The Memory of Elephants

by Desai, Boman

• ISBN13: 9780226143811
• ISBN10: 0226143813
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-10-01
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

Spurned by his first love, Homi Seervai, the Parsi genius from Bombay, creates a machine that lets him scan his brain for memories of the time he spent with her. The machine malfunctions, propelling him instead into his collective unconscious where he encounters ancestors and relatives, both dead and alive. In this wildly inventive book--available for the first time in the United States--Homi, blessed with the memory of elephants, discovers the splendor of his heritage as well as hope for the future.

Author Biography

Boman Desai is a writer who has worked as an auditor, secretary, farmhand, bartender, musician, and teacher. He is also the author of Asylum, USA.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Prologue	1	(24)
Bapaiji	25	(76)
Navsari	27	(10)
Adi Ghadiali	37	(16)
Hormusji Behramji Seervai	53	(10)
The Mother	63	(9)
The Emancipation of Women	72	(7)
Maharani Is Coming	79	(8)
Simply Cleaning House	87	(7)
Between the Mosque and the Temple	94	(7)
Granny	101	(70)
The Long Dining Table	103	(10)
Cambridge	113	(6)
Like Cambridge	119	(9)
Nawaz	128	(3)
Rustomji Jamshedji Cama	131	(5)
A Midsummer Night's Dream	136	(15)
A Legitimate Heir	151	(13)
The Episode of the Vase	164	(7)
Mom and Dad	171	(118)
Froglegs	173	(10)
Edinburgh	183	(9)
Ratilal	192	(3)
Baksheesh, Seth, Baksheesh	195	(4)
Land of Forefathers	199	(7)
The Two Girls Huddled Together Like Monkeys	206	(11)
First Class! Absolutely A-Number One-First Class!	217	(10)
Joyride	227	(12)
Her Mona Lisa Smile	239	(14)
The Greater of His Two Loves	253	(14)
Nehru and Lady Mountbatten Had an Affair	267	(16)
The Towers of Silence	283	(6)
Rusi	289	(58)
Maybe If I Had Been a Quadriplegic	291	(11)
Stupid Bloody Bawaji Bastard	302	(9)
You Think This Is Bloody Communist Russia You Can Just Walk into My Room	311	(6)
Look at His Hair, Like a Gollywog	317	(5)
Chicago	322	(11)
Jan Schultz	333	(14)
Homi	347	(58)
Penny	349	(11)
Penny: Corollaries	360	(4)
Aquihana	364	(11)
Va-Va-Va-Voom	375	(5)
Manasni, Gavasni, Kunasni	380	(9)
On the Wings of a Dragon	389	(16)
Epilogue	405	(3)
Glossary	408