This is a book review which I wrote some time back but forgot to send to the Goan mailing lists.
Augusto A Passage to America: A Review of Tony D'Souza's THE KONKANS 308 pp. Port Obello Books, 2007. (Indian edition: Rupa, New Delhi, 2008. Rs 295/=) The Konkans are a fictitious Indian Roman Catholic community from the west coast of India. Tony D'Souza concocts them from myths and legends about Indians in general, and Catholic Goans and Mangaloreans in particular. There is enough fact about India woven into this portrayal for an outsider not to notice that they are fictional. D'Souza's Konkans differ from other Indians. How? Well - through their Christian "religion and the meat it allowed them to eat ... The Americans ate turkey, the Mexicans ate pinatas. and the Konkans cooked dukrajemas pork curry and sang 'E puri kon achi'". The Konkans are made out to be a charming bunch of canny, lower middle class, village bumpkin types, who he implausibly calls, "the Jews of India". When they are not drinking or chasing women they'll be found singing their "national anthem" called "E puri kon achi?". Incidentally the phrase "E puri kon achi? which recurs through the book comes from 'Galen Sakhali Sonyachi' a drinking song of another Indian Catholic community – the East Indians. The novel seems not particularly well researched. For instance, St. Francis Xavier is called "the man who had brought ... the roots of Konkani ... to the western coast of India..". And D'Souza's 'Acknowledgements' say he is heavily indebted to a forged article, published in the name of historian Dr. T.R. de Souza's, entitled 'Details of the Goan Inquisition'. This is found on a right wing Hindu website which often attacks Christians in India. It could be argued the mistakes come from the book's narrator, Francisco D'Sai, who recalls the story of his family when he was an innocent boy. But it is rather difficult to separate the voices of the author from the narrator. In fact the biographical sketches of D'Souza the author, seem to have a remarkable resemblance to D'Sai, the narrator. Still, the novel is well worth reading. It offers amusement and insight into the experiences of emigration. It tells of how a white American Peace Corps volunteer named Denise falls in love and marries a Konkan named Lawrence D'Sai from Chikmagalur in Karnataka. Denise's desire to have a cosy Indian family in reaction against her dreadful early American family experiences fuels her love. But unknown to her, this 'love affair' is carefully stage-managed by Lawrence's father, who sees Denise as the passport for his sons to emigrate to America where they could escape from the bleak Indian economic scenario of the '60's. After her marriage, Denise is coerced to emigrate, by her husband's family much against her wishes. Once in America, Lawrence tries to realise the American dream of success, fame and wealth through thrift and hard work. He does succeed in some ways, although he never is completely accepted by upper class white America. He frequently gets passed over for promotions; and is rejected by the golf club where he so much yearns to be a member. He takes satisfaction in small successes and drowns his disappointments in drink. Earlier, his family obliges him to take his brothers Sam and Lesley to America. His India-loving wife Denise, readily sponsors them. The novel examines both how India greets the American Denise, and how different classes of Americans treat the Indians. There are lots of little gems of stories that are told in the sub-plots of this encounter between cultures. The unpleasant attentions that white females encounter from men in India are sensitively described by D'Souza. A real treat is the first chapter, 'The Pig', where the recently arrived brothers of Lawrence D'Sai decide to celebrate the feast of St. Francis Xavier by making 'dukrajemas' in their traditional way - by acquiring and slaughtering a live pig - although they have no clue as to how to go about it. The results are hilarious. Lawrence's brother Sam, is the most interesting character in the book. He is the one whom Denise will turn to, in her search for the India that enchanted her during her sojourn there, even as her husband is lost transforming himself into the typical American. The episodes where Sam has an affair with Denise; and later his true love Gladys, a black American woman who he ditches because of family pressure, to marry Asha, a Konkan girl from India, are the most interesting in the book. They expose how the Konkans who are racially discriminated against in America, will themselves discriminate against their perceived inferiors. Tony D'Souza mines his childhood memories to tell the story of a mixed race American boy's attempt to understand his parents' cultures. His observations are coloured by the conflicting stories told to him by his relatives. The book shows how the same story can change when the point of view is altered; and it shows how culture becomes confused when it it dislocated and handed down in a new context. Tony D'Souza's fresh, young voice is definitely one worth waiting for again. .................................................................................................................................................... This review appeared in Herald Mirror (Goa) on 8 November 2009. About the Author: (from http://www.tonydsouza.com/index.html ) Tony D'Souza was born and raised in Chicago. He earned Masters degrees in writing from Hollins University and the University of Notre Dame, and served three years in the Peace Corps in West Africa, where he was a rural AIDS educator. Tony has contributed to The New Yorker, Playboy, Salon, Esquire, Outside, the O.Henry Awards, Best American Fantasy, McSweeney's, Tin House, Amazon and elsewhere, and has appeared on Dateline, The Today Show, the BBC, NPR, and other venues. He received a 2006 NEA Fellowship, a 2007 NEA Japan Friendship Fellowship, and a 2008 Guggenheim. Tony's first novel, Whiteman, received the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His second novel, The Konkans, released in February, 2008. -- Augusto Pinto 40, Novo Portugal, Moira, Bardez, Goa, India E [email protected] or [email protected] P 0832-2470336 M 9881126350
