Our Moon has blood clots

The year is 2007. I have borrowed this book ' The Kite Runner' by Afghani writer Khaled Hosseini from a small CD shop that also keeps books. Rs 20 for this one, double the usual amount because this one is new and in demand. I take the book and come back home. My parents are not at home and my sister and I have decided to order some Chinese for dinner. We watch a movie that we have never watched before and feast on the over-priced and greasy food. My sister goes to sleep and I walk into my room with the book. 

I am engrossed in the beautifully written chapters. I am imagining the Afghanistan Amir lives in. I picture children playing under the pomegranate trees. I can see Amir's cook buying them Kebab. I can see Amir getting cozy in his bed with a book. 

And then the family of two gets to know this house, this city, this country, no longer belongs to them. The city where his mother grew up and died is not safe for them. The house that had seen his joys and sufferings can be bombed any time now. So, they left. The pomegranate trees, the playground, the kebab shop, Amir's friends, none of these things matter now. This place is no longer their home. It is not safe. 

I finish the book quickly the next day and return it to the CD library owner, but then it never left me. I am not an avid reader and this is the first book to haunt me. I am sleeping and I dream. I dream that hundreds of Army men are marching on the roads that take me to my college, my favorite coffee shop, and the other places that matter to me. I see that the house next to me is bombed. That was Mrs. Guptas house, which she built with so much love. I can still taste the Kachori I ate at her grand housewarming party. She is inconsolable. She has nowhere to go. The house located at the end of the street is also bombed. Next could be ours. We pack our bags and leave. I am thinking what to take and what to leave. We can't afford to take loads of luggage. We don't know where are we going. I wake up with a strong jolt. Everything is okay. I am at home. My home. This was just a bad dream. 

This is the reoccurring dream. I sweat and cry in my sleep but then when I wake up, I always know it is just a bad dream. 

Sadly it is not so the case with Rahul Pandita, a journalist based out of Delhi who was one of the many Kashmiri Pandits who were forced to leave the valley in 1990. Our Moon has blood clots tells us the story of Kashmiri Pandit's exodus. Pandita was fourteen when his family of four had to leave the house that had 22 rooms to live in a small room in Jammu. 

 

The first few chapters unfold beautifully wherein he has written about his childhood days spent in Kashmir. There was trouble but then nobody would have thought that one day they would be leaving the place that had been their home for years. The pain and longing are evident. You would feel the pain. Then comes the second part in which he has written about the tribal invasion of 1947 from his uncle's point of view. Too much of history could put you off but then you anyways read it because you have read the first part which was so good. 

I think I need to read more about Kashmir issues but one thing I can say with the absolute conviction is that when so much filth going around on Social Media about the Kashmir and Kashmiri Pandit, it is advisable to read books by Kashmiris who had gone through it all. And this book should definitely be in your list. 

Girl in White Cotton : Unsettling tale of Mother-daughter duo.

I often wonder what it would be like for daughters to take care of mothers who were not quite there for them.  How do they feel about their mothers not playing the mom society wants them to? How do they react when they come to know that their mother is in trouble and needs them? 

I have read quite a number of books with the theme of the complex mother-daughter relationship this year, Actress by Anne Enright, Queenie by debut British author Candice Carty Williams and Red at the bone by Jacqleen Woodson to name a few. While Actress was about a writer whose mother was an actress in Ireland in 50s and 60s, in Queenie we learnt about the issues she faced when the protagonist's mother abandoned her for her boyfriend, and finally Red at the bone where we meet Iris, a teenage mother who believed there was more to life than being a mother. 

While all the books are quite different from each other showing us the different aspects of motherhood, I had a feeling that Actress will come close to what Girl in White cotton is. But then that feeling evaporated the moment I read the first line of the latter. 

I WOULD BE LYING IF I said my mother’s misery has never given me pleasure. I suffered at her hands as a child, and any pain she subsequently endured appeared to me to be a kind of redemption – a rebalancing of the universe, where the rational order of cause and effect aligned. 

I knew this book would be nothing like I have read before. I knew it would be something I was looking for. I knew I would be haunted by it, months after reading it. This one is after all longlisted for the Bookers after all. But then that feeling evaporated too. 

Antara was six when her mother left her husband's house along with her and went to a Baba's Ashram. She gives up on the life that was offered to her and slips into loose white cotton clothes. Hence the title ! Since the novel is set in Pune, we can easily guess who the Baba is! 

Her mother's name is Tara and we learn that Antara was actually named Un- Tara, the opposite of Tara. Tara was a rebel who used to smoke with tourists when she was a teenager in 70s, she once tried to pierce her nose and flunked school. Her parents married her to Antara's dad at 18 where she learned she was neither fit for marriage nor motherhood. 

The novel moves from flashbacks to the present time until the end. There are of course glimpse of pretty prosses and lyrical writing and then there is a story also, which saves the book from becoming the kinds where writers show us their impeccable language skils but fail to tell us the story. 

When Tara is somewhat tired of being a rebel, she comes to stay with her parents who help her bringing up Antara. Antara's father gets married soon and move to USA and doesn't keep in touch much. 

Tara is a rebel and hurt and doesn't shy away from inflicting pain upon her daughter. For instance, there is a scene where she called her daughter, ' Little fat bitch', in response Antara calls her whore. She laughs and repeats those words again. You would want to know why does she behave like that? But soon you realize, there is no answer to that. Not everyone can be fit into society's definition of wife, daughter, or woman. These women might make you uncomfortable but then you need to accept them. 

But then as the opening line suggests, the universe has its own way of dealing with things. Tara loses her memory and now lives with Antara and Dileep in their house. 

Dileep is an NRI who works in Pune and we never get to know what makes her fall for Antara, an artist. Their marriage has issues that all marriages have. He opens his house and arms for Tara without asking much. 

Avni Doshi was born in USA and now lives with her husband in Dubai. This is her debut novel. It is always good to read women writers who write the kind of books where we ourselves and our daily life. I liked how she depicted Pune city and the places where youngsters hang out. 

Debut women authors have been surprising us quite a bit with their work in the past. Last year's JCB prize winner, Madhuri Vijay stunned us with her brilliant book The Fairfield. Amrita Mahale, whose book was longlisted continues to win hearts with her ' Mumbai Book', Milk Teeth. And now, of course, the list gets longer with Avni Doshi's Girl in White Cotton. 

Read it for the beginning and read it for the end. 

The most likable thing about this novel is that there are no male characters in it. It's all women. Women deciding to leave their houses along with two young daughters to live on their own, to have a breast implement surgery, and to have a baby via science without any partner. 

I have been saying this for long that there is more to Japanese contemporary literature than Haruki Murakami. Before, Breasts and eggs, I read the International booker shortlisted The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa, a dystopian novel set in an island where things go instinct one by one. And before that, I read Sayuka Murata's convenient store woman, which was all about a young woman searching her identity and wondering if it's okay if you don't want things that are considered 'normal'. 

I have also read Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto and Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami. Both books helped me peek into Japanese culture and what it means to be a woman there.  Now coming to Breasts and Eggs by Meiko Kawakami, translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd, the book is divided into two parts, in part one, Natsuku's sister Makiko, who is a single mother decides to go for a boob job. Now, this came as shock to Naatsuku considering the fact that Makiko's financial condition once made her contemplate applying for welfare allowance. Makiko's teenage daughter is not talking to her because of this decision. The part ends abruptly without telling us what happened in the end. The parts in which the mother-daughter duo lives in a dingy apartment with limited finance have been depicted well. There is so much of poverty but the author makes sure we become part of Makoki's and Natsuku's journey without feeling sorry for them. 

And then comes the second part. Here we see Natsuki with her book out. Her collection of short stories is a best seller and she is making a decent leaving by writing columns for different publications. She doesn't have a partner but she doesn't feel her life is incomplete. But as the novel progresses, we see her craving a child. 

But here's a thing. She can't have sex. She tried with her boyfriend in her early twenties and did not like it , hence concluding that it was something she could totally live without. Thankfully, in 2016, when she was 38, she had the option of artificial insemination. She frequents a website where she meets some people who were born by this process. They all are searching for their true identity ( biological father) wondering why they were even born. They ask themselves questions that probably nobody has answers to. Like ' Why are we even born ', ' Do people see their babies as humans or something they made? 

Natsuki ponders hard on these point but then she sees her editor's baby and her conviction to have a child of her own grew even stronger. 

The novel talks about womanhood, motherhood, and Autonomy in contemporary Japan. In a fast pace country, where the number of young people and babies is declining at an alarming rate, women have taken charge of their own lives and bodies. 

Natsuku is not your average woman but this world will be a better place if we have more like her. At times, you will find the novel unsettling but once you are done, your mind will raise an important question like, do we women really need men their lives ?  

Story of you, me and Kim Ji -Young

 Kim Ji-Young is a thirty-something woman in Korea. She had to give up on her job after her baby was born. The baby is now old enough to join a daycare center for a couple of hours now. Which means she can now look for a part-time job now. But that won't be easy in that economy and that society which still regards women second class,citizens.  This affects her mental health. 

Kim Ji-Young has been facing discrimination since the day she was born. Her mother had a sex-based abortion when she was pregnant with her third child. Her brother had toys and food to himself while she and her sister needed to share. When she grew up, her teacher told her the boy who teases her and makes her cry actually likes her leaving her wondering why would someone who liked her so much reduce her to tears! When she got her periods for the first time, she was told to hide it with all the might. When she was stalked by a boy, her father told her to wear decent clothes. 

When the sisters reached college, they were told to choose teaching as a career because it has fixed working hours which will not hinder their marriage and kids' lives. The job she quit did not come easy to her either. She really had to toil and work twice as hard as any man. 

I had always wanted to read something from Korea, the country with regressive beauty culture. As mentioned in the title, the protagonist, Kim Ji- Young is born in 1982. The book is divided into the parts that talk about her childhood, the time she went to school and college, her work , life, and finally her marriage. 

The country was going through massive economical and social changes in the 90s, the time Ji -Young went to school. In one incident, a bunch of girls from her class was arrested because they beat a flasher and got him arrested and then there is another wherein Ji-Young goes to an interview where she was asked what would she do if some groped her thigh in an official meeting. Even the answer ' I will leave the place and go to washroom,' could not get her job because the company was not at all interested in hiring women. 

Kim ji-Young, 1982 is a story of every woman who is fighting for her space in society in a hope that next-generation women do not face what they did. 

A Childhood in Malabar

I have a thing for Memoirs, especially the ones that take you the places you have never been to. Thanks to, Kamala Das's  A childhood in Malabar, I got to travel to Kerala, of course, Malabar to be precise. 

Kamala Das was five or six when she traveled to Calcutta to Malabar for the first time. It was the place she got to know some people will never have easy lives because of the caste they belong to. It was the place where she learned that some people will always have it easy, even if they do not do anything because of the caste they belong to. It was the place where she learned that some people should not be allowed to step inside her house because their caste will pollute everything. Caste, caste, and more caste. 

Then came the lessons on beauty. Dark can never be beautiful, they told her. That's why a girl should do all she can to lighten her skin. And Kamla was not beautiful. 

When she grew up a little she was told every woman has to get married because, without it, her life is incomplete. And later she was told a woman should die rather than marrying outside their caste. An ideal woman is someone who is beautiful and marries wherever her parents want her to. 

She took it all and asked harmless innocent questions at times like ' When am I getting married', ' Is seven too young to get married'. 

A childhood at Malabar is a heartwarming read that introduces you to casteist and sexist households of Kerela and how little Kamala found her place in it. At times, it reminds you of God of Small things but then Arundhati wrote that book much after Kamla came out with hers. But then the readers are bound to think of it because of Kerla backdrop, maybe. 

  While reading the book you would ask yourself, how many lessons on caste, beauty and ideal marriage does a girl need. But then you will have to wait until the end. The book surprises you like not many books can. Till then learn about the regressive and casteist Nair household and navigate the little girl's journey through it. 

Of mice and men : John Steinbeck

 After, Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden, this is the third book I read by John Steinbeck.  Like all his other books, this one too has aged well. Well, they are called Modern Classics for a reason.  Due to the conversation in rural Americanised English, his books sometimes appear to be difficult to read but they are fun. 

Like most of his books, this one also revolves around The great depression of 1930 which left many jobless in America and other nations. In the book, we met Goerge and Lennie, who are friends and travel together hunting for jobs.  Lennie is a strong big mentally retarded man, while Goerge is a clever guy with small built. When Lennie lands himself in trouble because of the way he is, Goerge comes to his rescue. Only Goerge understands what Lennie is- a child at mind and heart who wants nothing from life but pies with loads of ketchup and a farm where he could render Rabbit! Oh he and his thing for all things soft and squishy. The reason why he touched his previous employer's wife's red dress and landed himself in hot water. 

And the same thing happened in his new workplace, where the boss's wife tempted him to touch her soft hair. 

In this Era, where different writers are writing about their lives and times in New York City, Steinbeck's books still look relevant with their simple and yet strong character from Rural California living in poverty. The book was part of US school course and I understand why. It talks about friendship and surviving The Great Depression together. 

Read it because it is really short and leaves you with the taste of classic without burning you out. 

Love at the time of Cholera: Worse than Diarrhea

I just finished reading this book. I had read One hundred years of solitude because everyone else was reading and I did not want to be left out. I did not understand much of it. When people said it was a great book, I nodded in agreement telling them that I have read and loved it. Gabrial Garcia Marquez, after all, is a noble prize-winning writer and darling of intellectuals but guess what? After reading Love at the time of cholera, I am totally judging those who admire him. Call me dumb, intellectually challenged, or whatever you want to, but I am never going to read Marquez again.


In Love at the time of Cholera, we meet Florintino Ariza who falls in love with Fermina Daza the moment he sees her. Both were young and without any experience at that time. They exchange letters but never went beyond that. When Fermina's father found it, he sends her away to her cousin's place. Life moved on and so did she. She realized whatever she felt for Florintino was not worth all that pain. In fact, she was no longer in love with him and chose to marry a doctor committed to his cause.


But Florintino never forgot and was determined to win her back even after she got married. If you thought this is about eternal love, please wait. This man Florintino fucks a zillion women while waiting on one. He fucks everything that moves including a 14-year-old girl whose mother left her in his custody. He was 74 at that time. He was supposed to be the guardian of that child but then he fucks her and does her plates, makes helps her wear school uniform properly and ties her shoelaces, and oh, takes her to ice cream parlors too.

His lady love did come to him, fifty years later. And when he fucked her, he very conveniently told her ' I have remained virgin for you'.


The concept of obsessively loving the 'one' while disrespecting and hurting other women while waiting for the 'one' is done to death in pop culture. I am thinking of Kabir Singh right now. That man sleeps around carrying the hurt. How convenient? Hurt other women because the 'one' did not give a damn? And the 'one' is the victim as well, of such toxic, maniac, and obsessive love that doesn't give them any space to grow or breathe.

Coming back to Gabrial Garcia Marquez, his books should not be celebrated in this era in the name of ' greatest piece of literature'. He got things not many writers achieve. He won a noble prize for those pedophile books. But now we do not have to glorify his work. There are awesome women writers from diverse backgrounds waiting to be read. Let's focus on them. 

Teresa's man and other stories from Goa

Ther's a young wife yearning for a kiss from her husband who did not like kissing on the mouth. There's this young man wondering what is the purpose of the language other than communicating and connecting with people. And why do they need to protect the 'honor of the language, when they can't protect the honor of a woman who was molested because she came out in ' Bandh' observed in the name protecting their language. There's a young wife dying to have kids and wondering what sin she might have committed to anger Gods that they are preventing her from having such simple joys.


In the land of beaches, beer and parties, live simple people with their simple stories. What makes their stories extraordinary is this Sahitya Acadamy winning Konkani writer, Damodar Mauzo. Translated by Xavier Cota, Teresa's man and other stories is a delightful collection of short stories based in Goa. Most stories tell the plight of women and their highly patriarchal house. For instance, In Teresa's man, a young woman named Teresa is the sole earner of her family. The husband does not do anything while the mother-in-law simply makes things difficult for her by inciting her son to be the MAN of the family. And then there's Electrol Empowerment in which the housewife who is not allowed to do anything her husband's wishes, goes out and vote against the candidate her husband asks her to. That's the most empowerment she ever got.

My favorite is The writer's tale wherein the writer meets a young Tamil writer in a conference in New Delhi. The Tamil writer, Jayatha opened up about her life and tells him that she lives with her husband and his family in a huge house where nobody is interested in her stories. A strange but interesting bond established between the two, leaving the writer puzzled.

I think I will read more books by regional writers. Their stories are simple and yet deep and make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. 

Exquisite Cadaver: Meena Kandasamy

If I have to define lyrical writing in two words, I would say Meena Kandasamy. Her writings are lyrical even when she wrote about her abusive marriage in ' When I Hit You' and it is at it's lyrical best in her latest experimental book Exquisite Cadaver. 

Meena Kandasamy is one writer who is not afraid of experiments. Her last novel When I Hit You was a novel written in the form of a memoir. And in this one, two parallel stories run together. Yes, it will leave you confused when you first lay your hands on this one. But then once you get a hang of it, you won't be able to stop.

In a short book, Kandasamy has told stories about marriage. One is her own, in which she has written about all the things that were going inside her head while writing the fictional story of Maya and Kareem, the interracial couple. Maya, an artist, and Kareem, a filmmaker are married for some time. Maya revisits their marriage when Kareem disappears.


There is a stark difference between the two writings and it leaves you wondering if both were written by the same person. Honestly, I like the one in which she has written about herself and the perils of living in London. I would definitely like to read more of Kandasamy's personal essays. 

Kim Fu : For Today, I am a Boy

So, Peter is a much-coveted child of a Chinese couple who is settled in Canada for years. He is a boy after all, who came after three girls. But then he did not turn out to be the kind of boy society and his father expected him to be. He plays with dolls and wears his sister's makeup. And later it was revealed, he did not even want to be identified as a boy.

In one of her interviews, Canadian Author, Kim Fu, said that she did not speak to any transgender before writing this book. She just learnt about their lives by observing them from distance. She is right, and it is quite evident in her book ' For Today, I am a Boy'. 

I can't help but compare this book with Fierce Femmes and Notorious lairs by Kai ching Thom. Both writers are Canadians with roots in Asia. And both of them were shortlisted for Lambada Awards for LGBTQ writings. Expect, Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars ended up winning it. And why not, the story of a boy who was actually a transgender girl was told amazingly after all. It was a fantasy novel which took me to another world altogether. On the other hand, Kim Fu's book was confusing and lost the plot so many times that it left me asking ' what is she trying to say'.  It got interesting for a bit and then dull and boring the next moment.

It seemed like Fu was not sure what to do with Peter and that's because she did not do enough research on transgenders' lives. Alright, we get that he grew up with sisters in a conservative environment but then I wanted to read more about the family where the angry mother said ' I have got worst children. Faggots and Whores'.  It could be a nice family saga or it could follow a boy confused about his sexuality. But no, Fu took a little bit from everywhere and left us with this confusing novel.

But then there were some parts I liked. I liked his free-spirited sister, Bonnie. But again I wanted to read more about her. And I also liked how the mother accepted the fact that her favorite child Adele, a University professor might never get married, something unusual of Chinese mothers. 

Leaving Atlanta : The book that stays with you

I wasn't even planning to read this one. I had read Tayari Jones's An American Marriage and loved it. But then the thought of reading her debut never crossed my mind till the time I read Deepa Annapara's Djinn patrol on the purple line. I read her interviews and in one of them, she had mentioned that she was inspired by Jones's Leaving Atlanta amongst others.  It was then I decided that I had to read one more book by Jones.


The book is all about the infamous Atlanta child murders and is written in children's voices. I might sound biased but books written in children's voices are naturally good. Children's worlds are simple and yet very simple but certainly not easy to capture. If an author has done that well, half a job is done.

Tasha is in grade fifth and her parents are separated. But they come together when the city is gripped with the fear of missing children. Tasha is safe and protected but unfortunately, the boy she began crushing got snatched and so did Rodney, her classmate. While Tasha had loving and protecting father, Rodney is the one with an abusive one. His father doesn't think twice before taking his belt out and beating him black and blue. And more than often he is found thinking that lucky are the ones who have no father at all. And then we have Octavia, a bookish girl living with her mother in a humble house. She is the poorest of all, hence ostracised by fifth-graders.

When the kids started disappearing, her mother decided to send her to her father who lives someplace else. Now the father has a family of his own and Octavia is not really even comfortable around him. But then her working mother had to do it because she couldn't risk losing her.

In a nutshell, the book talks about three kids and their relationship with their dads. Like I mentioned, Jones had done a good job capturing their little world.

Read it to know what it meant to be black kids in a dangerous American town. 

The forbidden fruit : Oranges are not the only fruit

Jeanette had always been about the kind of life she was going to live. Her adoptive mother chose god over anything else and expected the same from Jeanette. She took her to church and introduced to bibble which she always kept close to her heart.


 And Jeanette was not complaining until she met Malanie in an icecream shop where Malaine used to work.  Her world fell upside down and the church went crazy when she felt insanely attracted to Malanie a fellow church member in a way that was not accepted by the church.


The novel will be difficult to read for those who are not aware of Christianity but then it is always good to learn new things. Jeanette Winterson's writing will leave you in split even when you don't understand what is happening. The book is aptly short and that's why it doesn't feel like a drag even when it feels boring sometimes. Jeannette and her take on men are funny. She doesn't feel guilty when she realizes her attraction for women because by that time she already knew men are not even capable of romantic relationships.


Read it because it's funny ! 

Open City : Letter to all the cities I have lived and loved.

How true was Bojack Horseman when he said, ' In this terrifying world, all we have are the connections we make'? If I had to summarize this book in one sentence, it would be this. In a heartwarming but difficult book, Teju Cole talks about cities and the people in them. Starting with New York, it goes to Brussels and then Lagos, the city of his childhood and then comes back to New York again. 

There's thing about New York city or every city for that matter. Everybody has their own version. You can walk around a bustling city of millions and yet see something that had never been seen by anyone. It is all the more different when you are in New York. This book is about Julius, a psychiatrist's fellow's New York.  When he is not diagnosing patients, he walks around the city and some times down the memory lane which takes him to Brussels and  Lagos. 

Conversations, conversations and more conversations. It is the conversation that makes memory. Julius vividly remembers all the conversation. There's one with a doctor which makes him realise that age brings a certain kind of freedom which can't be expect at a young age. There are some with a shop owner in Brussels that makes him wonder why people stereotype so easily. European Muslims can be seen having beer and doing things that one would do in Europe and yet they are labeled as fanatics across the world. In a same way Blacks in America are stereotyped as hip hop dancers by the rest of the world. The shopkeeper wanted to know if blacks live the way the way it is shown on MTV. Are their lives all about dancing and rapping. To which Julius reply, no, there are some who go on to become lawyers, doctors and engineers. It is not easy for them but they still do. 

As you read, you come across the history of the United States of America and it will make you wonder its attitude towards immigrants although the country was built by them. There are chapters that talk about systematic oppression against blacks which make it all the more important read. 

Julius also talks about his not so happy childhood in Lagos. There is not much to talk about and how he wished there was. It was all going well till the time pops up this woman in New York who Julius raped eighteen years ago. She tells him she has tried to forgive and forget but couldn't. She tells him she remembered about it everyday and it had never left her alone. You would want to know Julius reaction to all this but sadly there isn't any. The book ended abruptly. Did he have any regrets? What did he do ? Did he at least apologize? But no, Cole left us wondering at that. 

True that you will meet people you hurt and then also meet people who hurt you. And that's what make your life it is. But what Julius did was crime and as a reader I wanted to know how the accusation affected his life. But no... 

Tales from Manipur

A woman on periods worrying her kids might get late for school because she can't enter the kitchen and the husband can't cook to save his life. A ' feminist' man who inspires many with his books and speeches on feminism, finally admitting that it hurts to play the second fiddle to his wife. A young widower falling for a Paan seller and questioning the deep rooted mentality of society that believes it is all over for women once her husband dies.

These are some tales from Manipur published in the book  Crafting the world: Writings from Manipur, a collection of stories , poems and graphics from Manipuri writers , edited by Thingjam Anjulika Sanom. Manipur has rich culture of story telling which is quite evident from this book. They have many Sahitya Academy winners as well and some of the stories from them have been published in the book too.

Stories feel like everyday lives and times of Manipuri women and they effortlessly take us to Manipur where women work as hard as men yet strive for equality and respect. In one one of the stories, a woman lives alone with her three kids while her husband lives in the hills with his lover. The woman grows herbs and vegetables in her small kitchen garden and sells in the market and that;s how she makes a living for herself and her three little children. There is a man she calls brother sometimes visits her to offer her help . But when the  neighbors came to know of it, they threw her out of the locality.

All the stories talk of deep patriarchal society, alcoholism and AFSPA in Manipur. There are poems that depict mothers' yearning for children they lost to Army brutality. There is a graphic story about a woman who eats beef and is helped by her husband in household work.

Zuban Books have published some really great books from the North Eastern part of India and this book one is just one of them. You should check out more. 

Reading Bridget Jones' Dairy in 2020

Alcohol : 2 beer, it's Saturday

Smoke : None. I am in my thirties, I need to take care of my skin. Also, the air outside is so polluted, it is already fucking my lungs. Also, I need to save money.

Calories consumed: 2500. Had a piece of chocolate. Damn, it made me so happy

Water  : 10 glasses. Yayy ! Hello happy liver and great skin.

Number of hours spent watching Netflix : 2.5 hours

Number of pages read from the current book : None. Okay. Okay. I will work on it

Screen time : 3 hours . Damn

Number of unread texts : 569000303. Damn. Anxiety.



I think this is what Bridget Jones' dairy will look like if it was written in 2020. I did enjoy the original book, don't get me wrong. The thoughts of thirty- something living in posh central London have been captured with great clarity by the author Helen Fielding. And I am sure many women in 1996 must have related to it even if they did not have a job in publishing where their role was not well defined. They must have seen themselves in Jones even if their lives were not all about parties and vacation. The novel must have spoken to them even if their parents might not have set them with someone as cool as Mark Darcy. So what , if she easily got a great job in Television after an okayish job in publishing, Bridget Jones' was just like them, wasn't she ?

Twenty four years have been passed since Bridget Jones' dairy. It is 2020. The world has been gripped by pandemic and I am writing this post from my parents' house in Lucknow, India. I have worked in Media and I have lived alone for years. Let me tell you living alone when you are in a publishing job is not as glamorous as Ms Fielding would like us to believe. I could hardly party twice a month and by the end of the month I was only left with enough money to buy my vegetables and milk.

Yes. I had issues with my body. I have spent a significant amount of time worrying about how I looked. But now that I am as old as Bridget Jones, I can say this with absolute conviction that I love my body and I think I am beautiful. Hating her body should be the last thing on Bridget Jones' mind in 2020 when she is not even sure if she would be able to save her job wherein she works hard.

Bridget Jones of today's world knows that there is nothing wrong in being imperfect. She fails in her diet but then she starts all over again. She neither bodyshames others nor herself because she knows all bodies are beautiful. She wears what she likes and doesn't think twice before sharing a mirror selfie or eight on Instagram.

She frets over a guy who doesn't respond to her texts but then she doesn't lose her power over him. She has great friends who don't judge her when she ignores their calls or cancel plans ( during non- pandemic ) days. They know once she recharges her battery, she will be her usual self.

Yes, sometimes it hurts her that she doesn't have that perfect love but then she doesn't let it affect her mental health over it. She bakes, she paints, attends book club meets, blogs, starts a podcast and maybe start a Youtube channel too. Even if she doesn't do any of this, she knows she is just fine and she congratulates for getting through yet another day with ease because she knows she is fine just the way she is and she doesn't need any Mr Darcy to feel that way.

The beautiful Slayer ; My sister, the serial killer

“How was your trip?”

“It was fine…except…he died.”

That was Ayoola  telling her sister , Korede about her trip to Dubai with her married boyfriend. She tells her he died of food poisoning. Both know that's not true but who cares? 

 My sister, serial killer, is a story of two sisters who have nothing in common. Ayoola, the younger one is beautiful and curvy while Korede is tall and bony. Ayoola, a fashion designer, is the one who gets any guy she sets her eyes on while Korede, a nurse, can't even confess her love to her colleague. Ayoola is the who kills while Korede is the one who cleans the evidences. 

We are never told why does Ayoola kill but I think that is the beauty of this book. She has done it thrice. She carries knife on dates and when she is done with the deed, all she needs to do is to call her sister. But then comes this handsome doctor Korede had been crushing on. He falls in love with Ayoola the moment he looks at her leaving Korede scared for HIS life. Does Ayoola kill him too ? It worth finding out. 

The writer, Oyinkan Braithwaite lives in Lagos and this is her debut novel. The book is short, dark and extremely funny. You will chuckle throughout the book for sure. But then something was missing. For instance, I did not get to see much of Lagos in it. What is it like living there as people ? What the city is like ? Yes, there is a mention of Jollof  rice once but that's it. 

It is a fun read but could have been better. 

An easy read : Difficult Daughters by Manju kapur

There's so much to do in life and just look at me. What am I doing ? Just waiting to be with my lover ?   

Virmati is sitting in a women's conference in Lahore but her mind is in Amritsar, where her lover lives. This is the Laohore of 1940 we are talking about. It was all set for Veermati, being the eldest of eleven siblings, responsibility came early to her. She was Pehenji to her siblings and a responsible daughter to her parents. And then she fell in love with a a married man. Her mother's Kasturi's who is  educated till class eighth often wonders how did her daughter grow wings and take decision for herself . Wasnt' women lives all about getting married, cooking, making Phulkari and producing kids and most importantly carrying family's honour on their fragile shoulders ? 

Kapur's novel further explores what education meant for women back then and how it changed things for them. But getting degrees was never a plan for Veermati. Yes, her elder cousin, Shakuntala  was a teacher in Lahore and she was quite in awe of her achievements  but then she only admired her from afar. True, they belonged to Aryasamaji families where girls were supposed to get basic education but Shakuntala's accomplishments never meant a thing to her mother because she chose to remain unmarried.

Veermati was certain that she would never follow her cousin's path till she fell in love with Harish Chandra, her neighbor and teacher. Now, Harish was married with a child but that did not deter him from falling in love with young Veermati, who he lovingly called Veeru.

His wife was no good for him because she was uneducated and Veeru, on the other hand was unattainable. Her family found out and they sent her to Lahore to study further believing distance will make her forget Harish.

Little did they realise that distance makes heart grow fonder. And the rest of the novel is all about their struggle to get united in the backdrop of World war 2 and Freedom struggle.

It was pleasant for me learn that Lahore was a city of intellectuals and thinkers back then. Manju Kapur has painted a nostalgic picture of Lahore in such a way that your heart will yearn to visit the city at least once in your life.

The congress league, the meetings of muslim league and women league- Lahore was a happening city and epitome of Hindu- Muslim unity. But like I said, the book is not about that. It is all about one woman's journey towards marrying the man she loved.

Veermati is a feisty woman and you would admire her for her guts. She has gone through a lot but she still stands strong. She gets her degrees while she was waiting for her lover to take an action for her and not because she was particularly interested in them.

Punjabi families and their daily lives have been predicted well by Kapur. While reading the book, you will yearn for white butter and lassi.

The book is long but Veermati's story needs detailing. There had not been a single dull moment in her story. Her life before meeting Harish, her decision to go to Shanti Niketan when she felt Harish might never gather enough courage to leave his family for her, the way she moved back to Lahore after finally marrying Harish and how a separate country was formed amidst everything. What is not to love ?