There are few books that I can genuinely relate to, but this book had me cringing on numerous occasions because I have also, many years ago, worn the same clothes, listened to the same music and even uttered the same West London nonsense as Amit or Mitt Dogg: the protagonist.
Reading Shukla’s Coconut Unlimited was like digesting an eerie, abstract biography of my own life-to-date. I know, I know: that’s a rather bold statement. However, upon getting through the scene-setting chapters, it’s clear to see why: a British-Indian boy trying to find himself, seamlessly and simultaneously trying to align himself to two cultures; while academic expectations, bestowed upon him by his parents, prolong and his path to realisation.
This story, a story many others could tell, is the story of every British-Indian that’s strived to break the monotony of a stereotypical, enforced lifestyle: early, academic over achievement; reading sciences at university; becoming a banker, accountant, doctor or lawyer; marrying an Indian girl — from the same caste; living with your parents — forever; buying a BMW to woo that girl in our your own caste, and then a Mercedes 4×4 when you have children; talk bollocks about football, cricket or F1, then – at a rotund seventy years of age – after continual samosa and paratha abuse — you die.
Am I describing my life? No. However, the aforementioned, battery-hen lifestyle is what many automatons aspire toward. Rebuttal or individualism is met with xenophobic mocking and faux-bewilderment —at the very least. I mean, where’s the fucking eject button?
The people I respect in the British-Indo/Asian community are fearless: Bobby Friction, Nerm, Monica Ali, Faisal Ahmed, Riz Khan and Nikesh posses sterling confidence and an indomitable spirit toward doing what they’re passionate about. Following in their footsteps, a wave of second generation British-Indians are beginning to buck the trend, and even my nieces and nephews are now reading English, art, design and fashion at university. Attitudes are changing, and I could go on to address societal agenda, class culture and changes in values, but my arguments would take this post too far off-piste.
Coconut Unlimited is a good page turner, a book that could easily be read in two days, it acted as a buffer between literary heavyweights and some of the classics I’m trying to get through. Who is this book for? Not everyone, but definitely for those who want to understand old fashioned Indian values. From start to finish, of its two hundred pages, you will feel like a stranger entering a new family.
One Comment
I love the cover, and the book sounds very interesting. To we Americans, you’re all just English whether you’re of East Asian, West Asian, Afro-Caribbean or European descent.