I was desperately in need of some light and fun reading and raided Anjali's bookshelf which has far more interesting books than I have in mine. I picked up Twinkle Khanna's book and it was fun and quick.
'The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad' is the first story - about a young girl who starts a custom of planting fruit trees when a girl child is born so that the fruits can be sold and the proceeds used to educate her etc. 'Salaam, Noni Aapa' is about two aged sisters and an aged yoga master - Noni Aapa and the yoga master defy society and decide to live together and hear the hum in their hearts. 'If the Weather Permits' is an interesting story about a Malayali Christian girl who is hounded by her parents to marry and in the process get her married off to all the wrong people including a madman, until she decides to live for herself - and in the process finds her freedom. 'The Sanitary Man from the Sacred Land' is a fictionalised account of Murugadas, the original Pad Man of India and perhaps the story on which Pad Man the movie was based on.
The effort that Twinkle puts into knowing the world of her characters is commendable - she makes the characters and their world so authentic that I found no false note anywhere. From the hinterlands of Madhya Pradesh to the life of a Malayali Christian to a Muslim family in Bombay she nailed it all. The descriptions of clothes, food, furniture add to the story and the occasional turn of phrase where she turns on her humour and wit is just right. Was the perfect read for the moment.
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