Powder Room by Shefalee Vasudev

Genre : Non- fiction
Publisher : Ebury Press (Random House )
Copy source : Mysmartprice.com
You can buy this book : Here
My rating : *****/5

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Ever been intrigued by the Indian Fashion Industry—its stereotypes of drugged models, gay designers, and fascinating but unaffordable clothes?

Join Shefalee Vasudev, former editor of Marie Claire and an acclaimed fashion journalist, on a deep‑sea dive into the gagging depths of Indian fashion. In Powder Room, she offers an insider’s view of people who make the industry what it is—from a lower middle class girl who sells global luxury for a living to a designer who fights the inner demons of child sexual abuse yet manages to survive and thrive in the business of fashion, or a Ludhiana housewife on a perpetual fashion high.

Besides candid interviews of known names in Indian fashion, Shefalee provides a commentary on new social behaviour, urban culture, generational differences, and the compulsions behind conspicuous consumption in a country splitting at the seams with inequalities of opportunity and wealth. From Nagaland to Patan, Mumbai, Delhi, and Punjab, Powder Room mirrors how and why India ‘does’ fashion.(less)

What I thought about the book :

I don't think I have ever been a keen follower of fashion and could barely tell a Sabyasachi ensemble from a Masaba masterpiece. But that was before I decided to indirectly get involved in the world of fashion .I now faithfully thumb through the fashion glossies to make sure that I keep myself abreast of the latest fads and 'Fashion'. Well, if there is one word that is abused and bastardized , it has to this F word, Fashion , which changes at a mercurial pace like the moods of a sullen,moody teenager. Moody or not, my fascination was piqued and I decided to read this book. A fellow blogger had also recommended this book and rated it highly.

I found Powder room brilliant, insightful and full of amusing anecdotes  Ex-editor of Marie Claire , Shefalee Vasudev has written this book like a sociologist would have, with considerable journalistic detachment. Having observed various facets of 'fashion' from close quarters , her observations and arguments don't seem sensational or voyeuristic.The book is divided into ten chapters , where Shefalee tackles a different story or talks about a certain aspect of the world of fashion. Apparently , she spoke to close to 300 odd people before writing  this book. The academic rigor and research  she has  put into this book is evident in the mind-boggling amount of data and information that hits the reader.

Right from the first chapter, where Shefalee talks about Raakesh Agarvwal , a troubled , yet hugely successful designer who was abused as a child and still has demons inside him that haunt him , to the socialite wives of Ludhiana to the lower middle class girl selling luxurry products , to the politics behind the fashion weeks , Shefalee weaves a narrative that bounces back and forth like a ping-pong ball.Yet , at no point in time will the reader feel disoriented, because the stories she has to tell are all extraordinary.

My favorite stories have to be the one about the lower middle class girl and that of the Ludhiana society ladies.  If you are looking for scandals or gossip , this might not be the book for you(of course , that aspect is there too). This book is  more an exercise in  sociology, an attempt to see where the fashion trajectory of India is headed. The chapter on models was an eye-opener. Madhur Bhandarkar probably has done a huge disservice to the model community by  talking about the negative aspects of the modelling world. Shefalee's book will make you realise that such wayward models are exceptions and not the norm. Huge egos of designers, manipulative PR agents , unscrupulous editors, appalling lack of integrity in fashion journalism..Shefalee's book talks about them all. Maybe if you just want the juicy parts, you'll still love this book.  

The chapters on Patan Patola and the last chapter on the politics at the fashion weeks makes one realise the pettiness and business-mindedness  of some factions on designer community and  the clout that the big brands have over everyone. It is disheartening to note that going by the way things are being handled old traditional weaves like the Patan Patola will probably go extinct soon.  Hats off to the family for trying to keep this art alive, but one does wonder if a more commercial approach is required by the artisan family to ensure that their craft doesn't go extinct with them. I was also moved by the chapter on Imchi Imchen and how Nagas feel alienated from the "Mainland".I am intrigued enough to want to read a book on Nagaland and how insurgency has affected the people there.   

Maybe there is an underlying tone of melancholy and desperation in the book. Certain parts of the book paints a rather bleak picture of how things are in the fashion industry , but somebody has to talk about these things.

Overall an excellent book that I 'll recommend to anyone curious about the Indian  fashion industry. Five star all the way ( I decided that I would give a five star to this book barely into 100 pages of reading this book!)

Thanks to Mysmartprice.com for sponsoring my book. 

Blinkers off by Andaleeb Wajid

Genre : Indian YA Fiction.
Publisher : Rupa
My rating : 3/5
Copy source : Uncle OT on behalf of author ( I suppose)


Synopsis from Goodreads

Is it going to be like Hum Aapke Hain Kaun?

Noor has no idea that this frustrating question will turn around the course of her documentary film in more ways than she can imagine. At present she is more concerned about Supriya, the college diva who will make sure that she walks away with the credit while Noor does all the hard work. Moreover, when Supriya’s gorgeous boyfriend Dennis mysteriously makes an appearance in her film-making class, Noor has to deal with her burgeoning feelings for him. The documentary is being shot at a wedding where Noor discovers the secret of the bride’s unhappiness. Should she help her out and face the wrath of the bride’s parents later? Should she involve Dennis as the bride is his friend’s sister? But as things come to a head at the wedding, Noor realises that there’s no easy solution in sight, especially when the blinkers begin to come off.(less)

My thoughts 

What a sweet little story! Blinkers's off is possibly the first Indian contemporary popular fiction I have read which has a Muslim protagonist- which was extremely appealing to me. I am not going into the plot as the synopsis does a good job of it and  if I am going to outline the plot , it will pretty much be repetitive. What I am going to talk about is the freshness of the book. I read it in a couple of days , and that is saying a lot considering the fact that I normally take a few weeks to finish any book. 

Blinkers off is fast , breezy fun book that will remind one of their college days .It is essentially a love story (a love triangle at that ). There were other reasons why I wanted to read this book.I was intrigued about how a Muslim protagonist would think. No different from anyone else , but still I wanted to read the book mainly for that. Secondly , the part about the protagonist filming a movie at a wedding also  got me all curious about how the subject would be tackled. 

Story-wise , it was pretty straight forward with all the expected misunderstandings that are the staple of any book that deals with Young adult love. No flowery language or complicated writing , just simple story telling.This , I  feel is the biggest strength of the book. Noor is an  extremely likable character, despite all her hang-ups and  insecurities , while Dennis is the quintessential Alpha male archetype that any girl would swoon over. From the supporting cast , I liked Nandita's charecterisation the best  and could somehow not tolerate Noor's mother. I found her extremely harsh and critical . Oh, I also loved Roshan ( Noor's know-it-all kiddo brother). Supriya, the supreme snob does her job well and makes us hate her from the word go. 

Overall, a sweet little book that is breezy and fun. This book was like a bowl of khichidi and ghee for me - comforting and soothing, with no major twists or complicated writing. Next time when I am looking for a breezy fun book , I know I'll consider Andaleeb's other books ( She is really prolific and has had a book coming out every year).

Thanks Uncle OT for introducing me to this author's book. 

From the eye of my mind by TGC Prasad

Book : From the Eye of my mind
Author : TGC Prasad
Genre : Fiction
Publisher : Random House (Ebury)
Copy source : www.mysmartprice.com
My rating : 4/5

Blurb from the back cover of the book

I am eighteen years old and five feet six inches tall. I have  big eyes,long fingers ,and I am healthy because I eat my food on time.I also have a mole on my left palm. Grandma says," Mole on the palm is bad luck.' Eric Hoffer, an American writer, said ,'A great man's greatest good luck is to die at the right time.'I wondered what a right time to die was? I feel I have an eye in my mind and I close it when I am with strangers. 

Mallika is autistic and lives in a strangely whimsical yet ordered world of her own.When her mother breaks the news to her that her beloved brother Ananth is going to be married. Mallika's fragile world collapses. How will she deal with a stranger in her life and home? Told in an inimitable style, From the eye of my mind  is a charming tale of acceptance,love and a beautiful mind.

My thoughts 

I have an autistic cousin whose brother is getting married in a few months. So, when I got to know about this book ,I didn't think twice before wanting to read it. I hadn't read any reviews about the book then.Now that I have finished reading the book, I am happy that I picked it up. From the Eye of my mind is a charming , sensitive book. The story line is fairly simple and told from the POV of an 18-year old autistic child. She loves humming beetles songs ,  downloads and reads anything she can lay her hands on and is a mini encyclopedia of sorts. Her world is shattered when her big brother decides to get married . Mallika doesn't know how to deal with the new 'stranger' in her life. The rest of the story is about Mallika's journey towards acceptance. 

I don't know much about autistic children , except that certain faculties are extremely well-developed , while certain others(particularly social interactions)  are lacking . TGC Prasad wonderfully captures Mallika's thought process well and has let his simple story-telling style shine. One can't by start loving Mallika and her  motley  family. I quite liked Mallika's dad's charecter - a hen-pecked mild-mannered LIC officer who sells LIC policies to all and sundry.Other characters are also extremely believable. I also loved the way Mallika spouts trivia  at the most inopportune moments.. The book is totally adorable, I have to say.

The story is not just about Mallika's acceptance of the her sister-in-law , but also about the family coming to terms with a new addition to their family. Mallika's mother's attitude grated on my nerves , but I am willing to concede that a lot of Indian women with sons of marriageable age think that way, and that it is very representative of the thinking of the Indian middle class. I would have given a 5 , but decided against it because I didn't like the way the ending was handled.It was a little rushed and dramatic for my comfort. Maybe I am too much of a feminist to accept  the brother wanting  his new bride to quit work to help his mother cook and take care of his sister. Which is why the book gets a 4 from me. 

Overall , a lovely book that is breezy and poignant at the

same time. One would be reminded of Mark Haddon's The curious incident of a dog in night's time. But this book is very Indian in the context and brims with extremely believable characters  not to mention being narrated from the POV of an extremely adorable and intelligent child.   

My rating : 4/5 

Thanks to Mysmartprice.com for sponsoring this book for me. Do drop by their website to check out the best deals on books.

The Other Side Of The Table by Madhumita Mukherjee

Book name : The Other Side Of The Table 

Author: Madhumita Mukherjee

Publisher : Fingerprint  

Rating: 4/5 

Source : Publisher 

Genre : Fiction (Epistolary)

 Synopsis from Goodreads  Circa 1990.

A world drawn and woven with words.
A bond punctuated by absence and distance...
Two continents. Two cities. Two people.
And letters. Hundreds of them.
Over years. Across oceans. Between hearts.
Between Abhi, who is training to be a neurosurgeon in London, and Uma, who is just stepping into the world of medicine in Kolkata.
As they ink their emotions onto paper, their lives get chronicled in this subtly nuanced conversation through letters ... letters about dreams, desires, heartbreaks, and longings... about a proverbial good life falling apart, about a failed marriage, a visceral loss, and about a dream that threatens social expectations...
Letters that talk. And don't. Letters about this and that. Letters about everything...
Letters with a story you would never expect.(less)

My take on the book 

There are books that will cry hoarse and demand you to  pick them up , and there are the unassuming ones that will quietly work their magic on you . Before you  reach the last page of the book , it  would have successfully cast a spell on you. The Other Side of The Table belongs to the second variety. I have always loved reading epistolary books ; this books hasn't disappointed me as well .Letters fly back and forth Abhi, who is a neurosurgeon based in London and Uma, a feisty girl stepping into the world of medicine in Kolkatta. What do they write about ? anything and everything that goes on in their life.

Madhumita has done a great job in capturing the essence of both the characters through the letters they pen. Uma who appears rather immature and impetuous at the beginning mellows into a resilient woman as things get tough at work and with her domestic front. Abhi , who initially comes across as a level-headed intelligent chap turns pessimistic when he gets ill.Lovers lost , disappointments faced, new achievements conquered - the letters tell them all.

The language is lovely and the editing taut.  Despite being an erudite piece of fiction, the book is amazingly easy to read and not pretentious one bit.The pace is just right and will keep you hooked till the end. I read this book in not more than two stretches , and wanted to sorely get back to the book when I couldn't read it in-between . Which is why I think that this is a rather good book , as not many books make you want to drop everything else you are doing and get back to them pronto.

Overall, a thought provoking book that will weave its magic on you.

My rating 4/5

Many thanks to Arcopol from Fingerprint  for sending this copy across.
    

Home by Manju Kapur

Home by Manju Kapur

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Home is the story of a typical middle-class joint family of cloth merchants living in Delhi.It has all the ingredients of an Ekta Kapoor serial- horrible mother-in-laws, sulking daughter-in-laws, selfish children, pompous relatives ,obscenely lavish weddings and the works. None of the characters were really likeable.And that is not because Manju Kapur paints everyone in shades of Grey;I've liked grey characters before.Home is filled with really boring, vile grey characters that really grate on one's nerves and one doesn't really bother if these characters have a valid reason for being mean after a point.The most irritating among the lot being Sona. 

The story might be representative of the middle class , but realism alone is not enough to make one like a book. The writing was very ordinary and the narration extremely jumpy.To be fair to the book,the last hundred-odd pages were infinitely more engaging the the first two hundred. Maybe this had to do with the fact that the story more or less revolved around Nisha's life by this time. I've read Immigrants and A married woman before and found them a lot better than this one. Now I doubt if i'll ever pick up her other book Difficult daughters.

A thoroughly disappointing read!

View all my reviews

I'm not twenty four,I've been nineteen for five years by Sachin Garg

I’m not twenty four, I’ve been nineteen for five years” by Sachin Garg is the story of Saumya Kapoor , an MDI graduate who gets placed at Lala Steel . Thanks to her unisex name, she is misunderstood as a guy and is posted in a village, Toranagallu in Northern Karnataka. Now Saumya is a Gucci handbag- toting, mini-skirt wearing girl who loves her stilettos, coffee shops and malls way too much. How can a modern girl like that adjust to a life in a god-forsaken village where getting North-Indian food is almost equivalent to a miracle happening? Well, that’s what the chunk of the story is all about…. 

 She just has Amit, her sour and boring classmate from MDI and Malappa , the I-don’t-care Kannadiga  for company; both of whom aren’t prime candidates for friendship, according to the lass. To make matters worse she is placed in the safety department and is made to take up a job profile that is tailor-made for guys(thanks to the confusion regarding the name). Several incidents that take place at work place forces Saumya to wonder whether she did the right thing by accepting the offer. Then, the rakishly handsome weed-smoking Shubrodeep makes an appearance and changes everything for Saumya… Does she stick on in Toranagalla or pack her bag back to Delhi? Does she manage to find love and win the bet she has made with Vartika(about getting “some action” in Toranagalla)?You,ll have to read the book to find the answers to all that.

The book is a coming-of-age story of Saumya and portrays how she matures as a person in a matter of few months, due to her experiences at Lala steel.

Though the book is not exactly well-written, the narrative is racy. Saumya, Shubhro and Malappa are extremely likeable characters. More than anything, I think that a lot of youngsters will relate to the plot and the characters. Even Saumya and her friend, Vartika who grated on my nerves for the first few chapters gradually get likeable as the book progresses.  The trials and tribulations that Saumya faces at workplace are captured well also. I am going to avoid nit-picking on things like bad editing, spelling mistakes, amateurish writing and questionable grammar and not be a snob because I think the story is actually sweet. It will probably bring back memories of your first job (and/or) your first love. 

I guess for a guy writing a book with a female protagonist, and to top it all do the narration in almost diary-style first person, Sachin does a decent job. The initial few chapters were really jarring as one could really sense that the author was trying his best to write “like a girl”. Gradually though, Saumya’s voice isn’t that difficult to tolerate. By the end of the book you’ll start rooting for her, I am sure. In the prologue, Sachin mentions that the book is the true story of a colleague. He has used a picture taken by the girl’s boyfriend (showing her jeans-clad, stiletto encased feet ) on the cover, which is cute. Yeah, it screams chick-lit, but  is cute, nevertheless.

Overall, an enjoyable, breezy read which I’ll rate 3/5. 

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A Married Woman by Manju Kapur

I remember a few bloggers reviewing Manju Kapur's books positively and had wanted to pick something up by her for the longest time. My library had a couple of books by her and for some strange reason I was attracted to this book.Guess it had something to do with the fact that I was intrigued by the storyline- about a relationship an older woman has with a younger one and wanted to see how the subject's been handled by an Indian writer.

Astha is a middle class woman ,who lives in Delhi with her husband, two children and in-laws.She has everything a woman would need, but still has niggles of dissatisfaction bubbling in her. The story is really about how Astha changes from a unsure,college girl who has dreams of a mills and boons-type hero swooping in and carrying her away to a mature ,middle-aged woman who feels a little alienated in her marriage as time passes. Manju's writing is not spectacular ,but she adroitly captures the essence of trials and tribulations of a middle class family in the 80's. She takes time to build characters,but does a good job of keeping the reader glued to the pages. I am sure a lot of people will relate to a lot of things Astha or her family goes through like how they struggle to buy their first house or what is perceived to be the role of a woman in a traditional Indian household.

The beginning of Astha's "rebellion" against conforming to the norm starts when she starts taking interest in conceiving a play about the Babri Masjid troubles. She meets like minded people and drifts off into the world of activism.Her family's attitude towards her activism enrages her all the more and she inadvertently falls in love with Pipee, an NGO worker. Their relationship has friendship as a base and deepens into something more as time passes.The rest of the story is about what happens to the relationship between Pipee and Astha and also how Astha manages a double life- the life of a lover of a woman and that of a married woman with kids and responsibilities.

The intimate scenes between Astha and Pipee have been handled very sensitively by Manju,so have the incidents surrounding the Babri Masjid demolition and riots. At times Pipee came across as an overly selfish, immature person.she would have to be my least favorite character in the book. Hemant(Astha's husband) is portrayed realistically with many idiosyncrasies. Some might feel that Hemant's demands on his wife were excessively unrealistic,but I guess he represents how a lot of Indian men were like in the eighties. The backdrop of political agitation imparts a bitter-sweet tinge to the main story.

Manju switches from a third person narrative to a first person narrative (where she captures Astha's take on the activism directly) somewhere in the middle of the book.The abrupt change seemed a little weird and makes the narrative choppy. Overall, an okay read. Not brilliant,but entertaining and a thought-provoking piece of fiction.

Rating: 3/5 . I'll recommend it people who like Indian writing.