Book Review: 'From the Streets of Mumbai' to Dubai by Caroline Monterio
'From the Streets of Mumbai to Dubai' written by Caroline Monterio is an autobiographical book but very different from the ones we are used to reading, say the life of great achievers and their achievements.
It’s an autobiography indeed but it made me feel like I was reading one of the best adventure books with twists and turns at every point of the story. A candid expression of the harsh realities of life.
Fate is a very strong element when determining someone’s life, the best example is this story.
Imagine a little girl living happily in a village; she is bright and cheerful and innocent. Suddenly life takes a turn and she has to leave the village oblivious of the fact that she was bidding adieu her village and family forever.
She had dreams of a beautiful city life but it got soon crushed; she ended up begging, getting almost raped, then found herself in a prostitute’s house.
Everything seems normal for the innocent soul. But then danger stikes and she again finds herself on the street.
She takes shelter in a chawl in a loving family. Then comes the police and she finds herself in an orphanage, and finally she is adopted.
But the story doesn’t end there, there’s a lot more to come. She is a person who hardly retaliates and there are people who take advantage of her innocence.
She finishes school but is a college dropout. Her ambition to do something on her own takes her to Dubai where she meets the man of her life.
Even meeting her destined lover was full of adventure, misunderstandings, troubles and confusions.
After marriage everything seems perfect but happiness lasts for seconds only.
She has more to face.
The best thing about books is that we meet a lot of people and characters through books, we visit places through books, we live in books and we learn to life through books.
When we read this book we realise that we are very lucky, we are so blessed yet we mourn at every little thing in our life.
We need to learn to be thankful for what we have and instead of looking at people who have better lives than ours, we must look at people who are not as blessed as us.
That’s the key to happiness, it’s that simple, yet we crave for a little smile and a fit of laughter in every empty turn of life.
Everyday life gives us so much, we forget that there are people who lost everything only to become stronger and gain control of everything.
After reading this book, I ended up having a soft corner for the author.
I respect her will to live, her strength to be who she is today, her ambition to rebuild her life and her determination, which led her to be able to write this book and share her story.
She has set an example not only for all the girls to learn to have that undying spirit but also for people in general who think of giving up easily.
It’s a book which can be read by everyone, an extraordinary story of a gifted girl who is my new hero.
It’s a story which stays with you forever.
Reviewed by Shoumashree Mukherjee.
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