Nitasha, narrator of Jyoti Chand's Fitting Indian, has to hide her Cosmo magazines from her mother. Actually she doesn't feel that she fits in with her strict Indian family. She questions their many rules and traditions. Unlike her doctor older brother, she has no interest in vocations her parents would approve of. She has no intention of letting them pick her future husband and resents the control they exert over her free time.
In school she's facing challenges. Her long term best friend, Ava, is befriending a new girl, Chloe who seems to be replacing her. A boy she has a crush on asks her to tutor him in biology and they spend a lot of time together. Only then he asks Chloe to the homecoming dance. And she accepts, knowing how Nitasha feels.
Nitasha does use alcohol to take the edge off her feelings. And she cuts herself when things get really bad. When Chloe posts a really cruel video and it goes viral and Nitasha's family and religious community turn on her--her father says she's not his daughter and her mother accuses her of ruining their family name--she tries to commit suicide.
Although Fitting Indian is a work of fiction, it draws upon Chand's own experiences. It's the book that she felt she had to write.
"This is Nitasha's story, but it's also familiar to so many of us--young South Asian women who were put into a box too early in life and told how life should play out. Many of us struggled and still struggle silently, and some of us were lucky enough to have second chances to live a more fulfilling life. Mental health has been ignored and brushed under the rug culturally for far too long."
On a purrrsonal note, Saturday was the annual Greystone (trailer coop) barbeque. The weather was perfect--sunny but not too hot and humid. The food was delicious. I was able to give out dozens of school supplies filled backpacks. The kids loved them. Their parents were impressed with the quality and variety of the backpacks and the fact that it's the sixth year of the project. Everyone seemed to have a really good time. Now I can start planning year seven.
A great big shout out goes out to all who participated in the barbeque, especially those who organized it and provided the food.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
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