Amu

by Shonali Bose

Amu, is the story of a twenty one year old girl, Kajori (Kaju) Roy, Indian by birth but brought up in Los Angeles by her adoptive mother Keya Roy, an activist. The story takes place in a span of around 5 months – October 2001 to February 2002 and during which Kaju’s life traverses a roller coaster ride.

It all starts with Kaju’s decision and determination to go to her land of birth and discover her roots. Keya at first vehemently expressed her unwillingness to the idea but had to finally give in before Kaju’s resolve. Kaju, thus finally finds herself amidst the unsettled layers of history and legend of Delhi where the past and present were hopelessly mixed up.

Her search for her roots leads her to a village where memory betrays her and she finds that within India, [she] had a whole different sense of identity. She didn’t look different, but she couldn’t fit in here either. She however doesn’t give up and continues with her mission. Her quest to recognize the real India brings her face to face with Kabir. Together they discover the undisclosed truth of her life.

The story is short, less than 150 pages, but it still tries to capture minute details that make up the characters. The language is simple yet descriptive. In some parts the story gives hints that it was first made into a movie because many of the details are more visual. It is probably the identification with a real event that adds the final charm to the story.

Kaju’s accidental encounter with the description of the 1984 riots, her efforts to dig into more details and the discovery of her life’s relationship with it has been brought forth with care and caution such that the story runs smoothly. The readers get to see the whole event of the massacre from the point of view of people who have lived through it either as victims or as survivors. It is a well narrated and well composed story where the author touches all required aspects, for example the hideousness of the gruesome massacre, the neglect and even support of the government to it are not missed in the quest of the young girl’s roots. Neither is the tender love that blooms between Kabir and Kaju in the midst of the unsettled and flustered situation. The strong bonds in an Indian family have been brought forth with as much ease as the complexities that a diasporic Indian in search of her identity faces.

It is a story of the conflict between the apprehension of an adoptive mother and the curiosity of an adopted daughter, “Ma, after everything you’ve taught me, everything you’ve ever stood for, since when is hiding the truth the right thing to do?”, of sacrifices, ‘She remembered the decision to leave India and how painful it had been…’ of strength, courage and determination, ‘Sitting curled up on his bed, looking lost and vulnerable, she was still undefeated, still courageous, still searching for the truth.’

Kaju’s journey of rediscovering her identity takes us from the idyllic world of her imagination to the stark reality of her past where the readers finally get to know who Amu is. In the end, Kaju woke up for the first time whole rather than fragmented. Despite her new painful knowledge, she actually found herself renewed.

[Book Review by Ankita Mukherjee]