Gelesen für die BergABbau-Challenge im Juli 2011 mit dem Thema:
"XYZ"
Lies mindestens ein Buch, in dessen Titel der Buchstabe x, y oder z vorkommt oder das von einem Autor/einer Autorin geschrieben wurde, dessen/deren Name mindestens einen dieser drei Buchstaben enthält.

About the book
Padhman is a young Indian doctor who arrives in Ireland from an extremely wealthy and westernised medical family in Madras. When he joins the staff of a Dublin hospital as junior houseman to do his Fellowship exam, he finds he is just another "foreign doctor". Slowly and unconsciously, Padhman recreates the kind of lifestyle he is accustomed to in Madras while at the same time getting in deep waters when he falls in love with the Professor's daughter.

My Opinion:
Coming to a foreign country is not always easy – especially when the cultural differences are so massive as in India and Ireland. Nevertheless Padhman – a young doctor – coming to Dublin for an internship is doing well – although he has to cope with the cold and has to organise is life without servants. The problems start when he gets involved with Aoife. Not only is her father professor at the hospital (but Padhman – as the son and grandson of two famous gynaecologists - can handle this) it’s the parents on both sides that are not amused.
Padhmans mother already strongly opposed an Anglo-Indian girlfriend but now she is confronted with her son having a pure Irish girlfriend. But Aoifes’ parents are just as careful, though they don’t show their concerns too open.
Padhman and Aoife learn how to deal with family and being a doctor step by step.
I liked the story of the Indian doctor-to-be in Ireland, also the description of the enrichments and difficulties of a cross-cultural relationship but I could have done with less swearing and offensive language. I know it’s supposed to show originality, authenticity and is a reference to real-life but it somehow put me off. Apart from that, I enjoyed the book.

Joining us at the Wednesday Meetup in the Kildare City Pub
http://www.kildare.de/de/home/