City of Joy- Dominique Lapere
I have read 2 more books of him co-authored with Larry Collins - Freedom At Midnight and Is Paris Burning. Both are really good, especially the First one as it is about Indian Independence. We can relate to it. Second one Is about the France's fight against Hitler during World War 2. Again good. Very captive writing style.
City of Joy is about a slum in Calcutta. There is a movie by that name which I haven’t seen. It is told by means of an evangelist priest who serves the poor, living with them. He lives a devout Christian life, yet come to discover that Hindu, Muslim or Buddhist, God is right there with us. God has no religion or name. The priest wasn’t the usual lot who would create a big hulla-bulla about conversions and religious brain washing. He didn’t attempt anything of that sort.
He accepted the religion of the slum, the religion of humanity, as his own. He was such a great man of God that he could assimilate everything into his God. He would chant Om Jesus and be apart of the religious celebrations of Hindus and Muslims of the slum. There is not a single mention of an occasion where anyone had been inspired to convert into Christianity by him. May be, it takes more than our dead brains to decipher the real meaning of The Bible. He did. He is, indeed a great man.
The people of the slum also, embraced him as one of them. They had there initial apprehension about his true intentions, quite justifiable. But that gave way to the true love flowed from him. There is a scene at a railway station where the Ghosh family was returning to their village. The man of the family asked the priest to bless him in the name of Jesus even if he was a Hindu. He considered Jesus as just another form of an all encompassing, omnipotent God.
It was great to read how Kovalski(the priest) got the people together to improve their lives. How he instilled confidence in them and how he overcome his own reservations about the Lepers and the Hijras. I would have puked onto the book when the author narrated about the crude amputation of the lepors and the castration of the Hijras.
The second protagonist is a young peasant who migrated to Calcutta from Bihar, owing to a bad famine. It is about how the poor thing struggled to make a meager survival with his family, how he gets one hope after the other. I was touched deeply while reading about his pains in collecting the dowry for his daughter. Have you heard of selling your own bones? This guy did. And the buyer paid him 500 bucks and waited for him to die so that he could collect the bones and export it to US universities.
There are flaws in the book, or may be I can’t help being an inveterate critic. I have felt that the author takes a sarcastic look at the other religions, at times. And he has glorified Mother Teresa a little too much, again at times. But the author is well known as a disciple of hers. And I have some personal reservations about her, though I respect her for her life dedicated to the suffering.
This book tells u, there is a god, who lives right here with u. Man, I am moved by reading this. I really fell what use are lives of? We can't live in harmony with our roommates. Still crib about a boss or the canteen food.
This is one of the best books I have ever read. And the best, as far as the non-fiction and non-story types are concerned. This is a relatively fat book. But worth it.
Must read as an Indian. More over, must read as a human being.
There were occasions I felt my eyes getting wet, both 'cos of sorrow and 'cos of joy. I didn’t read the book. But the author made me live thru it. I lived in The City of Joy.
I have read 2 more books of him co-authored with Larry Collins - Freedom At Midnight and Is Paris Burning. Both are really good, especially the First one as it is about Indian Independence. We can relate to it. Second one Is about the France's fight against Hitler during World War 2. Again good. Very captive writing style.
City of Joy is about a slum in Calcutta. There is a movie by that name which I haven’t seen. It is told by means of an evangelist priest who serves the poor, living with them. He lives a devout Christian life, yet come to discover that Hindu, Muslim or Buddhist, God is right there with us. God has no religion or name. The priest wasn’t the usual lot who would create a big hulla-bulla about conversions and religious brain washing. He didn’t attempt anything of that sort.
He accepted the religion of the slum, the religion of humanity, as his own. He was such a great man of God that he could assimilate everything into his God. He would chant Om Jesus and be apart of the religious celebrations of Hindus and Muslims of the slum. There is not a single mention of an occasion where anyone had been inspired to convert into Christianity by him. May be, it takes more than our dead brains to decipher the real meaning of The Bible. He did. He is, indeed a great man.
The people of the slum also, embraced him as one of them. They had there initial apprehension about his true intentions, quite justifiable. But that gave way to the true love flowed from him. There is a scene at a railway station where the Ghosh family was returning to their village. The man of the family asked the priest to bless him in the name of Jesus even if he was a Hindu. He considered Jesus as just another form of an all encompassing, omnipotent God.
It was great to read how Kovalski(the priest) got the people together to improve their lives. How he instilled confidence in them and how he overcome his own reservations about the Lepers and the Hijras. I would have puked onto the book when the author narrated about the crude amputation of the lepors and the castration of the Hijras.
The second protagonist is a young peasant who migrated to Calcutta from Bihar, owing to a bad famine. It is about how the poor thing struggled to make a meager survival with his family, how he gets one hope after the other. I was touched deeply while reading about his pains in collecting the dowry for his daughter. Have you heard of selling your own bones? This guy did. And the buyer paid him 500 bucks and waited for him to die so that he could collect the bones and export it to US universities.
There are flaws in the book, or may be I can’t help being an inveterate critic. I have felt that the author takes a sarcastic look at the other religions, at times. And he has glorified Mother Teresa a little too much, again at times. But the author is well known as a disciple of hers. And I have some personal reservations about her, though I respect her for her life dedicated to the suffering.
This book tells u, there is a god, who lives right here with u. Man, I am moved by reading this. I really fell what use are lives of? We can't live in harmony with our roommates. Still crib about a boss or the canteen food.
This is one of the best books I have ever read. And the best, as far as the non-fiction and non-story types are concerned. This is a relatively fat book. But worth it.
Must read as an Indian. More over, must read as a human being.
There were occasions I felt my eyes getting wet, both 'cos of sorrow and 'cos of joy. I didn’t read the book. But the author made me live thru it. I lived in The City of Joy.
posted by Dew Drops at 3:35 AM
2 Comments:
Dominique Lapierre's "It was five past midnight" co-authored with Javier Moro is a brilliantly researched and well-written work and definitely worth a read. It is on the Bhopal Gas Tragedy.
I started reading the City of Joy sometime back but couldn't go on, kind of got dragged I felt. But your review I hope will inspire me to take it up again once I get home.
Strange that you chose to mention some reservations about Mother Teresa. I have always considered her a worshipful figure but recently came across a lot of allegations against her which has since left me in a research mode.
@arjun
Yup, I too have some reservations about Mother Teresa. It is not as much about her intentions but about the path chosen.
And I am a huge fan of Lapere and Collins. This book is drag at the initial stage. I feel that is typical of the author. But if you manage to push through the first couple of pages, you are welcome to The City of Joy.
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