THE PRAYER ROOM

When I picked this one up,i thought it was going to be yet another book about the Indian diaspora but as I kept turning its pages,I was pleasantly surprised.

The Prayer Room is a very engaging debut novel by Shanthi Sekaran.It tells the story of Vijaya (Viji),a small town tamil girl who is married to a foreigner for getting into a relationship with him and is packed off to London with a husband she barely knows.George her husband is equally clueless and we are told in the beginning of the story itself that "he had a habit of regretting his purchases".

It goes on to tell us of their journey from England ,to Sacramento,in America,where they decide to settle.Viji tries to adjust herself to her new life and also tries to keep a little of her old by having a small prayer room,where she keeps pictures of all those near to and no longer with her.She seeks solace by holding conversations with the people in the picture frames.George is also trudging on in life,wishing it were something else. Life of course doesnt stop amidst all this and twelve years and three kids later (triplets) Viji finds herself dissatisfied and questioning everything about her life.

She therefore packs her bags and goes off to India to find all her answers and this is where the story catches pace.What happens in India?Does she get her answers? and does she come back to her life in America? is what makes up for the rest of the book.

This story tells us about the need we all have at some point in our life to come to terms with what has happened,the need to make peace with ourselves.How sometimes there are a lot of things buried inside our soul and we just cannot stifle them any longer.How everything appears smooth on the surface but there are deep cracks within.About love,relationships,family,lasting bonds and duty.

I liked the book for its honest approach and beautiful prose.It is a page-turner and I could not guess what would happen next, until the end and that was what I liked most about it.