“Quarantine,” Rahul Mehta
Usually I have a hard time connecting to stories with the thesis statement “Here I am, in the USA, trying to acclimate to a new culture while trying to hold on to my native country’s traditions.” I’m sure this is just my sense of perception playing tricks on me, but it seems to be the main characters in these stories are always Indian (dot not feather [Is this shorthand for “I’m racist? and/or just insensitive?”]).This story, out of New Stories from the South 2009, sort of applies to the above generalization, sort of not.
Our protag, you see, is a fully Americanized, gay, Indian college student, who’s dealing with a crotchety, misogynistic GRANDPA who still has eyes for the homeland. Our narrator is torn between feeling sad and guilty for his grandfather’s discontent and furrrrrious for his grandfather’s asshole ways. Even at the end - when the time-line of events gets hazy to the point that I’d say it’s poorly written - he’s conflicted. Being perpetually confused inside is a staple of these stories, but adding a crotchety, semi-absurd grandpa character kind of reeled me in. I am, admittedly, a fan of crotchety, semi-absurd grandpas, no matter how implausible their existence is.
-Meredith
