| It is 1984, a year which marks the end of an era in New Delhi, a city simmering with ethnic strife during the anti-Sikh riots that follow prime minister Indira Gandhi's assassination. This cataclysmic event serves as the backdrop to the day-to-day ordinariness of an immigrant Bengali family's life. |
| The story begins with the contrast between two sisters: Chhobi, the elder, sensitive and intelligent, is forever trying to rein in beautiful, narcissistic Sonali. Ma, their mother struggles with her loneliness after being widowed in her thirties, and the burden of running the household. |
| Dida is their feisty grandmother whose indomitable spirit prods the family on during times of adversity; and Dadu, their grandfather, grapples with his memories of far better times in pre-partition Bengal. |
| Sonny "" rich, handsome and arrogant "" enters Sonali's life. As the son of immigrants from present-day Pakistan, he portrays the resilient and go-getting spirit of refugees from the Punjab. His family has no time to wallow in nostalgia but is obsessed with amassing great wealth, by any means, fair or foul. |
| He later jilts Sonali in favour of an arranged marriage that is more of a business alliance. Sonali's thwarted love affair sets her family off on a path of retribution which changes their lives, the way they view themselves and each other, forever. The two families' interaction serves to highlight their different perceptions and realities, despite sharing the same point in history, that of relocation to Delhi after being rendered homeless in 1947. |
| BY WHICH WE SEE ALL COLOURS Mrinalini Patwardhan Mehra Full Circle Rs 295 258 pages |
| Namita Joshi is 18 and Indian with an inexplicable fascination for France. Studying French Literature in Bombay, she has grand plans for her career "" with her strong cultural roots, her intelligence and her beauty, it seems that there is only one way to go: to the top. |
| At an international film festival she meets Serge, an attractive young Frenchman. They are instantly attracted and fall in love. The brief affair marks her for life. Later, married to a man handpicked by her parents, she looks for that same love in her marriage. |
| But something dark and destructive engulfs them instead. Namita has to confront herself and all she has known so far. She has to navigate her life which slowly begins to unfold and blossom in a new direction. |
| Three decades later she meets Serge, this time in Paris. Again, she has new choices to face. |
| This has been variously described as "a fast-moving romantic novel with surprising depth, about the heroine's journey to the Self" and "a masterly romantic take on the depth of an Indian woman's ability to love". We'll skip the hyperbole; this is pleasant summer reading. |
Top Section
Explore Business Standard