Book Review: Days Of My China Dragon, by Chandrahas Choudhury

Chandrahas Choudhury, author of Arzee the Dwarf and Clouds, has come up with his third offering, Days Of My China Dragon. Narrated in the first person by Jigar Pala, a restaurateur based in Prabhadevi, Days Of My China Dragon is quite different from Choudhury’s previous two works, though the prose is just as sublime, unless it has possibly become a tad better.

Days Of My China Dragon is a collection of short stories masquerading as a novel, or possibly the other way around. Jigar Pala is a restaurateur pretending to be a philosopher or a maybe he is a philosopher trying to run a restaurant. Choudhury is a food critic and Michelin star awarder pretending to be a writer and a connoisseur of human nature or maybe the reverse is true. Do you get the drift? Never mind, do you know why human beings go to a restaurant? Never mind, especially if you are an Indian who was born in the 60s or 70s, since you most likely a miser who goes to a restaurant only if you are travelling and have exhausted the food you brought with you.

And so I thought Days Of My China Dragon was a collection of stories and anecdotes about the China Dragon restaurant, until Pintu Masurkar, one of the waiters at China Dragon decided to join a political party, one to the extreme right of the spectrum and Jigar Pala took offence. Ha! I have a political thriller on my hands, I thought. Yes, there was politics and even some bloodshed, but the tsunami didn’t last long and I was rowing on a placid stream once more. Until a real estate shark turned up, that is.

Usually a real estate shark gobbles up its victim and swims away in search of its next prey, but then, Jigar Pala is not your standard, soft and easy prey. A man whose father put him through boot camp before handing over the reins of his Udupi restaurant, a man who fights survival battles every day, I was sure that Jigar Pala would put up a good fight and I wasn’t wrong, though things didn’t go exactly as I had anticipated.

Choudhury writes exceedingly well, his limpid language underscoring the beauty of his prose, each word carefully chosen and placed in perfect position, not unlike the cups in a Japanese tea ceremony. Choudhury is not only an excellent writer, he is also a good story raconteur. Days Of My China Dragon doesn’t appear to have a plot or purpose, until you realise towards the end that it did have one all along.

I’m not going to say more and spoil it for the readers. Do order the book online or buy it from your nearest store and you’ll be giving yourself a treat!