I read Arundhati Roy’s “The God of Small Things” over the past couple of weeks. I enjoyed the sense of experiencing Kerala, where I traveled while in India. I appreciated the way Roy addressed the issue of class and caste distinctions even in the most communist part of India. Besides, it’s a great story masterfully and suspensefully woven.

When I told my housemate Vivek about it, he reminded me that I’d seen Roy speaking along with Noam Chomsky at a large stadium in Porto Alegre during the World Social Forum in January. Vivek said many Indians feel Roy’s political theories are not practical, yet the crowd in Brazil roared its approval as she spoke.