Customer Reviews

Deaf in Delhi: A Memoir (Deaf Lives Series, Vol. 4)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My favorite thing about Deaf in Delhi is the narrator's voice. He tells so many entertaining, heartbreaking, and funny stories from a perspective that captures him at a particular age in his life, but also with the wisdom of a man looking back at his life. A very inspiring story that easily connects reader to writer--you will feel as if you have just started a new friendship after reading it.

Madan Vasishta was struck deaf at age 11 after a bout of typhoid fever and mumps. What a remarkable story of being thrown from the hearing world into the world of deafness. This book is filled with humor and insight, and a complete lack of self-pity.
I enjoyed the depictions of village life in rural India, and the stories of all the "cures" that Vasishta was subjected to by well-meaning family and friends. Faced with many challenges, the author refused to see his deafness as a handicap.I admired his resilience and ingenuity in finding ways to get what he needed, rather than just accepting that his deafness was the result of fate or karma.

Through his perseverance and dedication to getting an education, Vasishta was able to rise from being a cowherd to being accepted as a student at Gallaudet University in the USA.
Truly, a story that inspires.

I look forward to the next book.

Reading this excellent book had me riveted to my seat! In fact, I even stayed up late, ignoring my bedtime hours till I finished it.

I must say that I'm quite impressed with the author, Madan Vasishta, who happens to be a good deaf friend of mine. In the book, he has expressed well of his unique life experience of growing up deaf at age 11, after about of high fever & mumps, in a small village, Gagret, located up the hill near the Himalayas.

He detailed his job experiences starting as a cattle herder, with various odd jobs in between including enrolling a photography school for the deaf in New Delhi where he first learned Indian Sign Language, to migration to the U.S., which was his first experience abroad, to attend Gallaudet College.

Few months prior to flying to the U.S., he married a hearing woman arranged by his family. However, his new wife stayed behind while he studied at Gallaudet for about six years. Upon graduation and obtaining a job, his wife joined him to the U.S. where they subsequently ended up staying and raising their two children.

Dr. Vasishta is retired but currently working as a part-time associate professor at Gallaudet University.

I would definitely recommend this book to EVERYONE!!! And I am eagerly looking forward to reading Dr. Vasishta's next book.