Monday, November 26, 2012

Just Married, Please Excuse - Yashodhara Lal

Yashodhara Lal's 'Just Married, Please Excuse'  (Rs. 199, 255 p)  is a breezy, funny account of her love, marriage, children, in laws and other such happenings in her life. The book picks up sometime when she falls in love with Vijay, her husband, and takes us through a nice, fun ride of all that happens in her life. There are no pretensions about the book being otherwise (serious or any such stuff) as one can guess form the cover and the tag line which states that 'Opposites Attract - Trouble'.

And so Yashodhara and Vijay marry when they meet in Bangalore, move to Mumbai, go to Delhi for her delivery. Enter Peanut or Anoushka their little baby (followed by two more children called Pickle and Papad who do not figure in this book), relatives, maids, drivers, and a whole bunch of real life characters that Yashodhara writes about in a style that stays true all through the book. What is nice is the way she wove her real life events and told it like a story (and really well) - that you check the acknowledgements to verify if your doubts were true. I found it amusing, and an easy read but what got me really laughing was the psychotherapist or marriage counsellor Laavanya Agarwal a.k.a Reema, that the couple meets and her constant references to their drinking problems. That part cracked me up.

Yashodhara is obviously a talented writer. The IIM, B graduate knows her voice, she can sustain the story and she writes convincingly, easily and confidently. She wrote the parts where the couple keeps bickering or getting into power struggles effortlessly and without losing her fun tone, which was impressive. I am sure she will write much more and hopefully she will not restrict herself to this tone and style only (not that this book is any less) - simply because she shows signs of being a far more versatile writer. A good, light-hearted and fun read.    

2 comments:

Yashodhara said...

Thank you, that's a really nice review! Appreciate the perspective. And hopefully you'll find the second book somewhat different from this 'Just Married' series (yes, am planning a 3-part series for it as of now). Should be out next year.

Harimohan said...

Thanks for writing Yashodhara. It was a pleasant surprise to see your post.
The 3 book series is a good idea - what with Pickle and Papad and more of your 'marriage' adventures. Great promise there.
I am looking forward to your second book too now that you hooked me with the 'different' tag. Anyway I must say I am partial to people who can write funny stuff and make me laugh. (Needless to say we need many more in that category in Indian writing.) You certainly are in there in the top bracket along with some other exciting talent. Good luck and keep writing.