Sneha Jaiswal's Blog, page 276

Love, Loss, Lockdown & Loveleen

“I love the character of Loveleen, she is my role-model, I want to fight situations like her,” a member of the family told me today. She is 70+, battling cancer and it overwhelmed me to think that a short story from my book “Love, Loss, Lockdown” could bring such joy to someone.

It’s the second short story in my book and funnily, a friend of mine had something very different to say about it. “Finished reading your book, loved all of them except Lucky Loveleen!”, she had messaged me over a month ago after she was done reading it.

And that’s what I love about books and stories – each of them have a different effect of different kind of people. Some would love your story. Some would hate it. But it’s still worth telling.

If you haven’t read it yet, please grab a copy of “Love, Loss, Lockdown” and help support an independent author. It’s a collection of 10 short stories. Following are some country specific links –

Amazon India

Amazon U.S

Amazon UK

Amazon Germany

Amazon France

If I’ve missed your country, look for it on Amazon or on your kindle store.

P.S. You can find me on  Facebook, GoodReads and Instagram

The Dark Room Review- Not As Dark

Finished reading book number 65 for the year – “The Dark Room” by RK Narayan. Set in the fictitious Malgudi, this is a tale of Sarita, a housewife who is treated like a glorified slave. The title is a symbolic allusion to her marriage, which is restrictive and gloomy – like living in a dark room.

A simple book laden with domesticity, it’s a cautionary story about the need for women to have financial freedom. While I enjoyed reading Narayan’s lucid storytelling, it’s easy to see how this might not appeal to many modern readers.

The characters aren’t drawn elaborately & are quite forgettable. Like Sarita’s husband Ramani, who is very one-dimensional. Except for the fact that he is moody, self-centered & thinks women are creatures that must be bossed around, we don’t know much about him.

The ending was disappointing, but probably very apt for the time the novel came out in. Sarita may live in the 1940s, but her story still holds true for several women who are married off by their families as soon as they turn 18, without getting a degree, making them unemployable for decent paying jobs. While it’s not overtly about women empowerment, the author perhaps did intend it to be a thought-provoking narrative about how the disparities between the two genders is not just unfair, but causes upon both sides. Although, it’s always the woman that suffers more.

Our protagonist laments how there is barely any difference between her kind and prostitutes – one services several men, the other services only one. At least that’s Sarita’s conclusion. “The Dark Room” is quintessentially Indian and breezy. It might not be a literary gem, but makes for a quick enjoyable read.

How I Started Harry Potter

In the year 2000, grandfather got me my first Harry Potter book from a book fair in Calcutta. The city that once was the capital of India and is now called Kolkata. The city that once was our home.

I was just a pre-teen who had never heard of J.K Rowling, much less about how this was a third book in a series. Back then I was enamored with murder mysteries and preferred a ‘Nancy Drew’ over a new writer. Needless to say, I had no interest in Harry Potter. But my mother packed the book along with my other ‘yet to be read’ fiction books for my two month summer vacation to my paternal grandmother’s village. It region had no electricity, so books were my only escape from the sweltering heat.

Within a month, I had finished reading all my books and I have never been the sorts who would re-read things. Left with no choice, I finally picked up the Harry Potter. It took me a week to read just the first 50-60, because a lot of it was confusing and even boring. So I wouldn’t devour it like a maniac. But once I began to understand what was happening, it took me only 2 days to finish the rest.

And that’s how “Prisoner of Azkaban” became the first HP book I ever read. Till date, it remains my favourite in the series, not just because it opened doors to a new world, but it’s also the one where Sirius Black makes his first appearance.

An Aberration

The wind betrayed me

It never sent any word

And so the storm came

Like a capricious bird

Nesting while I was away

Waters sweeping the land

But I remained barren

A lone grain of desert sand

Princess Review – A look into patriarchal tyranny

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I felt personally attacked as a woman when I read bits of “Princess” by Jean Sasson, who claims it’s a true tale of a Saudi royal’s life in the elusive Arab world. The novel is a jarring juxtaposition of opulence & oppression, where women in the royal family have excessive wealth at their disposition, but their freedom is limited to buying jewels & expensive clothes that’ll be hidden under their veils. They are nothing but glorified slaves, always under the thumb of their fathers, brothers, uncles and husbands; men who treat women like disposable property and rape minor girls to pass time.

The protagonist ‘Princess Sultana’ (a pseudonym) grows up being ignored by her father and resolves at a young age that she will fight for gender justice. While for the first half, the reader is lulled into believing that Sultana may champion women rights, she frustratingly does ‘jack shit’ (nothing) & settles into a lavish life of domesticity. Wouldn’t be a stretch to call her an egoistic brat who largely brags & rarely acts.

All the male characters in the book are like clones, varying in very little degrees. There is no dominant character that stands out, especially since everybody is shown to the reader through Sultana’s views. Their personalities are clouded in her judgement. Saudi Arabia is perhaps the leading figure, an overpowering presence, malevolent and maliciously prejudiced against the female populace.

The author’s writing style is quite plain and yet the book is a page turner. It’s the tragic/horrifying stories of women around Sultana that’ll keep you glued to this novel. A flashback story of how her older sister undergoes female circumcision in her teens made my skin crawl. I had to put the book away for a few seconds to chase away the graphic images bubbling in my head. The circumcision is about control – men see to it that a woman’s most sensitive region is crushed to ensure she doesn’t enjoy the act of sex to prevent infidelity. All shades of patriarchal hypocrisy is on shameful display in this novel through stories of several women, both ordinary and royal.

As a reader, at several points, I either despaired at their helplessness or was grateful for not being born in a land where women are puppeteered like pet dogs from their births till their deaths. That’s not to say all is hunky dory in my part of the world. It’s the kind of book that makes me appreciate all the strides women have made in a male-dominated society and serves a stark reminder that we as women constantly need to fight in whatever little ways we can to achieve a more equal world.

Petromax Review – Madness

I have suddenly gained a new sense of respect for those who write movie description for online streaming sites. Because if I had to pen a synopsis for the 2019 Horror comedy film Petromax, I would have scratched my eyes out. It’s a maddening mess, which is absolutely hilarious in parts, but also mind-numbingly boring and idiotic in large chunks.

The south-Indian film is about Meera (Tamannah) who lives with her foster family in a beautiful bungalow. The owner wants to sell off the property but finds it hard to do so owing to rumors that it’s haunted. Rest of the film is spent in four idiots spending a few nights in the bungalow to prove it has no supernatural residents.

There is a neat little twist right at the beginning, after which we get background stories to the four men. Their tales were cliched and unnecessary. I managed to survive the 2 hour 30 minute madness because I was watching it with family at home and we could chat among ourselves and bitch about the plot.

“Looks like the director just picked off random people off the street and decided not to do any re-takes for the scene,” one of us laughed and said. Basically – the casting is quite shitty.

The thing with Petromax is, it did have a good plot, but it’s stretched so much, that the story gets lost in all the extra unfunny chaos that’s stuffed in. Had director Rohit Venkatesan had the heart to tell his editors to chop off at least 45 minutes off the film, it could have been a memorable horror comedy. It takes an hour for the film to finally get funny & interesting. Not many viewers have the patience to wait that long.

Aftermath – Poetry Book Review

Finished reading book number 63 this year. “Aftermath” by Tanya Parker suprised me by the sheer number of poems it packs in. There are over 100 poems, ranging from short Haikus to longer ruminations. I am guilty of enjoying some of the insta-style quick poems, which otherwise am very dismissive of. Sample these lines from one titled ‘Raging Artistry’ –

“There was beauty
in her vulnerability.
Her poetry was honest.
It came from years of silence.”

It’s short but philosophical, very relatable for creatives who find solace in the written word. Maybe that’s why I liked it so much.

With 100s of poems in the book, some of the themes do become slightly repetitive. As far as the style is concerned, there is no distinct pattern in the poetry but I liked that bit about the writing. As you flip pages, you are not sure what to expect – it could be a brief four line love note or a forty line lament that resembles a diary entry. A lot of them seem deeply personal, while others might appear to be general observations associated with heartbreak.

I found Tanya on Twitter and she regularly posts poetry on the micro-blogging site too. She is a contemporary voice worth exploring if you want to read new poetry.

50 Ways in Which ‘A Suitable Boy’ Series Differs From Seth’s Book

The much talked about series directed by Mira Nair – “A Suitable Boy” is finally streaming on Netflix this month. While I saw it in August, here’s me re-sharing a comparison between the Vikram Seth book and it’s onscreen adaptation.

Let me begin by saying that I enjoyed watching the series but felt it was a little too rushed and needed a few more episodes. Here are just some of the changes (both big and small) I noticed —

Lata, one of the central characters in the book was described to be dark. It’s something that really catches your attention because there are some snide remarks made about her skin colour in the very first few pages, like how the colour pink doesn’t really suit her. Her mother fears that she would have ‘black grandchildren’. However, in Mira Nair’s adaptation, the actor playing Lata is quite light-skinned, in fact, she is fairer than most of the other cast. It was unfortunate that Nair did not cast a darker actor to play the role, considering how Lata is said to be very attractive despite the colour of her skin.Since the actor playing Lata in the series is ‘fair’ (for the lack of a better word), obviously all the mean remarks about her skin colour do not make it to the adaptation either. Almost each time the actor appeared on the screen I would think “too fair”.Which brings me to another related disparity — her elder sister Savita is said to be fairer in the book and even more lovely to look at. That’s not the case in the series.Pran, the English professor who Savita is married to, was said to be very thin and sickly in the book. In the series, the actor looks stocky and is rather well built.I remember how there was some sort of “beauty and the beast” kind of comparison between Pran and Savita in the book. Savita is said to be light-skinned and beautiful, while Pran is dark and not very attractive. But the actors playing the roles don’t look mismatched at all.Lata’s best friend Malati was a disappointment, she was not as charming and quick-witted. Also, while Malati was said to have a better sense of dress than Lata, in the series, she is quite frumpy and Lata is dressed a lot smartly than her at all times.One of the most fun scenes in the book, the one where Maan, Pran’s younger brother is shown to go quite wild on the day of holi is given a major twist. While in the book, Maan goes to Pran’s house with his friend to play holi; in the series the holi celebrations takes place entirely at their father’s residence, who is also the state revenue minister.In the book, Maan harasses a senior professor by drowning him in water at Pran’s place on Holi day. In the series he humiliates the Home Minister instead — by drowning him in a water fountain. The incident leads to further rivalry between the two ministers.This might seem like a very minor detail, but what struck me right when I saw the trailer was that Lata constantly wears sleeveless blouses with her sarees. There is a scene where Mrs Mehra, her mother lovingly looks at her as she gets dressed to go out. But Seth’s conservative Mrs Mehra would have never approved of a skin-baring top, a little ‘too modern’ for the 1950s. In the book she was scandalized when her daughter-in-law wears a sleeveless blouse for a party.A lot of characters don’t make it to the series, which is understandable, because there would have been no time to do any justice to their arc. But one character who was undeservedly chopped off was that of Imtiaz Khan. While in the book, Maan’s best-friend Firoz has a twin brother Imtiaz, in the series, Firoz has no twin.Another character that was conspicuous by her absence was Maan’s older sister Veena. I say conspicuous because Veena’s son, the math genius Bhaskar is in the series, but his parents never make an appearance. At one point I wondered if Bhaskar was supposed to be Praan & Savita’s son in the adaptation, but that was not the case. Bhaskar was just like an orphaned child squeezed into the sets.The Chatterjee clan is also reduced to three siblings. The third brother Dipankar and the youngest brother Tapan are chopped off. I mention this because Tapan was loosely inspired by Vikram Seth’s own life and was a lovable character.The first communal riots that take place in the book are too simplified in the series. In the book, when a raging Muslim mob makes its way towards an under-construction temple, the police first shoot as a means to ensure that they themselves are not mauled to death and in the hopes that the gun sounds would scare and scatter them. However, in the series, the cops are given specific “shoot at sight” orders from the Home Minister.The Home Minister is made more villainous and conniving in the series to heighten the drama.Tasneen is perhaps 17 in the book, or at least still in her late teens, but in the series, the actor looks a little older. And visually, while Tasneen is said to have an innocent aura to her, the actor looks more sultry than the demure damsel from the saga.Saaeda Bai’s help Bibbo is described as curvy and young in the book. At one point she even manages to seduce Maan into kissing her, a scene that is missing from the series. The on-screen Bibbo is more of a matronly, heavily-built, unlike the impish Bibbo from the book.Another minor change was that Saeeda Bai, who is a courtesan, only had two accompanying musicians in Vikram Seth’s world. On Nair’s sets, she has four and sometimes even more musicians accompanying her.Also, while in the book, Saeeda Bai’s sarangi player has his own sub-plot, the musicians are reduced to mere props in the visual narrative.Meera Nair’s Lata is more decisive and headstrong than Seth’s Lata, which is probably a welcome change. She is less confused about her feelings and more confident.The character of Kuku was surprisingly plump. Perhaps, Meera Nair tried to keep up with modern sentiments of body acceptance and decided to put Kuku on the heavier side. While I can’t recall Vikram Seth ever writing that Kuku was thin, he did imply that the Chatterjee sisters were very weight conscious.Another departure from the book is the fact that the Chatterjee sisters decide to match up Lata with their brother Amit even before the two meet. In the book, they do so only after sensing that Amit perhaps likes her.A similar change — Amit begins to flirt with Lata from their very first conversation in the series. It obviously helps save a lot of time.In the book, Mrs Mehra heads to Delhi to meet Kalpana to help her with finding a potential groom for Lata. In the series, she goes to Lucknow, this also helps shorten her India tour as both her family friends and some relatives are placed in the city of nawabs.Kalpana personally suggests and introduces Haresh Khanna to Mrs Mehra as a suitable boy for Lata. Seth made their meet accidental in his tale -Haresh makes a surprise visit to Kalpana in Delhi and Mrs Mehra takes a liking to him.Waris is very old in the series. In the book, he is young and ‘considered dashing by the women’. In the series, he is balding and in his 40s and is played by an actor who is in his late 40s.Saeeda sends a letter to Maan asking him to cut short his rural tour and come back to Brahmpur because she misses him. She does no such thing in the book. She doesn’t even write him a letter, let alone ask him to come back.In the book it is Veena who attends Pul mela with her son Bhaskar, but since Veena is not in the series at all, it’s Pran and wife that are shown with Bhaskar when he gets injured in the tragic Pul Mela stampede.While in the book, Kabir Durrani identifies Bhaskar at a medical camp and calls up Mahesh Kapoor to tell him the news. In the series, he simply finds Bhaskar and hands the little boy over to Pran and wife.Maan is unaware of Bhaskar’s injuries at the Pul Mela stampede because he was still in the Ruddhia village and nobody from the family writes to him about it. But in the series, he knows about it and is already in Bhrahmpur.The fleeting homo-erotic scene between Maan and Firoz in the bed takes place in the Baitar fort in the book. In the series, it takes place in Firoz’s Brahmpur home. Also the dialogue “you think I have planned all this” is said by Firoz in the book, but its Maan who says it in the series.Varun’s brief fling with Kalpana and his interview for the Indian Administrative service takes place a lot earlier than shown in the novel.Haresh quits his shoe job without another in hand in the series, which makes him seem more impulsive than he really is. In the book, he takes the step only after finding a better paying offer.Savita delivers her first baby with Pran anxiously waiting outside for the good news. In the book, Pran himself was hospitalized during the delivery of their baby.In-fact, Pran is so ill that Savita decides to study law, to avert the fate of being a penniless widow. This sub-plot is missing from the screen.Which reminds me of another omission, a welcome one at that — nobody in the series harps about how Savita must be pregnant with a boy. In the book, Praan is rather surprised to learn it’s a girl, since everybody kept insisting it was going to be a boy.Amit does not write “for Lata” in his poetry book. Also, the poem that he writes for her is reduced to four lines in the series.After communal clashes break out in Brahmpur again, Maan and Firoz originally take shelter in Veena’s home in the book. But in the series they head to Praan’s house.The sub-plot about Meenakshi’s second pregnancy and her miscarriage is not in the series.Also, in the book, Meenakshi only pawns off one gold medal, in the series she pawns both of them. This helps in getting rid of off the burglary sub-plot in which the other medal gets lost.Kabir (Lata’s primary love interest) is made to be a little more romantic in the series. For example — he does not go to Amit’s house in Calcutta to meet Lata in the book, however in the series he does so.In the book, all three prospective suitors for Lata’s hand — Kabir, Amit, Haresh — meet while watching a cricket match. In the series, they meet outside her brother’s house.While Maan is able to attend his mother’s last rites in the book, he languishes in jail in the series.Like I said earlier, the Home Minister is made more villainous. In the book, it is the Home Minister who voluntarily decides to ring up the cops and orders them to escort Maan for his mother’s last rites. But in the series, the Home Minister prevents Maan from leaving prison and denies him the opportunity to say one last goodbye to his beloved mother.Tasneem overhears Saeeda Bai confessing to Firoz that she they are not sisters but mother and daughter. In the book, she only finds it out through hearsay.When Haresh invites the Mehra family for Christmas lunch at the Praha club, I distinctly remember that there was no mention at the table about how much it costs. In the series there is an awkward conversation where Mrs Kapoor dramatically declares “this must have cost a fortune!” and Haresh promptly says — “Yes, a month’s salary”.After Haresh storms out after from Amit’s house because Lata calls him ‘mean’, most of their interaction is only via letters. However, in the series, he meets her in Brahmapur to personally apologise for his behaviour.Another little new twist is that Haresh sends letters for Lata in Calcutta, but Amit doesn’t pass them on to her. Leading to a minor flash-point between the siblings.Which brings me to the next disparity — instead of having Amit write a detailed letter to Lata listing Haresh’s cons, Amit is shown to visit Brahmpur. He tells Lata on her face why she must not choose the shoe-maker and lists Haresh’s rather superficial flaws.There is a rather filmy scene of Lata proposing Haresh to marry her while he is on a train to Calcutta. While it was a fun change, it was also too cliched, since a lot of Hollywood and Bollywood romances tend to have these airport/train station scenes in the climax.And the last little departure from Seth’s tale — In the novel, the Durrani family is invited to Lata’s wedding but Kabir does not have the heart to attend it. In the series, there is a rather sad scene of a wistful Kabir on his cycle spying on a happy Lata as she is married off to Haresh.

(I originally published a version of this article on Medium, do follow me if you are there)

Unusual Tales About Women In Mythology

The Daughter from a Wishing Tree – Unusual Tales about Women in Mythology by Sudha Murty is a book best gifted to school kids who like to read. To those who are familiar with Hindu mythology, it has very little to offer in terms of “unusual” content.

As an adult reading it, I had a bad case of “expectations versus reality”. I have read almost all the tales from the book as a kid; be it the one about how Godesss Lakshmi came into being, or the one about the slaying of the evil Hayagriva or the age old fable of Nala & Damayanti.

There is no distinct author voice to the tales and felt like a team of text-book editors wrote them. Unlike a Devdutt Pattanaik who spins familiar tales from mythologies with his own little twists and refreshing manner of story-telling.

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Some of the stories were too rushed and could have been fleshed out in more pages. The illustrations however were very nice and had a lovely old-school mythological touch to them. Reminded me the regional magazines my grandmother used to read when I was growing up.

Like I said earlier, it would make a good gifting option for school children. But to those who know their Hindu mythologies, the book can be a big letdown. It’s a 3/5 from me.

Always Be My Maybe Review- Maybe Not

I’ve had my eye on the 2019 Netflix film starring comedian Ali Wong & Randall Park for a while now. Especially after I saw Wong’s two comedy stand-up specials on the streaming site called “Baby Cobra” and “Hard Knock Wife”. I would choose to see them again over this film, had I known how mediocre it was. Well, that’s the short way of summing up my review.

Directed by Nahnatchka Khan, “Always Be My Maybe” is a romantic comedy about celebrity chef Sasha who runs into her estranged best-friend after 15 years when she flies to San Francisco to set up her new restaurant. Will sparks fly between the two? Will they rekindle their friendship and take it to the next level? That’s the rest of the film.

There is a crazy cameo in the film that made me go “WHAAAAAAAAT????”, because I usually do not read up on stuff that I want to watch, so there is some surprise element left for the makers to thrill me as a viewer. But despite that advantage, this film was a bit of a predictable mess.

While Ali Wong is pretty damn good on the stage with her comedy, on film, as a celebrity chef, she is not very convincing and is unable to get into the skin of the character. You can see a lot of her real personality overpowering the role and that just does not work. Randall Park is also underwhelming as the small-time musician and just doesn’t have the charm for the bit. If you didn’t know – these guys are the producers of the film. I am saying this, because, frankly, I don’t think they would have got this job otherwise. Perhaps Awkwafina (of crazy rich Asians) fame would have made a more fun Sasha and either Harry Shum Junior or Alex Landi for the musician role.

This was a 4/10 for me and I don’t think there is anything memorable about it. It’s been three days since I saw it and I cannot recall anything worth typing down, so just gonna keep it short. If you think “maybe I should watch this film on the weekend”, I would say “maybe not”.