Orienting & Onam in a Nightie: Stories from a Kerala Quarantine

Orienting
How is Tokyo, a city of thirty million people, so safe that six-year-old children commute to school on their own? Why are there no trashcans in Japanese cities? Why are Ganesha idols in Japanese temples hidden from public view? Globe-trotting journalist Pallavi Aiyar moves to Japan and takes an in-depth look at the island country including its culinary, sanitary and floral idiosyncrasies. Steering through the many (mis)adventures that come from learning a new language, imbibing new cultural etiquette, and asking difficult questions about race, Aiyar explores why Japan and India find it hard to work together despite sharing a long civilizational history. Part travelogue, part reportage, Orienting answers questions that have long confounded the rest of the world with Aiyar's trademark humour. Tackling both the significant and the trivial, the quirky and the quotidian, here is an Indian's account of Japan that is as thought-provoking as it is charming.

Onam in a Nightie: Stories from a Kerala Quarantine
In India's tropical paradise, stands a town wrapped around a giant roundabout, where a canny caretaker with a French connection holds sway. Vying for his attention are two competing neighbours. Appu holds lessons for the living but Maya cares only for the dead. And a gastronome dog plays ball girl to tennis-loving nuns. At the centre is an imposing temple so ancient that no one knows exactly when it was built. Here, even a tiny railway station has set its own rules for acceptance and belonging. On the other side of the tracks, a baker runs errands for total strangers in the middle of a pandemic. Malgudi Days meets reality in the search for joy and belonging in a book that is alternatively heartwarming and hilarious. Anjana Menon takes you to a place that you wish stays that way forever, in these true stories of hope and resilience from a midway Kerala town.