Both whimsical and philosophical, this book follows an elephant determined to find her freedom.

Lakshmi is born into the temple elephant caste. But when she's sent away to training school, an escaped elephant living nearby opens her eyes to a whole new world. Soon, she's sneaking out to a hidden refuge for escaped elephants and eating fermented fruit with him, debating between her expected life at a temple and the uncharted life that awaits her in the forest.

This book incorporates Sanskrit mythology and a Hindu worldview, with some characters reincarnating over the course of the book. It was an interesting introduction to a world I didn't know much about - historical India - through the unique perspective of an elephant.

Lakshmi likes to think about the meaning of life and her experience of it, and along the way she meets a cast of characters who do the same: Tripod Dog Baba, a guru dog in her temple; a flying fish called Alphonse who's a soul reborn; and Manmath, a warrior elephant who shares the story of the downfall of his people. Life can be hard and tragic for elephants and dogs in India, and this book doesn't shy away from that reality. At times passages can be painfully sad.

I found myself rooting so hard for happiness for Lakshmi and Tripod Dog Baba.

Trigger warnings: animal abuse, animal death

The book is written from the perspective of an elephant, Lakshmi, who lives in Pondicherry. It starts with Lakshmi giving a three-legged dog lessons in history, culture, religion, and elephant behavior. Nothing happens, which made it dry. Eventually we learn more about Lakshmi’s life and history and the elephant’s interactions in the world, and the story became more interesting. I understood the author wanted to shed light on the plight of animals and share the story of the part of India that was under French rule, which I appreciated. Even the later historical, cultural, religious, and other explanations were more naturally incorporated in the story. Overall, it’s a worthwhile read.

Lakshmi's Secret Diary is a novel narrating the life and adventures of Lakshmi, a temple elephant. At the outset, the book opens with heavy social commentary explaining the 'varna system' amongst the elephants, obviously taking inspiration from the actual one. Though I found the premise & Lakshmi's conversations with herself fascinating in the beginning, it became repetitive down the lane, The sensitive thin line between explaining the historical conceptions of the way institutions came to be and the need to improve upon them was often sacrificed for a slight bashing of them more than anything. To that end, the book got a bit too preachy for my taste.
Based in the jungles of Bandipur, Puducherry & the adjacent region, the author does a wonderful job of bringing the atmosphere to life. I could feel the bustling roads, the chaos of the markets & the vibrant going-ons of the temple. In a similar vein, Lakshmi's filmy adventures were fun to read about too. The author is no doubt gifted with words and storytelling.
"Perhaps it was the friends we made along the way" emerges as a central theme which starts off amazing with the exaggerations of a three legged dog and a flying fish?! However, post the 50% mark, their arcs too dwindled and crashed (along with my interest in the book). The story sheds light on man-animal conflicts, human use and abuse of animals, It ventured into the philosophical imaginations from the point of view of an elephant, which I found interesting, to an extent too.
In sum, this book had immense potential but it sort of fell flat for me in the last quarter.

The book feels like reading a journal and It has been written at the time of French India set in Pondicherry. Author has explained the rituals, culture, culinary and splattered l light upon so many facts about history that we have forgotten. While the mystery of reincarnation was intriguing. There was a description of a three legged dog called Tripod Dog Baba. The writing is good. I feel no matter how good the translation is, it can’t capture the essence, depth and emotions of the original work. Overall the book was a good read.

Thanks to the publisher

This is one of the most interesting books I've ever read in my entire life. We follow the main character who is a literal elephant. This novel is set in Indian and it's based on a mythology that I wasn't familiar with, so I can't say how well the author did its justice. But I thoroughly enjoyed this read.