1. INTRODUCATION
The Inscrutable Americans is a 1991 novel by Anurag Mathur. Tri-
Color Communications adapted the book into a film in 1999.
Plot
Gopal Kumar, the son of a hair oil tycoon in Madhya Pradesh, arrives in
America to study chemical engineering in an university in Eversville. Being a
rural boy, he is singularly a virgin. Randy Wolff, his designated buddy attempts
to introduce him to the dating culture of the USA, which Gopal resists at first.
He is slowly coaxed by him while discovering more of America. Towards the
end of his stay, Gopal becomes frustrated due to being unable to "score" a girl.
He leaves America still a virgin, but on a flight, he meets a mysterious woman
who shares his affection, although they don't touch.
Movie
Tri-Color Communications adapted the book into a film in 1999. It was
directed by Chandra Siddartha.
SUMMARY 2
“The Inscrutable Americans” opens on a comical note with an
extremely hilarious letter that Gopal, our “Fresh off the boat” protagonist writes
to his brother on his arrival into the world of Uncle Sam. From here on, it takes
you through Gopal‟s whole year in the little known University of Eversville,
where he encounters several of what he calls the “inscrutable “symbols of
America like Randy, his one constant companion in the Lala land, Peacock,
who shows him that discrimination and poverty co-exist with the prosperity that
envelops the rest of white America, and a series of romantic misadventures with
Sue, Bernice, Ann and Gloria to name a few. Armed with a masters degree and
the experience of having spent a year discovering the intrigue that is America,
he goes back rejuvenated to the sojourns of hometown Jajau.
There are several instances where his gentle innocence leads him into
some pretty hilarious conclusions like at the customs, where one of the baggage
handlers tells Gopal “Watch your ass,” and Gopal quickly assumes that the man
was referring to the two donkeys the family had bought before his departure. He

2. wonders how they know about the two donkeys and believes it is all part of a
bigger conspiracy of the CIA that collects all the data they can about everyone
coming to America. He sees himself as a cultural ambassador and tells another
Indian friend that because of India‟s superior culture, they must set an example
so that the Americans will improve their behavior and therefore, India‟s
bilateral relations with America will drastically improve.
Gopal‟s character has a rustic undertone to it while the other characters in
the book are sophisticated in their American ways as far as food, women and
dating are concerned. The author‟s comic timing holds you through the rest of
the book. For instance, Gopal waxes eloquent on the changing favorable
balance of payment situation of India in order to charm his way into finding
love with a blonde woman he just met. All‟s well with this story, which is a
comic satire on the stereotypes and prejudices of Indian migrants in their
adoptive land, except that this is precisely all that the book has to offer.
One keeps wishing the end does not come so soon, before Gopal comes
of age or into his own, and that somewhere along the way, Gopal tries to find
greater meaning and depth in his perceptions about America. All the while, the
reader is tempted to believe that a higher calling awaits Gopal other than the
pursuit of female conquest. After all, he has been the recipient of the „Most
Promising Young Man of The Year‟certificate that the All India Association of
Hair Oil Dealers issues to him back in Jajau.
One wish that he matures into a reasonably suave personality and takes
back with him a little more than superfluous impressions of America, that he
evolves into a thinking individual willing to make a difference to his life in
India based on his learning in the U.S. These aspects are markedly conspicuous
by their absence. All in all, “The Inscrutable Americans” is a good read for all
the funny episodes it has to offer but here‟s wishing a more relevant sequel will
soon follow. Hopefully, Mr. Mathur is listening?
SUMMARY 3
Review
The Inscrutable American by Anurag Mathur.
Published by New World Library, Novato, California, 1997. Originally
published by Rupa Publishers, New Delhi, 1994.

3. Anurag Mathur's The Inscrutable Americans is an upside-down, round-
the-bend look by a f-o-b Indian at the contemporary American society. The
novel gleefully reverses the clichéd orientalist perspective that saw Asians as
'inscrutable' and formed the basis of western perception of other cultures for
more than two centuries, and applies it with insouciant wit on Americans.
Gopal, the protagonist of this novel, is a recently arrived student from a
small town in India who encounters the "Dullesville capital" of US with an odd
mixture of wide-eyed innocence and worldly wisdom. Inscrutable Americans
recounts Gopal's run-ins with American hickdom with an amused tolerance that
springs from the author's understanding of both cultures. As a classic
immigrant/exile, Mathur has a wry sense of detachment that arises out of
physical and emotional distance experienced by all people who have moved
away from their native cultures and have tried assimilating into a new one.
Mathur is a cultural hybrid with affiliation to two cultures like a vast majority of
people in today's world. He therefore, has the ability to observe and enjoy the
quirks of American as well as Indian society. This dual vision shared by both
Mathur and his protagonist is common to all immigrants, and makes an
enjoyable reading for people of diverse cultures.
This is undoubtedly a book that Indian as well as other immigrants can
understand and empathize with. But the irony and humor with which Mathur
presents American society might come as a surprise to American readers. As the
instance in the novel where Gopal tells Tom, an American with pronounced
right-wing sympathies that "People are people. Indians are also like this".
"Really?" Tom was surprised. "Yes, yes. Everywhere people are the same. I am
having uncle who is so proud of India and culture that he is thinking all are
inferior". "India has culture?" Tom was downright skeptical. "Going back 4,000
years. Many palaces, tombs, art and dances". "How come no one ever hears of
it? I mean no offense, but let's face it. Who's heard of India?"(p.183-4). In this
particular example, humor is two-edged. Mathur makes fun of Gopal's highly
indiginized "Indlish", but the real focus of his satire is American insularity and
ignorance of other civilizations and cultures.
Mathur and Gopal are cultural hybrids; creatures born out of this enforced
union between east and west and familiar with both societies to some degree.
This knowledge equips them to judge both cultures with a clinical eye, as they
have the advantage of belonging as well as detachment from both of them. We
laugh at Gopal's efforts to find a burger cooked by the American equivalent of a
Brahmin. But along with this display of Indian foibles, Mathur also provides
stereotypical American bloopers about elephants, poverty, and caste system that

4. they typically associate with India. Thus making American ignorance of other
countries and cultures target of mild satire. For instance, an old American
woman once asks Gopal, "Young man, tell me, do you drive elephants in
daytime as well as nighttime? I mean do they have headlights and taillights that
blink when they turn at night?"
The institutions and traditions that Americans consider normative, which
are actually unique to them and hence, incomprehensible or bizarre to the
unaccustomed eyes of a new arrival like Gopal, are presented with great effect
in the text. This novel projects the outsider's view of sacred American rituals
ranging from mammon-worship in the malls ("the cathedrals of modern
America"); to a game of football with its naked display of apparently senseless
ferocity and gratuitous sexuality in the guise of cheerleaders. Watching a
football game for the first time is almost always a culture shock to most
newcomers and Mathur illustrates it very effectively in his novel.
Till a few decades ago, west considered itself as the observer/interpreter
of the east, which was a corollary to its political and cultural dominance over
most parts of the globe. But with the assumption of sovereignty, most former
colonies gained confidence to return the critical gaze of their former masters.
Inscrutable American is an example of this phenomenon where former subjects
have turned their inquiring gaze onto their former masters. Though this is not
the literal truth about India/American association, each of these countries
symbolically represents the two polarities of imperial/colonial enterprise and
seem to be engaged in rewriting a new chapter of their frequently prickly but
dynamic relationship.
SUMMARY 4
A funny take on an Indian boy's first experience of America. Of course,
this was just the prototype of all the novels that were to follow, and all the
ABCD movies that were to be made. This was the original and the funniest,
most honest response of an Indian to America.
Set, in the Early 90s, this book is a hilarious account of a small town young boy
from India who travels to US for a year's study there.
His prejudice at all things American and Americans, infatuation, and
inquisitiveness about sex and etc is nicely set with a very funny touch!
Probably I have not laughed while reading any other book than this!

5. An interesting view of America through a non-native's eyes. I was embarrassed
that most of his pre-conceived ideas about America revolved around sex and our
adult entrainment industry. Even though it is a work of fiction, I've heard
similar things from other folks as well. The writing took a little to get into but it
was interesting nonetheless.
Mathur has written another book after this, but nothing has matched the success
of this first book.
„The Inscrutable Americans‟ starts off with a super hilarious letter written by
the protagonist to his older brother, about life in America. This mini book that‟s
just over 250 pages is a non stop ride in hilarity.
Our hero Gopal hails from the small town of Jajau in India and the story starts
with him arriving in the US for his further studies. Everything is a culture shock
for him starting with his American friend, Randy who meets him at the airport.
This is quite shocking for Gopal who fails to understand how his parents could
name him that!
Gopal‟s misadventures continue as he experiences the modern US life with its
supermarkets, freeways and the conveniences of the city. He haggles for things
at the supermarket, where even the exasperated owner gives in and gives him
the goods at reduced prices. As Gopal knows (from his shopping experiences in
India) that unless you have done some bargaining, it‟s not shopping :-)
Gopal also has a tendency to do a lot of day-dreaming especially the dreams
related to his imaginary girlfriend and the subsequent heartbreak he suffers.
While Gopal struggles to make sense of it all, his friend Randy is onto a
different mission altogether and that ‟s making Gopal go the distance.What
happens with Gopal‟s straightfaced atttitude and Randy‟s brashness is one
hilarious read.
The best part is that this is one of the few books in which every incident by the
protagonist is spoken in typical Indian style, if you know what I mean.There is a
virtual translation of the sentences we speak in Hindi to English that makes you
laugh as you read along. I have to present some excerpts from the book to make
you realize what you have been missing, if you hav‟nt read this book as yet.
In one of Gopal‟s letters to his brother he says:
How much I am missing one and all I simply cannot say. My head is eating
circles with all new things. Two weeks are already proceeding and I do not even
know. Also no one is bothering who you are and you are also not to bother. You

6. do not believe, but I am calling respected Professors by first name. One is
saying to me, ‟‟My name is Sam, not Sir Sam. The British are not knighting me
yet.‟‟ Good joke I think. Brother, are you imagining if I am going to Great
Principal of Jajua College and calling him by first name? I think he is dying of
heart attack.
At Customs, brother, I am getting big shock. One fat man is grunting at me and
looking cleverly from small eyes. ‟‟First visit?‟‟ he is asking, ‟‟Yes,‟‟ I am
agreeing ‟‟Move on,‟‟ he is saying making chalk marks on bags. As I am
picking up bags he is looking directly at me and saying ‟‟Watch your ass.‟‟
Now, brother, this is wonderful. How he knows we are purchasing donkey? I
think they know everything about everybody who is coming to America.
‟‟The Inscrutable Americans‟‟ means the American people who cannot be
understood easily. The title makes a lot of sense vis-à-vis Gopal, for whom the
Americans continued to be inscrutable even as he returns to India, a much wiser
person. At just 100 bucks this is the cheapest way to a three hour laughathon.
Enjoy!
The Inscrutable Americans by Anurag Mathur, is story about small
town(jajau) indian boy(Gopal) visiting US for higher studies. Gopal lands on
Eversville, where he is going to spend the next one full year of his life, he meets
Randy - a thorough-bred American. As soon as Randy hears Gopal's views and
ethics, he announces his mission for the next one year, convert Gopal into a sex-
maniac. Gopal steps to wider-world to explore american lifestyle. Its very very
hilarious exploring americans though Gopal's experience. also the other-way,
exploring Indian aspects through the eyes of americans.
SUMMARY 5
The novel gives a completely humorous take, with a pun intended in
many situations. It narrates the experiences of an Indian student named Gopal,
of a year spent in a small university campus in USA. He hails from a small town
in India, named Jajau, also known as the „Paris of Madhya Pradesh‟, by the
proud locals. The whole novel revolves around Gopal, Gopal around America,
and America around him! The theme of the book is his comic discovery of
America, his growth and maturing, through his many adventures there.Gopal
comes to America to complete his chemical engineering. His English is
comical, and his puerile innocence charms the reader. The letters written by him
to his family in his version of English are worth reading.

7. His classmate Randy familiarizes him with the American lifestyle.
Unfortunately he is faced with hurdles at every step. Thus, Gopal portrays the
character of „the ambassador of his country par excellence.‟ In the broader
context, Anurag Mathur differentiates India from America, through his fictitious
protagonist. He not only compares the differences but even brings out issues
like racial discrimination and terrorism, mixed with sexual abuse, issues very
relevant to today‟s age and time. The author manages to maintain the flow of
the story admirably. The reader does not encounter stagnation and saturation
points. Being able to identify with the characters and situations generates
greater interest in the readers.
The title „The Inscrutable Americans‟, is appealing as the character of
Gopal, has an amusing outlook towards Americans who he believes to be
mysterious. The reader fails to find any lose ends. The writing style of Anurag
Mathur is polished. The book can be rated as a must read for all ages. The novel
has an intensity and a depth of meaning which goes beyond the obvious comic
implications of the situations that emerge at the onset.. I would love to see a
sitcom based on this book. Not a bad investment at all!