Kim - Rudyard Kipling

This was my first read of Rudyard Kipling...Kim-A typical literary classic..The book is a mixture of  adventurous journey and spirituality..Kimball O'Hara is an Irish-English boy who born and brought up in Lahore (It was in India before partition)..Despite having English origins,he grew up as a native   Indian boy..He speaks fluent Hindi and very much familier with the Indian culture and traditions .He is a secret spy to the british govt. and takes part in a 'Great game'..He carries messages to a horse dealer called Mahabub Ali of Umballa.Once a Tibetan lama comes to Lahore in search of the magical holy river of healing.Kim very much fascinated with the holy man and serves him by becoming his 'Chela'..They travel through Indian landscapes across many places..The Lama sponsers Kim's education in Sahib's (english) school named as St.Xavier's..Finally the spiritual journey of Lama comes to an end by finding his river of arrow,that is salvation..And Kim's destination is left to the readers anticipation.

Copy right A Homemaker's Utopia 

Kim's living and learning described in the following manner..

The country born and bred boy has his own manners and customs,which do not resemble those of any other land;and his teachers approach him by roads which an English master would not understand..

'Kim' portraits the typical Indian living of country side and the relations of Britishers with Indians.There are glimpses of racism too..The book is a blending of British,Muslim and Indian cultures.The book also mirrors the life style of Indian women at that time..They are talkative,shy and love cooking and serving.Being an Indian I enjoyed the usage of hindi words and Indian proverbs in the prose..Like 'Nut-cut','Pahareen','kismet' etc etc...There is a funny usage of the typical pronunciation of  Indians for some english words like "Te-rain" for Train...

Here  is a wonderful description of Mumbai at that period..

Bombay'the queen of all-more beautiful in her garish style than Lucknow,whether you see her from the bridge over the river,or from the top of the Imambara looking down on the gilt umbrellas of the Chutter Munzil and the trees in which the town is bedded.Kings have adorned her with fantastic buildings,endowed her with charities,crammed her with pensioners,and drenched her with blood.She is the centre of all idleness,intrigue,and luxury and shares with Delhi the claim to talk the only pure Urdu..

Coming to the negative points-I gradually lost my interest as the adventures of Kim turns boring...The language used by Kipling is very tough...I need to refer for meanings often..It is certainly not an easy read,One needs so much patience..And I feel the author failed to show the real Indian cultural beauty...The journey is mostly occupied with plenty of conversations..Some times it is confusing to find out who is speaking actually..:-) The spying game was quite boring for me..Anyways I'm having a very bad habbit of reading every book till the end If I start it once..My expectations were too high as the novel based on colonial India...But its a disappointing one for me...