It isn't easy capturing a country of over a billion people in a hundred and eighty five pages. In India File, Trevor Fishlock, however, comes very close. His novel, funny and shocking in its honesty, is a wonderful introduction to India. In a style similar to Bill Bryson and a tone similar to Jamaica Kincaid, his anecdotes and descriptions bring the vast nation alive. While this book doesn't work well as a guide to India (as a result of its somewhat random organization and its lack of travel details), it makes for a great prep book before a trip to the subcontinent or just an interesting read. There are parts of the novel that are not for the faint of heart. This is non-fiction at its most graphic as Fishlock describes the Indian's intolerance for crime through the stories of common people dropping large stones on people's kneecaps to break them or wardens pok ing prisoner's eyes out with bicycle spokes. On the other hand, these vivid, if violent details, add a level of realism and balance to the book not often found in your average travel guide. As well, despite its very reasonable length, India File reaches some depth in describing India's culture and its people's customs. In this slow moving country even a book originally published in 1987 is relevant and current enough to be useful. This is especially true when one considers that most of its subject matter hasn't substantially changed in hundreds of years. Fishlock follows everything from fishermen's stories to mass marriage ceremonies to the ever-present danger of an overflowing bus falling on you. His humour, sometimes subtle and sometimes blatant, is omnipresent, lightening up what can at times be an either dreary or overwhelming subject matter. Because Fishlock shows us India instead of telling it to us, we are inclined to believe him, almost unquestioningly. Instead of depicting India from the tourist's point of view, Fishlock shows us India from the inside out. He describes it as a foreigner who is at home in India, a non-native untouchable who is in touch with India's grandeur and deformity. In his bluntness Fishlock creates a feeling of the every day in his writing. That is to say, instead of describing a train packed full of people (both inside and on top) crashing into a river and everyone on board dying as a unique and shocking experience he tells of how it's the kind of thing that happens all the time in India. This feeling of everything being common amplifies the feeling of hearing about India from someone who really knows the country as well as emphasise the country's massive scale. In a country this big,, even the most random and bizarre occurrences are repeated.
There is a strong focus throughout Fishlock's novel on religion, language and the Hindu caste system. This focus is paralleled in Indian society and creates a framework in which everyone leads their lives. From the daily work of the untouchables to the different way a priest treats the Brahmins during a mass marriage (that includes members of all of the castes) we see the interaction of religion and class at every level.
