Mappillai e-bog

Mappillai';son-in-law' in Tamilis the rollicking story of journalist Carlo Pizzati, a European living with his in-laws in urban Chennai and with his wife in rural Paramankeni. When in Paramankeni, he finds himself in the company of fishermen and goat-herders, in a house where 3G asserts itself in a corner of the bathroom and electricity courses through rooms in fits and starts. At one level,Mappillaiis deeply personal. With beguiling candour, Carlo tells of his struggle with two extreme, contradictory responses to Indiafascination and suspicionand his awkward attempts at cruising through a maze of bribery, bureaucracy and traffic. Yet, atanother level, the book offers a glimpse into the world of expats in contemporary India by introducing us to a host of colourful ';firangi friends'from those who are overwhelmed by this nation's noise and colour; to those who ';go native' in kurtas; to those who believe that India is vast enough to accommodate their diverse selves asdreamers or yogis or artists. But, beyond all of this,Mappillaiis the story of India. Over his decade long stay in this nationone that has taken him north and south, westand eastCarlo has witnessed a land in fluxfrom the gloom and doom of 2008 when the New India dream shattered, to the heady optimism of 2015 with promises of ';acche din', right up to today, marked by the domination of anti-Romeo squads and gau-rakshaks. With wry humour and jollity, wisdom and acceptance,Mappillaioffers an intimate capsule of contemporary Indian historyof theconcomitant Hinduization and Westernization of India, intertwined with the Indianization of a European!