable of making her choice and living her life to the fullest. She also understands that she is not alone and has her family to love and support her.

The story navigates through many different characters that the protagonist meets or speaks about throughout her narration and they all add their uniqueness to make the story even more intriguing and palpable along the way.

If you are a millennial who enjoys walking down memory lane or you are someone who believes in looking back at life back then and enjoys reminiscing the simple yet valuable moments of life and still ready to accept life with its ebb and flow this book is a must-read.

You can buy the book here from the given link.

http://From Pashas to Pokemon https://amzn.in/d/7Ejv84O

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This blog post is part of ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’
hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla.