The Inscrutable Americans

[Little Witch]

<i>\"Beloved younger brother,
<br><br>Greetings to respectful parents. I am hoping all is well with health and wealth. I am fine at my end. Hoping your end is fine too. With God\'s grace and parents\' blessings I am arriving safely in America and finding good apartment near University. Kindly assure mother that I am strictly consuming vegetarian food only in restaurants though I am not knowing if cooks are Brahmins. I hope parents\' prayers are residing with me.\" </i><br><br>



This is Gopal, resident chemistry genius, National Oil Factory Owner, and avid reader of Penthouse Letters - freshly plucked out of his comfortable orbit of his hometown Jajau in Madhya Pradesh, and thrust straight into America. This is Gopal - who’s just discovered, much to his chagrin, that America is ‘full of Americans’, and that ‘they are big, white’ and, to his own admission, ‘a little frightening’.
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Landing in the Land Of The Free after downing a good 37 glasses of cola, Gopal finds a conspicuous lack of vegetarian burgers and Brahmin chefs in McDonalds. He is suitably taken in, though, by the glitter and gloss that is America, and is baffled by their presumed sweetness at wanting to hear of his life. At Immigration, the greeting, \"How\'s it going?\" inspires Gopal to expound for ten minutes upon the problems of his family business, and at the official’s comment ‘Nuts, totally nuts!’, Gopal is thunderstruck at the guy’s knowledge of his fondness for cashew nuts!
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After the first three pages of a continuous snicker-a-page, this giggle fest goes on as Gopal is taken under the wing of a fellow student, aptly named Randy Wolff. (\"Why?\" Gopal asks, at Randy\'s identification of himself. The next morning when Randy returns with \"Remember? I\'m Randy,\" Gopal goes \"Still?\") Anyway, with Randy in tow, our pal is introduced not only to the wonderful world of laundromats, washing machines & topless bars, but also to football… ‘which has little to do with foot and pretty much nothing to do with a ball’.
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Randy manages to infuse in Gopal a wanton need to get laid before he leaves America at the end of his first year. Gopal has now not only have to cope with the alien culture but also his misplaced lust which at most times seems to beat that of his counterpart. ‘Those red haired ladies, are they red all over’? is a question that plagues his mind and through the book till about the end.
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The Inscrutable Americans is a hilarious satire on both Indians and Americans. Through an over-indulgence of typical ‘Inglish’, author Anurag Mathur manages to bring about a style of writing that is fresh and unpretentious. Not only does the book deal with the accounts of a student who hasn’t traveled within 40 kms of his hometown, it also deals with the sense of alienation that Gopal faces as he reaches America. A sense of loneliness and longing, of being away from a large attached family where every relationship has a detailed title and function. Mathur, successfully, brings forth the realities of racism, as seen through the wide eyes of the virgin genius Gopal, and infuses it with a sense of pinching reality. The \'many embarrassings\' he faces due to his Indian English and his lack of experience with the opposite sex give the book the rare element of pure fun.
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The Inscrutable Americans, by and large, is a weekend book meant for laffs. But underneath the grin is a serious attempt to bring forth the actual cross-cultural divide that marks the East and the West. It also succeeds in bringing about an insightful scrutiny of an inscrutable population. After all, for all our cable exposure to Friends and Sopranos, we’re still a country that pees with its bathroom door locked.

[Me]

whats the link with the witch and the book? (which aint so great by the way!!)

[RahulDravid]

isn\'t there a limit on how long postings fullhyd allows! If u are listening, webpage admins, pleeeees limit it.

[neeraj]

Hi Litle Witch. you are really one,,, your board Inscrutable Americans?????

[Anjaan Hyderabadi]

that wuz a really nice piece madame! er... assuming you are not a male witch like UK... ...

[Shady]

Hey Witchie, I Loved the book. espcially the part about the vegeterian cats...remember?!!! A hilarious account of an Indian in Yankee land. Looks like you other guys haven\'t read the book....It\'s called \"The Inscrutable Americans\" by Anurag Mathur.pick it up..Its nice,light and funny.

[popesmokesdope]

tried locating Jajau three times tho\' without much suck-cess..... i have this gut feeling that there is some funda behind the name of this town. besides the book is awsum... esp the first time gopal meets randy.... and even peacock ruleth!!!! \\m/

[Hyderabadi Banjara]

How many of us identify with Gopal? LW, do you have any personal tales to tell? I do have. BTW, are you masquerading as a witch as K. Hydee points out. I am sure, he is right after seeing your post.