Last Friday, I went to the AMC Cambridge to see the big-seen adaptation of The Namesake. The film was based on the fantastic novel

by Jhumpa Lahiri. Lahiri was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for her collection of short stories Interpreter of Maladies.

Jhumpa Lahiri is no stranger to MIT. She spoke here as part of the MIT Writers Series and visited campus again as part of a symposium on Asian Diasporas and New Transnational Cultures. Video of the latter is available in the Language Learning and Resource Center (LLARC)

Things the movie got right: Ashoke & Ashima's first years of marriage in America; the Ganguli's trip to India
Thing the movie didn't get right: Gogol & Moushumi's train station scene
Thing the movie didn't get at all: Nikhil's Yale years -- these were so good, why did you omit them?! Argh

Another cool connection: Ashoke (below, with camera), who gave his son Gogol (below, without White Castle hamburger) his name, came to America to research at MIT. Nice.

The event was sponsored by MIT South Asian American Students (SAAS), who purchased tickets for us in advance and offered them at half the cost. Many thanks!

Comments (Closed after 30 days to reduce spam)

Wow! Awesome cultural connection. I am not Indian, however I was raised Indian. (Adopted by an Indian family...kind of a long story....) Anyway, I love the Indian culture and I speak Hindi and I am learning to read Sanskrit. That's pretty awesome book, I read it a few years ago.

Are you Indian as well? Even though I am not Indian I still sort of feel more comfortable around Indian people than white people, as they are my family. Is there a large Indian community at MIT?

Posted by: Eunice on March 19, 2007

Pretty strange; just found out I was rejected, but anyway.. First Post

and last

Posted by: Anonymous on March 19, 2007

This book pretty much describes my life... I'm Bengali and was raised in a setting that is Very similar to this books setting!

Posted by: Sinchan Banerjee on March 19, 2007

eeeek! I love the book!
Was the film good? I'm completely excited to see it this Thursday...I can't wait!!!
...but the fact that KUMAR is playing Gogol kinda takes a little...a bit...actually a lot of the appeal out of it :/
Why did they have to choose KUMARRRR!

Posted by: Kavita Mistry on March 19, 2007

I worried that too, but Kal Penn is pretty great in it

Posted by: Mitra on March 19, 2007

i'm upset that the movie's not playing in FL yet.
will it ever come?

Posted by: Shamarah on March 19, 2007

Wow, The Namesake is one of my favorite books and I hadn't heard about the movie! I can't wait to see it, thanks for the heads up!

Posted by: Melis on March 19, 2007

My parents are Lahiri fans so we're seeing teh movei tomorrow. Should be interesting.

Posted by: Anjaney on March 20, 2007

Completely off-topic:

You run, right? Do you run outside or at the sports center? If outside, do you feel safe running by yourself? Are there a lot of nice areas to run in?

Posted by: Another Runner on March 20, 2007

well i know this kind of sounds stupid but now that i have got rejected from mit, i no longer need to check the mit website. but now it has become so much of a habit that i cant giveup this habit and keep waiting for new blog entries good luck to all in life.

Posted by: reddy on March 20, 2007

hi iwant about mit plz help me

Posted by: babak on March 21, 2007

I just want to say "happy persian new year", "happy Noruz". And also congratulation to all the admitted students.

Posted by: Saman on March 21, 2007

Saman
Are you admitted???
Please leave your mail if you don't mind

Posted by: Mohamad on March 23, 2007

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