Madras on rainy days by Samina Ali

Ali, Samina. Madras on rainy days, New York : Farrar, Straus,and Groux, 2004.

Here is a young woman torn between certainties of life in India and the possibility of liberating challenges of America.  She agrees to an arranged Islamic marriage that has disastrous consequences.  Samina Ali, describes in detail the customs and traditions and ceremonies and cultures of this community.  Set in the city of Hyderabad, a minority Islamic society in a majority Hindu country.  Ali’s heroine, Layla spent her childhood in equal parts both in the US and India.  She enjoyed the freedom and opportunities of the US, but strangely was comforted and felt secure in the rules and rituals of India.  So to appease her parents, Layla agrees to an arranged marriage with Sameer.  During her period of engagement Layla has an affair with Nate and to complicate matters falls pregnant.  However, the marriage takes place and there is another twist to this story as Sameer is found to have a male partner.  Both families are determined to continue with this farcical marriage, even though Islamic law permits divorce.  Tensions between Muslims and Indus mount and show how vulnerable women are.    

An interesting read for readers to appreciate inter-racial marriages and the tensions that simmer in such relationships.

Samina Ali was born in Hyderabad, India and emigrated with her parents to the US when she was an infant. She spent half of each yearin India, where she attended school.  She graduated from the University of Minnesota.  Madras on Rainy Days was awared the Prix du Premier Roman Etranger award in 2005 and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award in fiction.