I have abstained from reading Indian authors for a very long time mainly due to the fact that they tend to present India in 2 extremes – either full of cows and snake charmers or a society that is liberal to a sickening extent. None of them have come close to finding that evasive balance. The only Indian author I liked was R K Narayan for his simplicity of writing and real characters. V S Naipaul put me off Indian authors for almost a decade of my literary journey.
I recently joined librarywala to read works by Indian writers because these were books I did not want to own but did not mind spending a nominal fee for being able to read them. The first book I asked to be delivered – Snapshots by Shobha De. This is undoubtedly going to get tagged as the biggest reading blooper of my life. The story is about a reunion of schoolmates, all women obviously, after a gap of 15 years. Being set in Mumbai, the story grapples with infidelity, incest and sexual identity crises. Women have affairs with brother-in-laws, brother sleeps with sister, women run amok with their friends’ husbands and bosses have flings with their subordinates. I am not naïve to think that circumstances presented to the readers in this book are anything but true and is not happening all around us. These issues are the bane of our generation. But what the book lacks is a basic amount of finesse. Never has anything ever come close to being so sleazy, not even the Mills and Boons I read. M&Bs never pretend to be anything but a romantic diversion. Although a tad too saccharine, they have always been written keeping escapism in mind.
We subscribe to The Week at home and I have come across a few close to sensible articles from Shobha De. After reading this novel, I seriously doubt that any of those were actually written by her. “Snapshots” is proof that she is nothing but a glorified sleaze writer.
Sleaze number 2 for the week – Actress in Nithyananda’s video saying that she was offering seva!! Forget giving a massage, how can one remotely imagine touching that guy even with a bargepole?
The most carnal show ever made – Emotional Atyachar. I will write about this in a post later on. This show is screaming to the I&B ministry that we are in dire need of censorship.
I recently joined librarywala to read works by Indian writers because these were books I did not want to own but did not mind spending a nominal fee for being able to read them. The first book I asked to be delivered – Snapshots by Shobha De. This is undoubtedly going to get tagged as the biggest reading blooper of my life. The story is about a reunion of schoolmates, all women obviously, after a gap of 15 years. Being set in Mumbai, the story grapples with infidelity, incest and sexual identity crises. Women have affairs with brother-in-laws, brother sleeps with sister, women run amok with their friends’ husbands and bosses have flings with their subordinates. I am not naïve to think that circumstances presented to the readers in this book are anything but true and is not happening all around us. These issues are the bane of our generation. But what the book lacks is a basic amount of finesse. Never has anything ever come close to being so sleazy, not even the Mills and Boons I read. M&Bs never pretend to be anything but a romantic diversion. Although a tad too saccharine, they have always been written keeping escapism in mind.
We subscribe to The Week at home and I have come across a few close to sensible articles from Shobha De. After reading this novel, I seriously doubt that any of those were actually written by her. “Snapshots” is proof that she is nothing but a glorified sleaze writer.
Sleaze number 2 for the week – Actress in Nithyananda’s video saying that she was offering seva!! Forget giving a massage, how can one remotely imagine touching that guy even with a bargepole?
The most carnal show ever made – Emotional Atyachar. I will write about this in a post later on. This show is screaming to the I&B ministry that we are in dire need of censorship.
Shobha De is gonna file a defamation suit against you :P
ReplyDeleteI do not have any problem with Nithyananda. He just did what scores of others do too. Hypocrisy maybe... but then there are scores of hypocites out there...like, ummm, the media for example? And unless any of the women file a cheating case or some such thing, nothing can be done. It is purely his personal life. Oh there are people who claim to study art by sleeping around, if he's attaining enlightenment so, what's the big deal?
BTW this is your best article so far. Balanced. unlike your usual style of complete sarcasm which puts me off :P
@Priya
ReplyDeleteI know...I will probably change the title some day :)
If you see what I have written about Nit, it is about being in vicinity of the guy and not his beliefs. However, I do think he is not right because this was the same guy who spoke for hours about celibacy to an enthralled audience! We are such idiots most of the times for being able to believe all and sundry. I have never thought godmen were anything other than conmen. So, it just does not matter.
You might want to look this article up and write an article on this group...or probably join them as well :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7067989.ece