'Motherland' is a charming "coming of age" novel about fifteen-year-old American-desi girl Maya. Sent back to South India to spend a summer with her mother's family, Maya arrives petulantly angry about being banished from her American home. Slowly the beauty of the countryside and slower pace of life unfold Maya's western life revealing her fraught relationship with her mother.

A freak accident forces Maya to bed rest, where her grandmother patiently draws out all the tiny details of Maya's life in America. Accurately recording these memories in a notebook, her grandmother presents these to Maya once she regains her health. "My Ammamma had given me maps of my past and my future to navigate by," notes Maya. Whilst the author's theme of exploring the other side of my heart" seems a tad too romantic, the idea of knowing one's background and appreciating some of the better aspects of it are wholly realistic and sound. I particularly liked the idea of having memories as roadmaps for one's future.

Vineeta Vijayaraghavan has defined the self-centred psyche of the fifteen-year-old Maya remarkably well, almost touchingly so.

Despite being brought up by her maternal grandmother - being fed and bathed by her, sleeping in the same room and effectively regarding her as her mother - Maya is quick to find faults on her return three years later. Suddenly her grandmother's wardrobes are too crowded, her hair oil and incense sticks too overpowering and Maya longs for the solitude of the guest room. A few short years away from her grandmother have seen Maya mature and become independent. But with this maturity come some selfish traits too. Vijayaraghavan has in many ways tackled the question of "At what point do we outgrow our parents"? Can Maya overcome the minutiae of daily life with her grandmother to enjoy the time she has with her?

The author also contrasts the American way of life with the quaint customs of Southern India. At one party, a bored Maya talks at length to a young male colleague of her uncle's, sparking speculation of the possible marriage match among the gathered group.

Vijayaraghavan also explores the dilemma of India's "moneyed class". Maya's Sanjay Uncle, a manager in a coffee firm, is reasonably well off, but he and his wife Reema agonise over their daughter Brindha's education. She boards at an exclusive school, paid for by her father's company, but the distance and isolation of the school make her long to be at home. Her parents worry about subordinating their desire of having her educated nearer to home against conforming to what is expected of them by others.

Many incidents, major and minor, take place over the Summer with a final denouement that helps Maya not only grow up more, but, also sheds light on her strained relationship with her mother.

Vijayaraghavan has an elegant and assured hand, one that prevents her from degenerating into American slang and she maintains a simple, linguistically fresh style throughout. This makes 'Motherland' a very readable teen novel and charming cameo of American-desi youth.

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