Dev & Simran: A Novel

by Eunice de Souza

No one lives life as if death is around the corner.' Dev and Simran. A couple living in the heart of Bombay and grappling with everyday married life and the loss of a child. Then Dev dies and Simran is left to pick up the pieces with the help of a close-knit group of friends. Grieving in their own personal ways for Dev, they try, as best they can, to support Simran through her ordeal. As this diverse group of people interact, reminisce and navigate some of life's harshest, funniest and most ordinary moments, we share their agonies and joys, their personal hang-ups, their insecurities and strengths. Intense, witty and moving, Dev & Simran is a quiet and graceful tribute to life.

75 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 7, 2003

About the author

Eunice de Souza (1940–2017) was an Indian English language poet, literary critic and novelist.
Among her notable books of poetry are Women in Dutch painting (1988), Ways of Belonging (1990), Nine Indian Women Poets (1997), These My Words (2012), and Learn From The Almond Leaf (2016). She published two novels, Dangerlok (2001), and Dev & SImran (2003), and was also the editor of a number of anthologies on poetry, folktales, and literary criticism.

Reviews

[Maanvi · Rating 3 out of 5]

"No one lives life as if death is around the corner." I love Eunice de Souza, but after reading "Dangerlok" and now this, I get why not many will like her fiction. She offers little context to events or people, exposition is not her style. She often delves deep into characters' minds - offering us a glimpse of how they see the world, through her characteristic wit and incisive commentary. In this book, she writes of how a couple, Dev and Simran, and their friend circle changes after the passing away of Dev. Through first-person narratives, she constructs a picture of their life after Dev's death, a marriage on the rocks, and friendships which disintegrate and find their way back again. I liked how de Souza doesn't sentimentalise how Simran reacts to her husband passing away. She still gets angry at him, writes him emails as if he has just gone on holiday, and wonders what to do with all the time on her hands. As always, with de Souza, there's no time for sympathy. "This is how life is yaar," she always seems to be saying, "what are you going to do about it? Best to move on."