The Hindi-Bindi Club: A Novel

by Monica Pradhan

For decades they have remained close, sharing treasured recipes, honored customs, and the challenges of women shaped by ancient ways yet living modern lives. They are the Hindi-Bindi Club, a nickname given by their American daughters to the mothers who left India to start anew—daughters now grown and facing struggles of their own.

For Kiran, Preity, and Rani, adulthood bears the indelible stamp of their upbringing, from the ways they tweak their mothers’ cooking to suit their Western lifestyles to the ways they reject their mothers’ most fervent beliefs. Now, bearing the disappointments and successes of their chosen paths, these daughters are drawn inexorably home.

Kiran, divorced, will seek a new beginning—this time requesting the aid of an ancient tradition she once dismissed. Preity will confront an old heartbreak—and a hidden shame. And Rani will face her demons as an artist and a wife. All will question whether they have the courage of the Hindi-Bindi Club, to hold on to their dreams—or to create new ones.

An elegant tapestry of East and West, peppered with food and ceremony, wisdom and sensuality, this luminous novel breathes new life into timeless themes.

• ISBN10: 055338452X
• ISBN13: 9780553384529
• Publish Date: 1 May 2007 (first published 1 January 2007)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Bantam
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 448
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780553384529

Reviews

[Heather]

For decades they have remained close, sharing treasured recipes, honored customs, and the challenges of women shaped by ancient ways yet living modern lives. They are the Hindi-Bindi Club, a nickname given by their American daughters to the mothers who left India to start anew—daughters now grown and facing struggles of their own.

The Hindi-Bindi Club

Meenal

Survived breast cancer this year and has found that this experience has opened her mind to things that she would have rejected in the past

Saroj

Had to flee her beloved hometown of Lahore as a child during Partition.  Now is considering traveling back to Lahore to find the childhood friends left behind.

Uma

Disowned by her father after marrying an Irish man, she wants to translate her late mother's poetry from Bengali to English if she can get her relatives to give her access to the journals

The Daughters

Kiran

Meenal's daughter disappointed her family by marrying a man they disapproved of and then getting a divorce.  Now, 5 years later, she is considering a semi-arranged marriage.

Preity

Saroj's daughter was always the perfect one but she's haunted by a romance that her mother put a stop to because the man was Muslim.

Rani

Uma's daughter left her prestigious job to be an artist.  Now she isn't sure that she made the right choice.



The women would have never been friends if they hadn't ended up in the same university when they came to the U.S. and then all moved to the outskirts of Washington D.C. Their daughters were never friends despite being thrown together all the time. Each of them is now struggling with major life decisions and finds that they need each other.

I expected this book to be much lighter than it was. There are some serious issues here but there are also funny moments.

There are some amazing sounding recipes here. I want to try the rice dish. I can never get rice to taste as good as it does in Indian restaurants.

A photo posted by @dvmheather on Jul 9, 2016 at 5:16am PDT

This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story