Em and the Big Hoom - Jerry Pinto

 I have always meant to read this book - the title was what grabbed me. But if I had read this before the HLF 2023 I would have grabbed Jerry and somehow got him to talk to me about it - there were so many times that we met including the time I bought this book and got it signed by him and he said '- you haven't read it yet? I mumbled something about always meaning to but had not.

And what a book it turned out to be. These are books that make you wonder if you can call yourself a writer - you can only wonder at how well they write. The love story - between Em and the Big Hoom - comes across powerfully. Em being 'Mother' and Big Hoom the father (who normally replies with a Big Hoom). The children, a boy and his older sister, deal with their mother's bipolar disorder, just as their father does, patiently, with great love, in Bombay of the 80s, a Goan Catholic family. Em comes across brilliantly, as does the Big Hoom and Jerry writes his personal story with a flair one can only dream of. But this is his story, and it comes from pain and memory, so it is best not to waste my words trying to write about it. One can only experience the writing and for that, one must read the book.

The line where the kid from the Chinese thela gives the chicken manchurian and says 'uncle ko bolo, free,' somehow brings the perspective back.

Now, how can I get in touch with Jerry Pinto? Oh man, what a book.