Made in China-Parinda Joshi

Book: Made in China

Author: Parinda Joshi

Publisher: HarperCollins India

What would you do to save your rapidly sinking business? Would deal in something that goes against your beliefs just so that you can make ends meet?

Welcome to the life of Raghu Mehta, a man who has tried his hands in multiple business opportunities but is not successful. His latest venture of handicraft imports collapses when he gets a call from his supplier one day. Stuck with a shop full of imported idols, with no sales to say of, his world comes crashing down. Dejected, a ray of hope comes in when his childhood friend, Dev asks him to accompany him on a trip to China to scout for opportunities. After a long back-and-forth on the decision, that included cajoling from his wife and taunts from Dev, that Raghu decides in favor of going on the trip. What happens in China starts a chain of events that from the core storyline of the book. Walking on the path towards imports of consumer goods, he gets sucked into the black-market trade and entices him to do something that goes against his very beliefs of being a vegetarian, God fearing man. Will Raghu succeed in this venture or will this be a proof of the pattern of the life of Raghu Mehta, read Made in China by Parinda Joshi to find out.

The basic premise of the book is based on comedy of errors and how each step taken by Raghu changes things and the reactions of the people around him. Set in Surat, Parinda has taken a good situation of a desperate man to highlight as the protagonist. Unfortunately, the storytelling seems a bit stretched. Some incidents are rib tickling in isolation but as a whole, the book does not seem very comical. The story suffers from many quick jumps in the story which break the reverie that the storyline manages to build. The part set in China is good and the situations are plausible and are genuinely funny. The post-China storyline is good enough and manages to salvage the book. The climax of the book is expertly hidden but seems disconnected as it jumps out of nowhere. A subtle parallel storyline could have probably helped in this regard. Overall, the loose ends of the sub-plots should have been tightened in the end.

Coming to the characters, Parinda has created Raghu in the image of a typical middle-class, small town businessman. A person with high dreams with no means to achieve them, he is desperate for a break. His emotional upheaval through the book is depicted nicely and that it gives a good spine to the storyline. The character of Dev too has been created in good detail with aspects of his personality that change the narrative quite effectively. The characters of Dr. Vardhi, Rukmini and Raghu’s children provide the much-needed comic relief in the book in patches.

I can recommend this as a light read to any person looking for a break from the monotony of the routine life. Made in China manages to convince me to let 3.5 stars out of my warehouse.