Chef

Award-winning short story writer Jaspreet Singh's first novel opens fittingly on a train as the narrator, Kirpal Singh, is traveling from India to Kashmir. Though ill, he is returning to Kashmir after an absence of fourteen years to prepare the wedding feast for his former Army commander's daughter. At twenty, Kirpal joined the Army after his father, a heroic officer, died on Siachen Glacier in a war with Pakistan. In the shadow of this glacier, Kirpal apprentices under the camp's chef, Kishan, who teaches him to "cook without fear of failure." When Kishan is transferred to a post on the glacier, Kirpal takes over the kitchen. Except for the lack of a love life, he seems content until meeting Kishan again and encountering a Pakistani prisoner, a woman labeled a "terrorist." Though Kirpal begins to question the conflict, his emotions simmer below the surface. Using the power of food, he tries to bridge the divide. Stories told mainly through flashback run the risk of causing "reader's whiplash;" however, Jaspreet Singh's sense of rhythm and his lyricism move the novel fluidly through time. Kirpal's journey is complex and layered like any flavorful dish. Sit back and delight in this delectable story. Reviewed by Deb Jurmu

It has taken me so long to review this book and I am ashamed of myself because I tore it out of the box the day it arrived and did not put it down until I was finished. What a beautiful story, such AMAZING language and a heartbreaking but fulfilling storyline. I highly recommend this book to any people in love with the culture and its history and someone who wants to see how a good novel is beatifully done.

This is the reason we readers read, for books such as this. There seems to be a trend for inward books recently and this falls into that category. There is plot but mostly to hang thoughts and feelings on. Kip, is a Sikh working in Srinagar as an Army Chef attached to a powerful General's house. The world outside their house is at war. Kip is a quiet, contemplative man and the attention he receives is second hand, mostly associated with the heroic deeds of his soldier father. When people meet Kip they seem to not see him. They talk at him about his dad's exploits. Even his name has been modified by the General from Kirpal to Kip. By the way if you're a foody this is only peripherally about cooking and food though the sights, sounds, smells of Indian cuisine are interwoven throughout the book as you follow Kip around the kitchen but more as metaphor or as a description of place and mood. Sometimes the list of dishes or ingredients almost sound like poetry. Mostly this book is about political issues that plague India, Pakistan and the pivot is Kashmir. Kashmir is where the best and the worst play out. Another theme is unrequited love both on a personal level and the unrequited love for one's country and countrymen. Both these loves almost break Kip and it does break some of the other characters. I don't want to give the impression this is a philosophy book though that's here. Singh shows the human rights offenses with a deft touch. Bombs don't go off in your face; the prose builds up layer upon layer until there's a slow implosion. I kept thinking, "he doesn't mean that, surely not", and then, with dread, "he does mean that". It makes the horror more real but without having to wipe blood off your face. The relationships have a push pull that read frighteningly close to real life. An example of this is the story of a woman, Irem, who is Muslim and living in Pakistan with her husband. She's so desperately unhappy in her marriage she throws herself into the Ganges and winds up on the Hindu side. She's scooped out of the water and taken prisoner for being an illegal alien and a possible terrorist. She's under the general's care which is how Kip meets her and falls in love. He's never sure if his love is returned or not. This is a sad book. And so well written it could break your heart.

(4.5 stars) From the opening pages of this kaleidoscopic debut novel, Canadian author Jaspreet Singh works his magic, setting the opening scene on a train from Delhi to Srinagar, in Kashmir. A born story-teller, gifted with the ability to describe the sights, sounds, and smells of his many Indian settings, Singh also creates, at the same time, lively characters and interconnected plot lines which span two generations. Singh explores the India/Pakistan conflict over Kashmir through the eyes of Kirpal (Kip) Singh, a chef who once worked for Lt. Gen. Ashwini Kumar, formerly chief of the Northern Command in Kashmir. Since a chef has a limited focus, Kip is able to convey all the tensions and conflicts of the area without getting bogged down in the logistical technicalities, and because he is an honorable person, he becomes the conscience of the novel. Kip has been out of the army for fourteen years when, in 1987, he receives a letter from Lt. Gen. Kumar, who is now Governor of Kashmir. The general's daughter, a small child during the years when Kip worked for him, is now getting married, and the general wants Kip to be the chef for the wedding. Kip is disappointed with the contents of the letter, since has waited fourteen years for an apology from the general for a wrong committed years ago. Nevertheless, he would like to revisit Srinagar, hoping that the general will, at last, recognize that he was unjust to Kip in the past. Kip has a serious illness, and he also believes that if he does the wedding, the general may respond by helping him get necessary medical treatment. Flashbacks of fifteen or more years, to the time of his army service, fill in the blanks in the narrative and show his relationship with Chef Kichen. When Chef Kichen makes a major strategic error by talking too much, he is sent to a remote outpost on the Siachen Glacier, north along the border with Pakistan, and Kip soon follows him. There among the officers, troops, and the general himself, Kip discovers how the army "works," the compromises people make, the dishonesties, and the lengths the army will go to gain information. Canadian resident Jaspreet Singh, who grew up in Kashmir, endows his novel with the ring of authenticity, and his descriptions and stories within the various plot lines keep the reader involved on several levels at once. Though the plot lines involving love interests sometimes become overly romantic and even melodramatic, the novel does a fine job recreating the conflicts in an area of the world which may never find peace. The author keeps his plots relatively simple and writes with both sensitivity and clarity, and he gives the reader credit by leaving him to draw some important conclusions on his own. This accomplished first novel has a broad reach, and the author does a remarkable job of holding together his plots and letting the reader know where he stands, without becoming a moralist or an apologist. Mary Whipple

like ian mcewan, jaspreet signh has chosen to write about innocence. without venturing comparisons, i'll only say that signh is more subtle than mcewan, and if you're a fan of mcewan, as i am, you'll probably like singh's `chef'. kirpal singh begins his story by confessing that for a long time he's stayed away from certain people. kirpal lives with his mother and he has just been diagnosed with an incurable cancer. he has boarded a train in delhi, india, bound for kashmir at the request of his old employer, the since retired general kumar, for whom he cooked for fourteen years, to be the chef at his daughter's wedding. the train ride is time to reflect on his past and to prepare what he wants to ask the general. in 1947, the british left india, dividing the country by religions, creating pakistan, and kashmir, the country fought over by india and pakistan. the haste with which the british left resulted in massacres and riots, with reportedly more than ten million dead. kirpal's father, a soldier during the 1947 partition, died on the glacier. kirpal chooses to serve in kashmir, wanting to go to the glacier where his father died. unlike his father, kirpal is not a man of action, a condition made clear to himself by his self effacement. kirpal is a shy, good man who experiences the guilt of someone who believes himself to be wrong for not doing what later he believes he should have done; whenever kirpal apologizes, he is told he is a nice man, that he never does wrong. the chef at the base camp under whom kirpal apprentices, and later replaces, teaches his student hindu, pakistani and european cooking, and tells the young man that he needs a woman, that he should lose his innocence to experience. but kirpal believes the best gift the chef, the keeper of a red diary, bequeathed him was the role of witness. anyone who has read james baldwin knows that's not a role taken lightly, certainly not when all of a sudden realized as a belief. one never knows what one will witness, and kirpal witnesses thingss thrust at him most persons are not prepared to see or know. in this personal and historical tragedy, what kirpal witnesses leaves him questioning more than ever his feelings of weakness and powerlessness in the presence of the general and with the women kirpal encounters in kashmir. in `no name in the street' james baldwin also observed: `Incontestably, alas, most people are not, in action, worth very much; and yet, every human being is an unprecedented miracle.' therefore, we pity kirpal singh his circumstance if not his choice.