Book Review 93
Name Of The Book : Knotty Affairs
Author : Chirag Bagadia
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Year : 2018
Category : Fiction
Review :
A land of countless customs, few things in India get bigger than a big fat wedding. A marriage is a celebration which brings families and friends together. And the ceremony ends with the tradition of the bride leaving her parents' home and moving in with her husband. The groom always has a choice - he can either stay with his parents or stay separately. However, for the bride her 'home' is now a strange place. Meet Aakash, a young dental intern, who falls in love with Kashish. However, what he doesn't know is that winning her heart was never going to be easy. Kashish is resolute - nothing, not even their budding romance, will come in the way of her devotion to her parents. Cut to four years later. Akash has fallen in love with Aneri, the only daughter of her parents. However, his father is clearly miffed by this development, and enlists the help of a psychologist friend to help Aakash. Furthermore, his father is also not surprised at the couple's request of entering into a live-in relationship before the marriage. But is Aakash ready to challenge the existing customs for his love? Is he prepared to go to any lengths to see that his love does not shed another tear? Take this tradition-defying journey with Aakash, Kashish and Aneri as they dare to delve deeper into the web of love and relationships. Warm up to their crazy antics which will leave you wondering - why can't this be my story?
The story takes off with Ashish meeting his old friend Vishakha who also happens to be a psychologist. Then we are taken through the life of Ashish from his internship days. He falls in love with Kashish, who is also an intern. They both are dentists. Ashish is very close to his family and he informs them about his relationship. But things take a downward spiral when Kashish’s parents especially her father disapproves of their relationship and she is forced to choose between Akash and her family. She chooses the latter and Akash is devastated. After a while, he agrees for an arranged marriage and meets many prospective brides. However, he does not find anyone suitable until he meets Aneri. Aneri is a lawyer by profession. Soon they both decide to tie the knot. One of Aneri’s conditions for marriage is that she wants her parents to stay with them along with Ashish’s. The rest of the story involves the various challenges that this creates and how they find amicable solutions. The concept though not unique is surely different. I am not personally in support of Kashish’s decisions in the book but the incident is quite realistic. Aneri finds fault with the conventional marriage and living arrangements post marriage but her own new arrangements were not completely justified. The whole book is based on the assumption that children who do not live with their parents do not love them or fail to take care of them. This is itself a flawed assumption. It can be compared to the case of a working mother. A working mother may not be able to spend as much time with her children as a stay-at-home mother, but this does not mean that she loves them any less. It is the same with living away from parents. Children could live in the same city or another country and still be there for their parents. These may alter according to the demands of their career and other factors. The adamancy that Aneri shows did not appeal to me as sensible or pragmatic. The arrangement of a joint family may or may not work depending on the convenience of the individuals and not a forced one. Initially, the idea is interesting but as the book proceeds, it becomes boring because that seems to be the only storyline. The end of the book was also unexpected and made all the preceding events futile. The language used in the book needs more polishing as certain dialogues seemed forced. Overall, the book has been able to capture certain amusing events that take place in a typical Indian household.
Rating : 3.5/5
Name Of The Book : Knotty Affairs
Author : Chirag Bagadia
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Year : 2018
Category : Fiction
Review :
A land of countless customs, few things in India get bigger than a big fat wedding. A marriage is a celebration which brings families and friends together. And the ceremony ends with the tradition of the bride leaving her parents' home and moving in with her husband. The groom always has a choice - he can either stay with his parents or stay separately. However, for the bride her 'home' is now a strange place. Meet Aakash, a young dental intern, who falls in love with Kashish. However, what he doesn't know is that winning her heart was never going to be easy. Kashish is resolute - nothing, not even their budding romance, will come in the way of her devotion to her parents. Cut to four years later. Akash has fallen in love with Aneri, the only daughter of her parents. However, his father is clearly miffed by this development, and enlists the help of a psychologist friend to help Aakash. Furthermore, his father is also not surprised at the couple's request of entering into a live-in relationship before the marriage. But is Aakash ready to challenge the existing customs for his love? Is he prepared to go to any lengths to see that his love does not shed another tear? Take this tradition-defying journey with Aakash, Kashish and Aneri as they dare to delve deeper into the web of love and relationships. Warm up to their crazy antics which will leave you wondering - why can't this be my story?
The story takes off with Ashish meeting his old friend Vishakha who also happens to be a psychologist. Then we are taken through the life of Ashish from his internship days. He falls in love with Kashish, who is also an intern. They both are dentists. Ashish is very close to his family and he informs them about his relationship. But things take a downward spiral when Kashish’s parents especially her father disapproves of their relationship and she is forced to choose between Akash and her family. She chooses the latter and Akash is devastated. After a while, he agrees for an arranged marriage and meets many prospective brides. However, he does not find anyone suitable until he meets Aneri. Aneri is a lawyer by profession. Soon they both decide to tie the knot. One of Aneri’s conditions for marriage is that she wants her parents to stay with them along with Ashish’s. The rest of the story involves the various challenges that this creates and how they find amicable solutions. The concept though not unique is surely different. I am not personally in support of Kashish’s decisions in the book but the incident is quite realistic. Aneri finds fault with the conventional marriage and living arrangements post marriage but her own new arrangements were not completely justified. The whole book is based on the assumption that children who do not live with their parents do not love them or fail to take care of them. This is itself a flawed assumption. It can be compared to the case of a working mother. A working mother may not be able to spend as much time with her children as a stay-at-home mother, but this does not mean that she loves them any less. It is the same with living away from parents. Children could live in the same city or another country and still be there for their parents. These may alter according to the demands of their career and other factors. The adamancy that Aneri shows did not appeal to me as sensible or pragmatic. The arrangement of a joint family may or may not work depending on the convenience of the individuals and not a forced one. Initially, the idea is interesting but as the book proceeds, it becomes boring because that seems to be the only storyline. The end of the book was also unexpected and made all the preceding events futile. The language used in the book needs more polishing as certain dialogues seemed forced. Overall, the book has been able to capture certain amusing events that take place in a typical Indian household.
Rating : 3.5/5