Part travelogue, part memoir, part-time machine. Shreya Sen-Handley’s “Handle with Care” is a travel memoir if there is such a thing. It captures in vivid detail the role of travel in her life—trips that function as book ends, holding chapters together or starting new ones.
Sen is a gifted tour guide, often presenting her unique take on the sights and sounds. Her imagination and robust visual analogies add layers to familiar tourist spots. In particular, the sleepover at the National History Museum in London, where the family is spooked by mysterious thunderous snores and her summoning of the goddess’s powers to navigate the Durga Puja festivities in Kolkata.
Sen draws from an impressive gamut of relatives for humorous inspiration. An oddball aunt ends up serving kitty litter to them by mistake. A childhood trip to Rajasthan, where a much-hated, ugly poncho vanishes, only to be later discovered on a monkey Her table of travel terms changes definitions according to young couples, old-age partners, and those with kids. Moments of innocent levity where her children ask permission to skip the “boring soup” at a Tibetan restaurant upon being served their finger bowls
‘Handle With Care’ is also full of sage wisdom on dealing with travel gone awry, interrupted by forces both natural and man-made. Sudden storms plague the best-planned trips; over-eager customs officials that ply you with food while stealing your luggage; airport toilet cubicles that refuse to open. Sen also chronicles the healing power of solo trips—of places and people new to healing wounds of the past. She speaks of the ability to find tranquilly once you give up searching for it.
Lastly, what is unique to Sen’s writing is a return to beloved fictional characters we’ve grown up with. She traces the bizarre history of village Goat-ham from where the city of Gotham in Batman is derived from. Her family visits Kirrin Castle from Enid Blyton stories featuring young detectives. In Sen’s stories, one runs into childhood haunts from ‘Sherlock Holmes’, ‘Wuthering Heights’, and ‘Dracula’. ‘Handle With Care’ combines memories of beaches, bullies, and regime changes. Sen’s prose is picturesque replete with navigating tiny village markets, farmer’s cottages, and bookstores filled with treasures. The descriptions of food get the salivary glands going and one is constantly transported to a much happier place. That is the heart of this memoir to inspire memories of a happier place, a happier time, surrounded by those we hold close.