One of the learnings (hers) that comes through is getting over the idea of the White Man/Westerner being superior to others. In India with our fairness fetish, this is more pronounced. But that is just skin deep, is what you learn when you go inter-cultural over long periods. Like she did in Chile in a volunteering stint, teaching English to local kids (My wife taught local immigrants English in a small US town a long time ago- they were adults though).
Simple joys like drinking in public - near the Eiffel Tower, or the Seine- are captured well, along with the more elaborate journeys into the unknown, inaccessible or less travelled parts of the world. The Indian parent syndrome also gets panned, particularly the gender discrimination- the same things done by a Son are praised, and by the Daughter, criticized.
I found the insights into growing up in our (patriarchal) culture very accurate. Of course, every culture has its issues- the U.S. had loneliness, teen pregnancies and drugs as some of theirs. Maybe Trump too, now!
The style of writing is honest and not showy, and it helps to keep you going, wanting to know more. Well done, Priyanka Gupta.
Why should you read the book? Hope you got the answer to that above. I can't tell all- you have to read it to experience it fully. You can get it from Amazon. https://www.amazon.in/
