Dreamcatcher

I8217;VE had some prophetic dreams,8217;8217; confesses Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni. 8216;8216;I8217;ve dreamt something and then it...

I8217;VE had some prophetic dreams,8217;8217; confesses Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni. 8216;8216;I8217;ve dreamt something and then it8217;s happened to me, or the solution to a real-life problem lies in a dream.8217;8217; It8217;s a theme she works into a frenzy in her latest work, Queen of Dreams or Sapno Ki Rani Abacus, 5.50 pounds. 8216;8216;One of the characters in this book loves old Hindi songs and sings this song, so I thought the title was perfect,8217;8217; says the author about her melodious title.

Houston-based Divakaruni is one of the few Indian American authors to have made it to the bestselling charts in the United States. Her popularity is immense, especially since The Mistress Of Spices, which is being made into a movie by Gurinder Chadha starring Aishwariya Rai. But Divakaruni8217;s critics pan her for exoticising India to cater to her Western audience. Her works, rich with magical realism, are always tales of women who believe in folktales and lore; the other character staple is someone trying to reconnect with her roots.

8220;It makes me very sad when people say things like this. There is such a deep richness in our culture. Besides my audience is very mixed, America has such a global tradition that I have readers from everywhere,8217;8217; justifies Divakaruni. 8216;8216;I focus on the problems and challenges that our immigrants face.8217;8217;

Even in Queen Of Dreams, the chief protagonist is a young Indian American called Rakhi, who is an artist running a coffee shop. When business fails, she transforms it into an Indian chai shop and, in one fell swoop gets back customers and, in addition, learns more about her background.

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If you dream of a closed door, you will ultimately be successful in gaining what you desire, but it will take much effort.
A dream of milk means you are about to fall ill.
A mirror stands for a false friend, a pair of scissors for a break in a marriage, a double-ended drum for recognition and renown, an iron wheel for ill fortune coming at you from every direction.
In your dream if someone presents you with sugar, beware. Such a person is not to be trusted.
8212; excerpted from 8216;Queen of Dreams8217;

The book also relates the tale of Rakhi8217;s mother, a dream interpreter who 8216;8216;dreams the dreams of other people so I can help them live their lives.8217;8217; Trained in 8216;dream-interpreter caves8217; in India, she moves to California after her marriage. 8216;8216;I made up the caves,8217;8217; says Divakaruni of her odd choice for a learning centre. 8216;8216;But I have met people who interpret dreams. There are dream interpreters all over India8212;we have a big tradition of dream telling.8217;8217;

But this venture also has a political consciousness that one did not encounter in her other works. Divakaruni describes the events of September 11 and the violence and racism directed at Indians people during that period. 8216;8216;I didn8217;t suffer as much as some people, but there were certain incidents,8217;8217; she says. 8216;8216;I was called names as I walked down the street, there were threatening stares. And I knew I had to write about this whole sense of misidentification.8217;8217;

The spice mistress could help, perhaps?