Rupa Gulab - Simi's Mum's Diary : The Daughter of all battles

Simi's Mum's Diary: The Daughter of all battles by Rupa Gulab
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Parenting is not always fun. There are times when you want to wring the neck of your offspring. Luckily such impulses play out more in the heads of irate parents, else we would be known as a nation of child-killers as well.

Children are supposed to be at their intractable worse when they are in their teens. Simi is 20 when the book opens but it's obvious she is still very difficult. She is a snarly, selfish brat who loves to put down her Mum at every opportunity she gets.

Simi is in the final year of college and sweet on an insufferable twerp. Simi's Mum and Dad try to adjust with the boyfriend, but find it very hard to put up with his airs and culinary demands. They are relived when the pair breaks up, but soon are rocked by another crisis when Simi is found chanting Buddhist mantras.

The book is a mild satire on the current political situation in our country and in the publishing industry. Volunteer work done by cap wearing enthusiasts, and a publisher desperate to publish a badly written book about a young man's angst in hopes of landing the next best seller, are situations that sound very familiar to us.

The book is primarily about how Simi finds her feet after landing in one mess after the other, or so her parents think.

The book keeps its tone light and is very funny. It could have fallen into the trap of being episodic, but avoids that as it is knit together well. There are very few main characters (which is a good thing) and they are well fleshed. The anxious mother aka Simi's Mum, Rohit aka Simi's Dad, Philo their cook, The Gigglies - Simi's besties are all charming characters.

I do wish Simi had been a bit less snarly. She does settle down in the end, but during the book - oh! I wanted to shake her at times.




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Rupa Gulab - The Great Depression of the 40s

The book is about 4 women, Mantra, Anjali, Reshma and Samira.

Mantra is married happily to Vir.  They have an easy relationship, no children, lots of banter, no sex.  Mantra has lost her mojo and Vir is begining to be pissed by it.  She has just left her job and wants to write a book and/or freelance.  Vir is having troubles of his own at work.

Vir's sister, Anjali has a perfect marriage.  She has a dream husband and a teenaged boy.  But she finds herself getting attracted to the ex-boyfriend who has just come back into her life.

Reshma is Mantra's maid.  She is a terrible cook but can speak flawless English.  She is carrying on with the driver, Makrand.  Not a wise idea as Makrand is already married.

Samira is Mantra's upstairs neighbour.  She is being beaten black and blue by her rich husband.  She refuses to lodge a complaint as she seems to think she will be able to reform her man.

Here is a perfect book for light reading. It is not about someone's college issues, or a maudlin love story.  It is a perfectly crafted book about an eventful year in the life of Mantra.

Mantra is a smart, thinking, affectionate woman.  She is her own person.  She is a modern Indian woman who does not care to conform to the stereotype of either Bharatiya Nari or Firangi Vamp.  She smokes, drinks and lets her house go to the dogs if she feels like it.

She is just the kind of girl I would like to have as a friend.

The book is not sweet, it is kind of spicy and crispy like a well made plate of chaat.  There were SO many times that I broke out in chuckles over something.  Quite like I would if I were reading Wodehouse.  Ole PG also wrote about light happenings in lives of young wastrels! 

The editing is excellent and the language is, thankfully, perfect.  This quality is rather difficult to come by in Indian-English fiction.  The author credits the good editing to her sister Kushalrani Gulab.

Rupa Gulab has written several books.  I remember not liking Girl Alone much.  I read that years ago.  I should give it another shot.  Maybe I was not in the right frame of mind at the time. I liked Chip of the old Blockhead, but it was more YA fiction.  I will pick up I Kissed a Frog as well and see if it is as good as this book.