BOOK 10: WESTERN LANE, CHETNA MAROO #BOOKERPRIZE2023

Personally, to be honest, I've never been interested in sports. Back when I was in school, I used to hate going to Physical Education (PE ) classes. I was bad at any sport. Once our PE teacher asked me to take part in shot-put competition and I missed him by a few inches. I’m not a person who actively cheers for a cricket or football match. I won a Pepsi crate when the opposing team was winning( the challenge was to call Pepsi when any player hit a sixer, irrespectively) and irritated everybody in the house.

This book being part of the Booker dozen and having been shortlisted too, forced me to read a book on squash, which I might not have read otherwise.

Western Lane is a small book (100+ pages), which talks about this family of three girls, who have recently lost their mom and are being taken care of by their father. They love playing squash and play at Western Lane, the sports centre. The father shows them videos of famous squash players and discusses the ins and outs of the game. The girls manage their chores responsibly while attending school and squash classes.

This is yet another book this year that talks about a family missing the mom.

Though the story, like the squash ball, reverberates with the loss, it has been beautifully woven depicting the Gujarati community, eating simple meals of Dal-chawal, portraying the struggle weighed down by the loss of the family member. The Gujarati girls who are under the surveillance of the community still go ahead with their rigorous training under the love and care of their father. I find it rather odd that, when people move to a new country, they force their children to follow the old traditions and customs of the land they come from.

I was apprehensive to read this book for obvious reasons but I was glad I read it. The ending was absolutely fantastic and I loved it.