Stupid Cupid

by Mamang Dai

Stupid Cupid

168 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Mamang Dai is a poet and novelist writing in English, from Arunachal Pradesh in India’s northeast. Her mother tongue is Adi. Dai is the first woman of her state to have been selected to the IAS/IFS. However she gave up her career in the Civil Service to pursue a career in journalism. Dai was correspondent with the Hindustan Times, the Telegraph and the Sentinel newspapers and was President, Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working Journalists. She also worked with World Wide Fund for nature in the Eastern Himalaya Biodiversity Hotspots programme.

Her first publication River Poems hailed her as one of the most intensely poetic voices from the North East region. In 2003 Dai was honoured with the state’s Verrier Elwin Award for her book Arunachal Pradesh: the Hidden Land that documented the culture and customs of her land. She has featured in several national and international forums to promote the disappearing traditions of her state in the face of modernity and give voice to its people through the imaginative space of prose and poetry.

A long-time member of the North East Writers’ Forum (NEWF). She lives in Itanagar. Her books include: The legends of Pensam (Novel), Stupid Cupid (Novel), River Poems (Poetry, 2nd edition 2014), Midsummer – Survival Lyrics (Poetry, 2014), El bálsamo del tiempo (The balm of time) (Poetry), Arunachal Pradesh – The Hidden Land (Nonfiction), Mountain Harvest- The Food of Arunachal, The Sky Queen and Once Upon a Moon Time (Illustrated folklore for young readers), Hambreelmai’s Loom – (Folklore, 2014), The Black Hill (Novel, 2014).

Reviews

[Ankita Goswami · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite being only 155 pages long, it took me some time to finish Mamang Dai's 'Stupid Cupid'. Not because it was badly written, infact it's a beautifully written book, but because it deals with two things I have often struggled to understand and have hence been generally averse to exploring - (romantic) love, and the allure of Delhi.

I have only known love through books and movies. Have never experienced passion with a very strong intensity, on my own. I also avoid pure romance novels and movies like they're some kind of a fatal disease, but I was drawn to 'Stupid Cupid' because it's about a girl who comes to Delhi from the hills of Northeast......just like yours truly! And both of us end up falling in love with the city.

What made me uncomfortable while reading this book was all the adulterous relationships in it. It IS about love in non-traditional settings. Almost everyone is having an affair and the author never judges them or paints them as bad people. Neither are their spouses shown to be bad people. So you wonder, as an inexperienced 20-something year old who idealises "traditional" romance, why these people are even cheating? And why 'love' is...so unfair? I have realised that in movies, Kdramas and books, I always empathise with the 'other person', the person who is being cheated on or the one who wants the love of a man/woman who is still in love with someone who left them years ago. My rational mind understands that "love" is an emotion and there can be no rationale behind how or why someone feels a certain way about someone else, but it also wonders about the unfairness of it all sometimes. 'Stupid Cupid' explores this same dilemma in a simplistic and extremely raw manner, but doesn't quite provide an answer; maybe because there really isn't one.

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this one!
I deliberately took 5 days to read this small book because the writing was just too beautiful.
It's her prose that got me hooked👍

The story talks about a middle aged woman from Arunachal settling in Delhi.
The story is all about the people she meets there and those few who came from her place to stay there.
The main theme is regarding love and it's many faces and complexities that come along with it.

But I would say that this book is not for everyone especially for the young readers.
It involves infidelity and extra marital affairs.
I am in no way encouraging such things when I say I like a particular book or a story.
It is the characters that are involved that are so being themselves and looking for love in all the guilty right places.
For me, the writing part got me.
Totally loved this one.
Planning to read all the books ever written by the author👍

*The writing. Yes, it's the writing.

[Abor Hills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually 3.8.
Warning !! Don't read it in your vulnerable phase. I find it very interesting and lovely to read. It's like the heart vs reality and in between that we live and love a little❤️.
#mamangdai

[Tegi TJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novella presents a different ambience in comparison with her previous novel "The legend of pensam". It deviates from the myth gripped pensam and ventures into a whole new world of modernism. Literature is but a representation of the universality of human experience. Dai presents the lived reality of the Adi community where they face various ructions which doesn’t necessarily has to be politically charged. In both the text we are presented with various ordinary women who perseveres and live on irrespective of the challenges faced by them. Adna (dai, Stupid Cupid) faces the challenge of not being able to find someone to love.Mamang Dai eloquently presents the anxiousness of the new against the old; dawn of modernism against ancient tribal culture through her narratives in her work representing the voice of the people. She captures the ambience of the traditional Adi way of life where every individual matters. Through her lyrical and non linear narratives Dai encompasses the Adi narratives. Moving away from the usual prejudice of the writers from the northeast as writing about troubled political climate Dai uses the ordinary people to depict a lived reality different from the preconceived notion of the northeastern writers against the whole plethora of Indian writing in English. Dai in her texts present a different kind of war zone, a symbolical one that is equally important as the other. The war zone is of the tussle between the ancient way of Adi life against the advancing society. Such narratives is a resistance of a very precarious position. Dai successfully presents the Adi way of life, enlightening anyone who reads, preserving the culture and retains the Adi cultural identity.

[Zuicy Beauty Akoijam · Rating 3 out of 5]

A beautifully written story about a woman named Adna who comes to Delhi from the hills of the North East, with hopes and admiration for the city. With the property she had acquired from her late aunt, whose adventurous streak she takes after, Adna opens a guest house where men, women, lovers and friends could rendezvous 'without too much sweat'. The idea came to her when she was looking for such a place herself - Adna is in love with a married man. Yes a married man!!
This isn't the only adulterous story you'll come across, almost everyone in the story is having an affair. It is about love in unconventional, non-traditional setting.
This is what is going to make you question - about your pre-existing definition on 'love' and the rationale behind why one feels in a certain way. And also everyone seems to be on a chase of discovery and meaning. But what is it?
.
The novel is full of many philosophical lines and few to quote-
"Time will tell if we do the right thing or not. But even if the future holds no promise, how can we betray the moment?"
"We live our lives in intense fragments. Through all our days these pieces remain as single, separate pictures luminous in memory and illuminated by time."
"Everyone wanted to feel the arrows of love, to be caught in its net, touch it's flowers and feel its breath, no matter how ephemeral."
.
I take utmost interest in books dealing with dynamics of relationship, its multiple facets and complexities. But this one could not give a satisfying depth to it.
This is my first time reading Mamang Dai's work. I am sure the author has much more to offer. I have collected few of her books and will be reading all of them soo

[Tanvi Hussain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was published in 2009 when I was in college. I saw this book in many book stores and book fairs. Many times I thought to pick this book but never did so cause of it's title which I thought would be only a romantic stuff. After so many years I found this book again and thought to give it a try. I found the story very moving and relatable owing to its north east india origin. The story moves around many characters, their aspirations and situations of life wherein they landed in unexpected realities of lives and relations, way beyond their presumption. The author has put down the tales of different characters in graceful, quirky and humourous way, she tells about the struggle of the people of North East India in the region as well as when they move to the mega cities, the unique weather conditions and how its both a boon and curse in terms of natural hazards and connectivity. The plot of the book builds its own graph which is both absorbing and unpredictable. When the cupid strikes it arrow it is not just about love but an array of unforseen happenings in anyone's life.

[Smart Fox · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a non book.What the author does with dozens of her friends, sells chicken or whatever must not interest the readers.Why the book was written is the mute point.
With a long experience in civil services, I think we deserved a much better book from the author.AN OPPORTUNITY WASTED.

[Nayanika · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book narrates the stories of a few individuals belonging to North East India intertwined in the big metro city of Delhi with a sense of belonging binding them. I liked the story in parts and it felt kind of dragging in the middle for me.

[Sarada Sengupta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dai has such a beautiful way of wording situations and moments, really impressed by her writings.