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Shopping for Sabzi (Articles & Reviews) |
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Shopping for
Sabzi by
Nitin Deckha
Reviews:
International Examiner
Fast Forward
Weekly
Uptown
Magazine
City Masala
Desi Life
Order:
Purchase
Shopping for Sabzi from tsarbooks.com
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Sabzi from Amazon.ca
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International Examiner
Review
by Nalini Iyer
“Shopping for Sabzi” is a debut collection of short
stories by Nitin Deckha who was born in England,
raised in Canada and educated in the United States.
His transnational experiences are reflected in the
dozen stories in this collection. Many of his South
Asian characters are transnational subjects who are
negotiating multiple cultural and social identities.
His non-South Asian characters are cosmopolitan and
urban. The title of the collection (“sabzi” refers
to vegetables in Hindi) comes from the author’s
mother-in-law who compared her daughter’s search for
a mate as “shopping for sabzi.” But women in South
Asia take their sabzi shopping seriously—each
vegetable has to be examined, poked, and prodded and
the price haggled with the seller. The stories in
this collection focus on a variety of characters who
are in search of mates—some are negotiating cross
cultural relationships, others are pondering what
might have been, and still others are bumbling
along.
In “Spick and Span” a nearly 30 year old Gujarati
social worker helps her aunt organize a marriage
convention in New Jersey while exploring her own
different expectations from married life. In “Cheese
Guru Kiss”, a happily married father of a teenage
son suddenly comes face to face with an old girl
friend who is now a celebrity chef and briefly
flirts with his past, and in “Ketchup” a father with
a toddler remembers his first serious relationship
with an older woman while traveling back home to
reunite with his wife. These stories are charming
and slightly romantic as the protagonist eventually
comes “home” happily to his/her choices. Some other
stories are surprisingly edgy. In “Piece of Cake” a
young photographer journeys to his past to explore
his first girl friend’s bouts of eating disorder
while his current girlfriend wishes to aestheticize
and commodify the sick woman’s relationship with
food. In “Will Model for Food”, an English
journalist explores the politics of urban
redevelopment and homelessness and in “1 900 Hey
Baby”, the writer examines the world of phone dating
services. A couple of stories examine South Asian
women who reinvent themselves in widowhood startling
their families and friends by their surprising
choices.
Deckha’s stories are impressive for their range of
topics and for the variety of characters. Some of
the stories are fairly conventional while a few
reveal an edginess that is promising. He steers
clear of South Asian stereotypes especially given
that his topic is mate-hunting—a topic that is so
prevalent in South Asian fiction that it is clichéd.
As is common with debut collections, there is some
unevenness in quality and a tentativeness to voice,
but if Deckha produces more stories like “1 900 Hey
Baby” and “Ketchup”, his will be a writing career
worth following.
Nalini Iyer is Associate Professor of English at
Seattle University where she specializes in
Postcolonial Studies with an emphasis on South Asia.
She has written numerous scholarly articles and book
reviews on South Asian literature and her upcoming
book, co-edited with Bonnie Zare is Other Tongues:
Rethinking the Language Debates in India (Rodopi,
2008).
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Fast Forward Weekly
Review
by
Steve
Magusiak
Fruitless search
In Nitin Deckha’s short
story “1 900 Hey Baby,” part of his collection
Shopping for Sabzi,
a call screener at a phone dating service chases his
ambition to become a chef and is manipulated by a sleazy
talent scout. In “Spick and Span,” an unmarried New York
social worker is forced to confront her insecurities
about being over 25 and single, while organizing a
Gujarati marriage convention. All of the characters in
Dekha’s collection have one thing in common: they’re
shopping for sabzi.
“Shopping for sabzi
literally means shopping for vegetables,” says Deckha,
an anthropologist who teaches social sciences in
Toronto. “Like when you are looking for an apple, you
pick it up, examine it and put it back. The same kind of
idea applies to people’s lives and their quest for
personal fulfilment.”
Though shopping for
sabzi is an accusation levelled at young people in the
title story, Deckha believes the habit is not limited to
the young and the restless. “I think shopping for sabzi
is something we’re all doing. I think it’s part of the
zeitgeist. We’re all reinventing ourselves to get what
we want,” he explains.
Rich in sarcasm and
dryly humorous, Deckha’s collection of short stories
offers a series of relatively light hearted glimpses
into the middle-class struggle for personal fulfilment.
Many of the tales surround the privileged, but often
wayward, lives of thirty somethings as they search for
success in its many forms. Whether they are struggling
to advance their careers to greater heights, find love
or simply get laid, the occasionally selfish characters
are beset by a feeling of dissatisfaction with their
current situation, dogged by a persistent feeling of
doubt, or a desire for something better.
However, these are not
stories of heavy personal crises and broken dreams, and
the subject matter never gets too dark. The characters’
inner struggles are instead fleshed out from simple
events in their lives. Sometimes these struggles seem
banal, but Deckha has a way of writing about these
mundane situations that creates the feeling you are
looking at a poignant snapshot of life in motion.
The stories mostly
follow the lives of young, white-collar South Asians,
but exploration of their ethnic identity is done
sparingly, or left out entirely. “Their South Asian
identity is a part of it, but that is sort of the anchor
rather than the foundation,” explains Deckha. “And their
stories are maybe not universal, but certainly
cross-cultural. I think it reflects an emerging time in
Canadian literature where writers are more comfortable
venturing beyond the familiar motifs.”
Deckha
drew his characters from his experiences doing field
work in London and from his brief stint in advertising
in New York. This is his first book, but he is currently
working on a novel that he says will expand on the
themes he established in Shopping for Sabzi.
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Uptown
Magazine
Review by
Quentin
Mills-Fenn
Look no further
Nitin Deckha's short stories explore restlessness and
the hunt for more
Nitin Deckha explains
the title of his first book, Shopping for Sabzi
(Tsar Publications): "It literally means shopping for
vegetables," he says. "If the apple isn't beautiful, you
put it back."
The collection of stories features characters, usually
East Asian and usually young professionals, who want
more and continue to search for something better. The
most luscious piece of fruit, for example.
"That kind of restlessness," Deckha says, "looking for a
better career, a better relationship, guides the
stories.
"There's something missing in their lives. They're not
satisfied. They want less anonymity.
"Some of the stories have a snippet of reality," he
adds. "A friend will tell me something, or a student,
and I'll think, 'That would make a really good story.'"
Not all of the characters are young professionals. The
London-born, Toronto-based writer has a special literary
affinity for middle-aged immigrant women. Deckha talks
about billboards in places such as Brampton, Ont., with
brown-faced women selling their services as mortgage
brokers and realtors.
"Two of the stories have widows," he says. "That group
of women, they've lived through a great deal from how
they were raised, the lives they thought they would
live."
But Deckha isn't afraid of a laugh. The most captivating
creations in the book are the author's version of a
stock character in Indian film and fiction, the Auntie.
"The Auntie is a funny character," he says. "She's
overbearing, a little loud, a little noisy. They're the
defenders of tradition. But they're changing.
"I'm interested in the way they reinvent themselves."
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City Masala
Review by Sheniz
Janmohamed
If you’re looking for an enjoyable read
after the holidays, order a copy of Nitin Deckha’s
Shopping for Sabzi.
A collection of
humorous, well crafted short stories, Shopping for Sabzi
embodies many of the concerns and questions young South
Asians face in the Western world. Each story has a subtle
leitmotif - an idea or image that strings the narrative
together, and makes the stories more nuanced and fascinating
to read. “Enterprising Widow” tells the story of a
young South Asian man dating outside his culture, and how
his girlfriend and his mother develop a friendship.
“Ketchup” enters the mindset of a young father, and his
memories of being a rebel and activist in university.
“Spick and Span” is a hilarious look at the dating scene
in the South Asian community, from the perspective of a
single South Asian woman.
Deckha’s
strength lies in his ability to
describe images with precision and detail. For example,
“Kamala was near statuesque in a cream and soft pink sari,
save for her slightly protruding caramel belly.” Deckha
weaves humor and sarcasm in the text, and his characters are
people we recognize in our own lives: the young activist
fighting for community projects, the friendly waitress with
bigger dreams, the self conscious young man who fears his
own mother, the newly arrived immigrant.
ONE ON ONE WITH NITIN DECKHA
Q:
Which story is your favorite in
Shopping for Sabzi?
A:
“Enterprising Widow,” with “Diva Desperada” as a
very close second.
Q:
Is there a character you loathe?
A:
There aren’t
too many villains in these stories, but Heath in
“1 900 Hey Baby” is probably the most loathsome and
morally bankrupt character in the collection.
Q: Which
story was the most difficult to write?
A:
“Will Model
for Food”
Q:
Is there a character in the collection
who shares your personality (i.e., you with a different
name)?
A:
I suppose the
character that is closest to me is Kish in
“Ketchup.”
Q:
What is your favorite collection of
short stories?
A:
I am a big fan
of short stories. I enjoyed Hanif Kureishi’s “Love in a
Blue Time” and
Nell Freudenberger’s “Lucky Girls” a great deal.
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Desi Life (The Toronto Star)
Review by
Jane Van Der Voort
Bagging a good read
Shopping stirs something
primitive in each of us. Some lust to shop, some dread it,
others do it out of habit.
In Shopping for Sabzi,
the debut collection of short stories by Nitin Deckha, the
phrase "shopping for sabzi" refers to the acquisition of
success.
"It's a phrase my dad uses
to talk about our generation," says Pushpa, 22, in Deckha's
namesake tale. "We're always on the hunt for the next great
guy . . . trying them out for size, seeing how they measure
up against the previous one, and if they don't we drop them
like a bruised tomato."
Success is key to the
characters we meet briefly in the dozen tales presented by
Deckha, an occasional writer for Desi Life. They
are South Asians, young mostly, and anxious to achieve. The
complications they face are constant and layered.
Yet Deckha's quick plots are
not mired in detail. There's a sense we're not getting the
whole story, and we're relieved to be spared demands on our
empathy and concentration when the real world claims so much
of that already.
Who says a little love story
is not a good love story? Not Shilpa, who, after being stood
up, agrees to help at the Gujarati Samaj of America, a giant
matchmaking conference, only to have the offending young man
track her down and find her there. Not Saira, who loves the
teacher Tom but must meet with old flame and realestate
developer Rehan to dissuade him from digging up a
neighbourhood park - and convince herself she no longer
loves him. Nor is it all romantic love and new passion in
Shopping for Sabzi. Sometimes, as in the story
"Potatoes and Punjabis Are Everywhere," it's Happy's
discovery of his love for his customs - his turban and his
hair. For Konrad, it's the love of his life, and his wife
and kids, despite the reappearance of a university-era flame
- and her sizzling kiss.
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