Gifted – Nikita Lalwani

Wanted to pick up a book of an Indian Author and saw this book in that section. Never heard of the writer Nikita or the book. Picked it up after reading the synopsis that the story is about a ‘Gifted’ Mathematics prodigy girl of Indian origin growing up in UK. Debut novel of Nikita, which seems to be inspired by the true story of ‘Sofia Yusef’, a mathematics prodigy who entered Oxford at the age of 12 in 1997. The novel talks about life of educated Indian migrants in late 70’s and how it is for their brilliant child growing up in England trying to lead a normal life like any other child of her age but under constant pressure of very high expectations and restrictions from parents who believe in the supremacy of Indian culture and religion and want to make a mark in the country they live now.

It beautifully depicts the immigrant’s struggle to desperately cling to traditional Old World values at all costs.. Was bit disappointed with the ending, where the story kind of ends on a sad note, where its not much about the gift the child has but the broken relationships caused by the high expectation of parents with almost zero social network around them, nobody to ask for advice or help them to steer in the right parenting direction to raise a child brilliant in maths but who otherwise is very normal just like any other average kid. But in general, this book has got very good reviews and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in the year 2007

Personally, I found the book a bit drag in a couple of places, and it had that familiar stereotypical tone which most of the Indians know, how and what is expected from any child (especially girls) academically and socially. How everything be it education, sports, how to behave at home, your clothes, your choices in life - everything is linked or is concerned with finding a suitable match. The emphasis on the ‘honour of the family’ concept, and how even though you are born and brought up in a foreign country, but the expectation is that you will still behave, think, walk, talk, dress and do everything like an Indian from India, just like your migrant parents though, is the sad reality, but still was disappointing.