Farewell Sweet Monsoon

By Moitri Datta

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0965423808
• ISBN13: 9780965423809
• Release Date: September 1998
• Publisher: UPADHYA PUBLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL
• Length: 163 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Speaking my thoughts

First of all, books like this should get more publicity, as the ones who do not get to read books like this one, are losing out on something so thoughtprovoking and beautiful. The language is simple, yet beautiful. It gets you thinking about your own life and how you are notcapable like the author in penning it down so well. When I read the portion, where the author has to keep moving from placeto place all over India, and in the process keep leaving friends behind, I keep thinking of my daughter who has done the same, due to the fact that her father had a transferable job and it was heartbreaking to see her go through the agony of changing schools and in the process her friends(who she fears she will never beable to meet again). As a result of all these moves in her life, we had to send her to a boarding school at age 10 in order to give her stability. I wish the author would write a sequel to this book.Sridevi Rao

Nostalgic memoir of an young Indian that touches our heart

'Farewell Sweet Monsoon' is Moitri Datta's memoir of her childhood in India, her education, her becoming a doctor, her relationships, and finally her marriage and emigration from her homeland to the United States for permanent living , along with her husband. It is not the story of any famous person but the personal story of an ordinary Indian woman, yet it has a universal appeal that will most definitely touch the minds and hearts of many readers from across the world. The story re-creates the environment of the city of Calcutta, where the author was born, from the time it was part of the British Empire through independence , to the early 70s. In India, Calcutta has been reputed to be the city of the intellectuals where cynicism and radical thinking reign. At the time of the Indian independence from the British, Calcutta was especially affected both by the partition of India, and a dying industrial climate. As a result, it was the first Indian City to witness the frustration and chaos in the aftermath of independence from Britain, which resulted in the growth of a movement especially affecting educational institutions, that was often intolerant to any divergent views and any information not supporting their line of thinking. Ms. Datta's narration of her traumatic experience when she attended a medical college in Calcutta provides an excellent insight into this interesting period in India's history.The story also succeeds in providing an authentic depiction of family dynamics in India during that period. The head of the family is the famous surgeon grandfather who pursued the ways and mannerisms of an English gentleman, which provided an interesting contrast to traditional Indian ways pursued by the rest of the family. He is unique in many ways, yet in the character of her grandfather, Ms. Datta has revealed well what was true for many Indian patriarchs of joint families in post- independence India - outwardly a strict disciplinarian who never compromised his values, but actually is a very kind man on the inside. The grandmother, in contrast, has traditional values and makes for a unique marital relationship that may interest the modern generation of readers bent on external parameters of compatibility. Like many women in those days in India, she is married by arrangement at a very early age (the age of thirteen) without any formal education to match that of her husband. She carved out a space for herself in the household where she reigned supreme. In many ways they complemented each other superbly and enriched each other's lives. Such marriages were typical in those days. In contrast and in spite of her grandparent's ways, Ms. Datta's parents were married not by arrangement but by romantic involvement. Her mother came from a different background, and was well- educated, extrovert. Her experience of living in a joint family, under the strict, unalterable rules of the grandmother, her pining to set up h