Mamaji

Book excerpt: Elisheba Haqq, the youngest of seven children has lost her mother, Mamaji to cancer. She is living with a cold and unfeeling stepmother and searching for answers. The small-town Minnesotans believe the family members are the "perfect immigrants." Nothing could be further from the truth. Haqq offers an honest and atypical perspective in her memoir Mamaji. She's not the usual Indian immigration success story. She doesn't attend an Ivy League college, have a Bollywood-inspired wedding or become a neurosurgeon. Instead, with humor and introspection, she shares how she and her siblings contend with a manipulative stepmother. Elisheba battles to salvage her father's love while the fast-fading memory of her mother lingers in the background. Despite her absence, Mamaji gives her children grit and a deep devotion for each other enabling them to flourish despite their home life. Mamaji is a story about a daughter longing to connect with her lost mother. It's about a mother's bond to her children and how her love brings great strength and resilience. It's a story of redemption and forgiveness despite blatant injustice and deceit. It proves a difficult past does not determine future love and happiness.