Sideways on a Scooter: Life and Love in India – For Sale – Price

5 reviews for Sideways on a Scooter: Life and Love in India – For Sale – Price

1. 

   Jaylia – 25 February 2025

   Better than 5 stars
   This is a fascinating, insightful book–as gripping as a good novel–because it gives the reader an intimate glimpse into the hearts and minds of several Indian women navigating their lives in a country that’s still bound by caste and tradition but modernizing at a dizzying pace. There’s lively, charismatic Geeta, a “modern girl”, who is nevertheless torn between hoping for a marriage arranged by her parents and finding herself a love match. Parvati, another highly opinionated friend of author Miranda Kennedy, chain smokes in spite of its stigma and has more contemporary notions about caste, love and marriage, but because of her unique situation these ideas are influenced by living in a reality that is very different from that of most Americans. Besides these friends, Kennedy had two household servants whose lives she becomes deeply involved in, one a proud but poverty stricken Brahmin from India’s highest caste and the other a Dalit or “untouchable” from what has traditionally been the lowest rank in Indian society. We also meet the friendly Muslim and Hindu women at the fitness center Kennedy frequents who are generally more interested in having a chance to relax and socialize than they are in exercising.
   Miranda Kennedy met these women and became part of their lives while she lived in Delhi for more than five years. She had dreamed about India, and wanted to go there herself, for most of her life. In her family that journey had become something of a tradition since first her great-aunt Edith traveled there as a missionary and later her hippie parents wandered around the subcontinent. When the September 11 attacks happened Kennedy was a radio reporter in Manhattan and she spent weeks sleeping, eating and working at the studio, which was just a few blocks from the World Trade Center, afraid that if she left the NYC police would not allow her back in. Afterwards, burnt out on hourly news reporting, and wanting to follow the story in a more in-depth way from Afghanistan she managed to get a small grant to train radio reporters in South Asia. It wasn’t much money, just enough to get her started and after that she had no guarantee of work.
   Everyone advised her to wait, and work her way up to be a foreign correspondent within the system, but like her peripatetic family before her Kennedy felt the need to shake her life up and go somewhere she hoped she could become her fullest, most interesting self.
   With Delhi as her home base Kennedy reported on some of the biggest South Asian stories of the time, including the war in Afghanistan, unrest in Pakistan and the 2004 tsunami, but it isn’t her adventures as “super reporter girl” that make up the bulk of this volume. It’s Kennedy’s account of her struggle to find the right balance between work and love, and the way that quest was deeply and surprisingly influenced by the Indian people, especially the women, that she became close to, that is the larger and far more fascinating part of the book.
   This is the second book written by a female NPR reporter who spent time living in South Asia that I’ve read in the last few months, and I also highly recommend Lisa Napoli’s book on Nepal, Radio Shangri-La.

2. 

   Chandra Lahiri – 25 February 2025

   Honest and empathic insight into India and Indians.
   I started off hating it, because of its apparent bias (ie. saying things about my country that I know are true, but dislike!) and several glaring errors of understanding or translation. However, as the book progressed, I realized it actually is a love story for India, and the author has experienced and loved the country and its people (and some of its unlovely aspects like pollution, noise, intrusiveness) at a far deeper and more empathic level than even I, a full blooded Indian, have. A remarkable book, written with palpable love, understanding and care, it clearly shows how deeply, and honestly, the author has chosen to experience India.
   I highly recommend this book to anyone even remotely interested in India and Indians.

3. 

   Holly – 25 February 2025

   A must-read for people interested in India
   Usually if there is a novel written by an Indian author or a travel narrative written about India, I am willing to pick it up and give it a go. A couple of my daughter’s closest friends have parents from India who immigrated to the United States and after getting to know them, it only increased my interest in the country and the culture. “Sideways on a Scooter” is a wonderful documentation by a journalist who moved to Delhi while in her twenties and stayed for five years. Both a journal of self-discovery and cultural acclimation, this book succeeds on many levels.
   There have been many, many books written lately along the lines of “Eat, Pray, Love” and the books of Frances Mayes which I have enjoyed immensely. Where this book is vastly different from those is the fact that this is a woman who truly committed to living in the culture for an extended period of time versus a few months or parts of the year while returning to her home country. I am in no way being critical of those types of books just sharing that it is a point of difference. Miranda Kennedy moved to India without a job or connections and totally immersed herself in living there. She stays long enough to become a true participant versus an observer.
   As I said initially, this is part a journal of self-discovery since over the course of the book, Miranda tries to better understand the impact of her families’ vagabond life-style and how their distaste for settling down in one place fueled her desire for change. She refers often to her great-aunt’s years in India as a missionary and the family legend that she is. She also spends time reflecting on her uncommitted lifestyle and the results of her choices on her life and relationships. Shining a spotlight on the pros and cons of not getting married and having children, the importance of the family in Indian culture gives her an opportunity to analyze it in ways she might not have otherwise.
   The look into modern-day India and some history is also done without romanticism so the reader is privy to traditional Indian ways, modern Indian ways, and the struggles encountered when the two collide. Ms. Kennedy develops friendships with several women and provides peaks into their lives that are fascinating. Do modern Indian women want to select their own husbands or should they go the arranged marriage route? What role do the parents have in selecting their mates? How do educated, middle-class women find themselves in arranged marriages which we find so hard to understand in this country? Caste still plays a significant role in Indian life and how does it ripple through the entire social and economic structure of the country? These are only a few of the topics explored and there is much more the reader to discover in these pages.
   Bottom line: One woman’s experiences living in one part of the vast country we know as India. Shaded as all writing is by the bias and lens of the author, this memoir comes across as an honest attempt to be as accurate as possible with Ms. Kennedy’s experiences. Fascinating, informative and well worth a read.

4. 

   cynthiasoprano – 25 February 2025

   Miranda Kennedy gets to the inside of the lives of friends and workers she encounters in India, in a sympathetic way.
   She highlights the difficulties of living a “modern” way of life within all the traditional social rules, whilst gaining enlightenment on her own values and judgements. A very readable book!

5. 

   Honey Comb – 25 February 2025

   This was an informative and well written book. The author placed you right there with her Delhi. Shows how even the poor can be so racist and class conscious, I highly recommend this book especially if you are planning to visit India.