Those Pricey Thakur Girls (Anuja Chauhan)

 

Set in the eighties, Those Pricey Thakur Girls is the tale of the five beautiful (albeit chaotic) daughters of retd. Justice Laxmi Narayan Thakur as they flit in and out of their bungalow on Delhi’s prestigious Hailey Road. More precisely, the story revolves around the fourth daughter Debjani (Dabbu): the lover of losers, the messiah of stray dogs and the bearer of an Aruna Iraniesque mole on her chinny-chin chin.

Dabbu has just landed the much coveted job of newsreader at Desh Darpan (DD), the ONLY news channel in the country. Following her first, nervous newscast, the general opinion of her doting family and the odd chaat-wala is positive and brimming with praise. However, the scathing review by a columnist in the India Post newspaper rips Dabbu’s maiden venture to shreds.

Disheartened, dismayed and downcast, dear Debjani is alliteratively enough down in the dumps.

So what happens when the idealistic Debjani crosses swords with her father’s best friend’s son, the cynical investigative reporter, Dylan Singh Shekawat? And what happens when Debjani discovers that the brimming with wit and rippling with sinews Dylan is the pen behind the vitriolic piece that described her as “Miss Dolly dotted chin with a basilisk gaze?”
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 Anuja Chauhan pretty much rocks. This book is yet another gem from the lady who writes like a dream. 

She has the ability to push together a spunky heroine and a deliciously devilish hero and infuse their pairing with enough chemistry, wit, chutzpah and interfering busybodies to create a memorable love story.

The strength of her stories lies in the plethora of supporting characters who are so well-etched that you long for individual novellas of their very own.

Those Pricey Thakur Girls is a complete package. There are varying shade of humour ranging from droll wit to outright bawdy innuendos. The story effectively skirts the line between frothy chick-flick and gritty political gameplay. There are generous splashings of Hinglish that never sound pretentious or forced. Finally, the setting. Anuja Chauhan’s books are set in nostalgic patches of old Delhi that make you crave girly gossip nights atop terraces and hormonal neighbourhood boys who mature from puppy dog affection to wolfish admiration.

As always, I come away from a Chauhan romp with the replete sense of *paisa-vasool*. The book made me happy and at the end of the day, that’s a satisfying blessing indeed.

Battle for Bittora

Anuja Chauhan follows the success of ' The Zoya Factor' with yet another desi firecracker. Battle for Bittora is all good, tried-and-tested Bollywood clichés parcelled into one enticing masala-read.

Jinni Pandey is a happy-go-lucky animator drawing award-winning ‘kitaanus’ (germs/bacteria) for Harpic and other noteworthy brands. She’s young, spunky and has a carelessly-on purpose dishevelled half-rosebud haircut that she's mighty proud of.

But Jinni is also, infact Sarojini Pande, granddaughter of the fearsome political matriarch Pushpa Pande. The Pande clan is an illustrious (albeit with a dubious background) political dynasty. For a long time, they have contested the Lok Sabha elections through their hometown Bittora. Sometimes they have had resounding victories and at other times, embarrassing losses but it’s always been a full-on tamasha.

And now in true-blue unbendable grandmother/ conniving politician mode, the great Pushpa Pande has manoeuvered the clueless Jinni into contesting the upcoming elections from Bittora. Soon Jinni finds herself togged up in starched sarees and matronly blouses. She’s thrown headlong into a world of kleptomaniac Election agents; Crack teams who will “do anything” to help ‘didi’; hormonal pet dogs; frenemies; stalwart ladies who don’t visit parlours but bite off their underarm hair with their teeth (a very disturbing exaggeration, that); manipulators; back-stabbers; gropers and the entire rigmarole that is our grand Indian Politics.

Standing on the tip of this fast dissolving Gola, is Jinni's opponent : The idealistic (also, chiselled), intellectual (yes, his tan is honey colored) and universally loved (well, with that build-up....he obviously has to be lustworthy!) Zain Altaf Khan. Maruti Zain (as Jinni had mockingly nicknamed him) and Jinni share a rich past. They were childhood friends who were almost lovers before the great Pushpaji brought their raging "haarmoans" under control.

As the two youngest ever Lok Sabha candidates battle out the elections in grimy Bittora; kid gloves are shed, dirty politics lunge forth in full force and the trusty ol’ “haarmoans” make a predictable reappearance.

Anuja Chauhan strikes gold yet again. I am thoroughly chuffed to say that I have a favourite Indian author who doesn’t play the displaced NRI/ skanky urban cougar/ Indian travelogue card. Her dialogue is a delightful blend of propah English with a spicy tadka of local dialects. She captures the dusty contours of rural India, jazzes it up with a host of laugh-out-loud caricatures and gives you a stellar lead pair who make you root for them.

Kudos to Chauhan for plumbing her political lineage (her mother-in-law is Margaret Alva) and employing it with insouciance. I loved the book and would strongly recommend it for all who are still searching for that elusive "must-read Indian Author".

The Zoya Factor

Zoya Solanki.....a mid-level marketing executive at an ad-firm...a typical ‘Karol-Bagh’ type....with masses of black curling hair and a super-spunky attitude. Her idea of a perfect assignment: Working with SRK and getting a glimpse of his toffee-coloured torso!

So how does ordinary Zoya Solanki become ‘The Zoya Devi’..the Indian Goddess.....the good luck charm on which the hopes of a million Indians are riding?
Simple!

Zoya happened to be born at the very moment when India clinched the World Cup in 1983…infact when the last wicket fell, out popped Zoya! As she works on an assignment with the current Indian Cricket Team, the superstitious bunch discover that having breakfast with Zoya leads to victory. And not eating with her...well, crushing defeat (…to Bermuda!!). Zoya is instantly escalated to the status of “Lucky Charm”!

With the tenth ICC World Cup just around the corner, Zoya is soon begged, bullied and emotionally blackmailed to accompany the Indian team as their official good luck mascot. Driven by a misguided sense of loyalty to India and the hope of bringing back the elusive world cup.....Zoya is soon off to Australia on a fully-paid holiday.

But being a lucky charm is not all it’s cracked up to be. Zoya is soon crossing swords with the brilliant captain of the Indian team, Nikhil Khoda. Khoda doesn’t believe in lucky charms. He works hard and wants the team’s victories to be attributed to the effort put in by the “boys”. The fact that there’s a definite attraction between the two.....only adds to the escalating fiasco.

Pursued by pista-munching agents, harangued by saffron-clad babas, manipulated by IBCC chiefs and wooed by Cola firms……Zoya is soon sinking into the mad-crazy world of Indian Cricket. In a country where cricket is almost a religion, Zoya is elevated to goddess-status. Staying true to herself is becoming more and more difficult and the hype threatens to over-power the sassy Zoya.

Finally a book by an Indian author that I can say I thoroughly, truly enjoyed. No “Indian-settled-abroad-culture-clash” drama…no pages of purple prose.....just pure unadulterated fun. Anuja Chauhan has brought the fun back into Indian Literature. Generously peppered with doses of 'Hinglish' and ribald humour…”The Zoya Factor” is a laugh riot.

As the author herself puts it “Anybody who loved DDLG and the Twenty20 World Cup will like Zoya”. Too true….and I hope fledgling Indian Authors everywhere get the hint and leave the “rhona-dhona” behind!!