RED TURBAN WHITE HORSE (Nandini Bajpai)

Red Turban White Horse was a rather sweet and endearing piece of YA Lit.
If you like your teenage heroines to be savvy, street-smart, wise beyond their years, non-whiny, blessed with an artistic flair/ fashion sense/ Etsy shop, then Mini Kapoor ticks all the right boxes. Imagine a teen Sonam Kapoor, if you will. The fact that Mini appears to be a Harry Potter fan, (numerous references pepper the books) worked for me.

The story revolves around the run-up to the Great yet classy (and homespun) Indian Wedding and the intervening chaos, the hit-and-miss moments and the mellow warmth and support of loving/ non-judgemental relatives.

The love-track was pretty predictable but readable.

Interesting fashion mentions for those who know their Tory Burches from their Kate Spades. My personal favourite was the classic Dooney and Bourke Doctor Satchel. Coupled with ravings about Indian couture, the book will be quite entertaining for the ones who like their gladrags labelled and lovingly dunked in pretty paperbags with celebratory tissues.

An engaging angle for me was the mother-daughter relationship. It was explored with sensitivity, nostalgia and the firm convictions of a writer who has had a loving maternal influence.
I also enjoyed the entire support system surrounding Mini's frantic efforts. While it's cynically hard to imagine that most people can be genuinely nice and helpful, it was nevertheless, emotionally uplifting.

In all, a fairly decent read.

RATING: 3/5

THE RELUCTANT MATCHMAKER (Shobhan Bantwal)

The main conflict in this book was that the heroine was barely five feet tall and the hero was six feet-five inches tall. The hero is 'nobly' staying away from the heroine because he feels that his gargantuan body will crush her fragile and delicate beauty.

This ofcourse doesn't stop him from being a sadistic ( I refuse to accept that he's clueless) twerp who then proceeds to ask the heroine (who for the record, is wearing her heart on her sleeve like nobody's business) to find a six-feet tall prospective bride for him.

Oh, and he sneaks in a snog with his reluctant matchmaker while he's at it.

And then gives her a Dear John version of a shove-off.

Oh yes, he did.

And why, after all these mindless shenanigans, does the supposedly razor-sharp heroine proceed to peg him as a kind, loving and humourous man is COMPLETELY beyond me. What exactly did he do to deserve those attributes?

Dear *I-claim-to-be-non-mercernary-but-judge-the-hero-by-the-car-he-drives* Meena and *God-forgive-me-but-I-will-send-a-rogue-bludgeon-your-way* Prajay....you really want to know what a great love story between a midget and a giant should be like?

Please look up Drogo and Daenerys Targaryen.
Look at them: And also:



AND the love-story of Daeneryes and Drogo was a rich, vibrant tapestry that weaved in fear, belligerence, sexual attraction, mutual respect, courage and the slaying of a particularly vile and creepy brother-in-law.

THAT's a love story of epic proportions.
Not this.

RATING: 2/5

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.