30 Day Book Challenge: Day 1

Day 1: The best book you've read last year.


Since I love Chick Lit and have read a lot of it last year under the pretext of "research", the best book I have read last year will come from this genre. Sorry if you don't think chick lit is worth it....go, find another blog. :P

Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding: Considered to be a pioneer in the genre of chick lit, I think it deserves every bit of praise that has been accorded to it.A story of an ordinary-looking girl, with little general knowledge, a few bad habits, insecurity, an uncanny knack for falling for the pretty bastard and wishing for her Prince Charming to come and sweep her off her feet. Sounds like any of us, no? Helen Fielding started this trend of writing about lives of ordinary single city girls, making them extra-ordinary with her unique flair for humour. :)

I absolutely loved it and was found laughing out loud on several occasions while reading it. :)



* Pictures courtesy Google images.

About that (Un)employed status

Subtitled: Mixed Emotions

Big news, guys! I'm no longer unemployed! :D Now, I subtitle Hindi films and serials in English for a living. And so far, it's a very cool job. :)

Mixed emotions, because, well, this office is a long, long commute away from my home. So, 6 days a week, I travel for 5 hours (yes, 2.5 hours one way) and work for 8.5 hours. Which means, that I officially don't have a life anymore. Besides the commute tires me very much. And the pay is not that great a motivation either. So, I wonder if it's really worth it. I won't even get time for writing/ reading. On the other hand, it's a fun job. And irrespective of that, hey, it's a job! For so long, I was looking for something and I was hitting dead-ends everywhere. Besides, I only want a job for a few months, before I go back for my PhD. (hopefully, I mean) And since I'm enjoying it, it doesn't seem that bad after all. ::very very confused::

Btw, for the last two days, I've been subtitling a television serial called Mahi Way, which is a total Bridget Jones-rip off. And I like this coincidence that out of all the weepy, stupid, bhartiya nari-types that I could have got, I got this one. :D Since I have been quite out of touch with Hindi television, I didn't even know this one existed. In fact, in one of the chapters in my thesis, I'm planning to focus on how relevant is the genre of chick lit in India coz we have seen Bridget Jones, Sex and the city, Shopaholics, all translated into television and films. But, even when we have books like Swati Kaushal's A Piece of Cake or Advaita Kala's Almost Single, (both, brilliant books, btw) television and films are still mostly dominated by regressive, traditional, Sooraj Barjatya-types. This one will be very good input for me! :D

In other news, Moon got placed at an awesome company for next year! :D This is very exciting! We went out to celebrate last night and did the whole awesome cocktails thing that makes me feel very sexy. :D But, on the downside, it seems that Sun won't be able to come down to India after all because the flight tickets are way too expensive. And I cried very much when she sent me that email. She says that if she doesn't come this January, she won't be able to do so until next year, around the same time. And none of us knows where life will take us by that time. :( I was so looking forward to seeing her and being 18 again with the two of them. Does any of you know anything that I can do to get cheaper tickets from Auckland to Mumbai and back? Please help this poor, pining-for-her-friend me!

But, in the good news, I'll be leaving for Leeds in 48 hours! Now, if only the weather Gods don't make the flights stop and all, I'll be back with S and Atom in 3 days! :D

So, yes, mixed emotions. Happy for the job? Sad for not having any time because of that? Happy for Moon? Sad for Sun? Happy for meeting Atom again? I don't know!

a PS on Chicks' Lits

I don't know how but I forgot two of the books that I had read, one of them, absolutely brilliant!

• Advaita Kala's Almost Single: 'My name is Aisha Bhatia, I am twenty-nine years old and single. I dine at luxury hotels and stay in five-stars during my travels, thanks to my job; I can name old and new world wines with great elan, and can tell my cheeses apart. I tolerate my job, hate my boss, and bond big time with my friends, while routinely suffering from umbilical cord whiplash. I really don't care for my vital stats right now and I don't have a cute/ funny nickname. Hence the introduction. It stinks but it sticks. In fact, sometimes I think there should be support groups like the AA out there for people like us...' Predictable? Yes. But then again, most chick lits are. They are supposed to be. What's a chick lit if not predictable. It's not about the what but rather about the how. And that how has been executed very well by Kala. This is one of the funniest book I've read in a while and a rare gem in the category of Indian chick lits. :D
• Sonia Singh's Bollywood Confidential: Raveena, a wannabe Hollywood actress, accepts a lead role in a Bollywood film for the lack of jobs in Hollywood, comes to India and obviously, falls in love with the lead actor opposite her in the film. A lecherous director, a strong, silent type hero, a bitchy supermodel who regards her with jealous eyes as competition for the silent hero's attentions and some bizarre, crazy twists, this one's a total Bollywood pot-boiler as well. Maybe this Bollywood type plots are a something diaspora chick-lit authors think is how Indian chick-lit should be. Researching this idea is so going to be a chapter or two in my thesis. :D

Ok, that's it. For now. I have ordered a couple more books from Flipkart (Aside: I must mention here how Flipkart is a bad, bad thing and Flipkart plus Internet Banking, a lethal combination.) So, after I come back from my Leeds vacation, I might put up more reviews. Until then, well, other things. :P

Chicks and their lits

I have waaaaay too much time on my hand. Unemployed status is a very funny thing. Coz then, you are bored out of your wits. But, you also get a lot of time to read all kinds of trash! :D Good times, methinks!! :D Best thing about it is that I can totally pass it off as my "research" for PhD proposal! :P

• Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary and Edge of the Reason: I worship these books. Nothing can be said in their praise that hasn't already been said. They are examples of excellence and nothing said against them will be tolerated. Okay, 'nuff said. 
• Varsha Dixit's Right Fit, Wrong Shoe: Funny, Bollywoodesque story of Nandini and the love of her life, Aditya. Totally feels like a script of a Bollywood film (or, even a Hollywood rom-com - I don't know why only Bollywood is so badnaam for making melodramatic rom-coms.) It has it's typical moments of hate (and lust) at first sight which later converts into love, a misunderstanding, a heart-broken break-up, a sacrifice for the greater good, a revenge plan, lavish celebration functions, a twist and a happily-ever-after. 
• Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan's You are here: I had read this one about 2 years ago. But borrowed it again to re-read for the proposal bit. It is very chick lit-ish. And funny as well. But, it could definitely have been better. Arshi is 25, just broken-up with a serious boyfriend, her job sucks and her best friend is getting married. It is a very funny quick read for the most parts. But, Madhavan has this tendency of going into long-winded philosophical insights, which though funny, are sometimes tedious and out-of-way. However, Arshi's room-mate, Topsy makes brilliant cocktails and Madhavan has provided us with some of her recipes, which I totally intend to use very very soon! ;)
• Anjali Banerjee's Imaginary Men: "Lina is a single, 28 year old match-maker, who has come down to Calcutta from America for her sister's wedding. Of course, all the aunts descend on her like hungry crows with their advices and their knowledge of so-and-so's son/ nephew/ grandson/ neighbour's son - all eligible bachelors. Cornered and in a panic mode, Lina lies and says she's engaged. But what she didn't expect was her eldest aunt telling her that she'll be coming to America soon to check out the boy herself. Now, Lina has to find the perfect guy and convince him to fall in love with her and get engaged in three months. Except, she already sort-of has the hots for this one guy, who is totally wrong for her." Obviously. Hmmm, I write brilliant blurbs. Somebody should hire me to do this. 
• Rekha Waheed's The A-Z guide to Arranged Marriage: This one is oh-so-filmy, it makes me nauseous! Maya is a Bangladeshi British in love with this other guy. But they keep having their on-moments and off-moments. She keeps swinging between "He is so great, only he gets me" to "Such a bastard, why did I ever fall for him?!!" Meanwhile, her parents are going berserk and falling over each other while trying to line up a series of failed "alaaps" (men who come to 'see' the girl for marriage) for her. She starts getting irritated, resulting in her parents carting her off to Bangladesh, in the hopes of finding her someone and then, send her to some obscure village to live with her nan. What's more, she "finds" herself there! And of course, the end is so silly and filmy! Even if the plot doesn't bother you, the obvious grammatical errors will! I don't think the publishing agency got this one edited or proof-read at all. Such a big putt-off! Not recommended. Obviously.
• Monica Pradhan's The Hindi-Bindi Club: Very interesting. Kiran, Priety and Rani are all first generation American Indians. Their mums are best friends. A very, very interesting tale of how three women find their relationships with each other as well as with their mothers. One of the few good ones. :)

Okay, that's all that I've done in the last few days. Am reading a few different books (not chick lit though :P) at the moment. Will put up the reviews or at least blurbs soon enough. :)

PS: Since we are talking about chick lit and all, here is a brilliant project taken up by Moon of writing a chick lit: http://girl-uniterrupted.blogspot.com/ and it promises to be as sassy as Moon herself! :D Go read, and enjoy!! :D

When I write my book....

So, I've finally decided the direction that my life is going to take in the next few years. No, I'm not challenging the Gods, because we all know that if I do that, I'll be doomed. We've all read Greek mythology at some point or the other, haven't we? But, I'm BESEECHING the Gods to listen to my pleas and make this happen for me! Simply because I'm so confused that it took me ages and several headaches to come up with this "final" plan for myself. And, I'm publishing it on the internet, just so that it seems more concrete and so that I don't back out of this one to run amock between 5 other possible plans. Again.

Right. So, I'm going to go home in October, work for a year and then, come back here in October 2011 for my PhD. And, I'll be doing my PhD in Popular Culture. Chick lit and chick flicks, to be precise. I know, I know, it sounds fantastic and all! :D It sounds the same to me and to a few people from various universities, whom I'd emailed my research ideas. So, fingers crossed, my funding application will be accepted and I'll start my research next year! :D That's my fabulous plan for the next 4-5 years.

The hitch: I love chick lit!!! What's the problem, you ask? The problem, my dear readers, is that I am an ENGLISH LITERATURE student. So, my job is to analyse and criticise. Make no mistake, it can be positive criticism. But, popular culture rarely lends itself to positive critical debates. There is going to be a lot of bad blood between me and my favourite kind of fiction for the 3-4 years. I'll be condemning the stereotypes, disapproving it's impact on naive readers, denouncing its high-handedness in dealing with the subaltern and attacking its typical, non-literary style of writing. ::weeps:: What's worse, I might even start believing some of all this to be true!! I've always maintained that you should not write dissertations or thesis on something that you love passionately. That's why I'd never "study" Harry Potter or any other children's fiction that I grew up with. But, you can only go so far with something that you DON'T love. So, when it came to a commitment of 3-4 years, I HAD to choose something that I love so that it'll sustain me for that long.

That being said, I hereby, make a solemn promise to the genre of chick lit, that when I come out of the whole PhD thing, I will definitely write a popular fiction, chick lit book. And, my book WILL have ALL the stereotypes in it: Single city girl, living in either Mumbai or London, working either in publishing or as a free-lance writer, shoe and bag fetishes, 2-3 close girlfriends and boy shopping with them, at least one gay best friend, nicotine addiction, alcohol silliness and hangover stories, at least one weed experience and making fool of yourself, probably at a beach or a pool party, looking for a needle in the haystack of alcoholics, workaholics, commitment phobics, people with girlfriends or wives, misogynists, megalomaniacs, chauvinists, emotional fuckwits or freeloaders and perverts, and because I'm me, a dysfunctional (not in the sense of broken, but just very conservative and scandalized by their daughter) Indian family. There, now that I've made that promise to chick lit (and to myself,) I feel like a huge weight has lifted from my shoulders. :) Yay for Chick lit! :D And all of you, who love me, please pray that this plan does work out for me! Please!

My Singleton Laments

I spent my last weekend with 3 couples and one other single guy at a friend's boyfriend's party house. Now, before everyone jumps to conclusions, I must say, it wasn't a set-up though it sure did look like one. Needless to say, I'm not a big fan of set-ups or even set-up look-alikes! Though, what I am a big fan of, is chick lit and chick flicks. At several levels, I am quite the Sex and the City meets Bridget Jones who has already met Gurinder Chadda's Gujju version. Ok, no, I exaggerate. I am none of the above because all of them had jobs that not just paid their bills but also bought them MANY pairs of Manolos. 


But I digress. So, anyway, between the party nausea and my love for chick lit, here I am, writing this blog-post instead of reading the postcolonial theories (yep yep, pun intended) that I should be reading for my dissertation. So, can anyone tell me what is the deal with these smugly-coupled sort of people? (RANT ALERT, RANT ALERT!!) I mean, they are fine when you know them and then, boom! One day they find someone and they jump the ships and act like they have always been sailing in that other ship and are professionals at it now! Why do they forget that a third person is hanging out with them while they are doing their couple thing everywhere from a supermarket to a bedroom? How do they forget that they won’t die if they keep their hands off each other for a few hours? More importantly, forget the other guy but, why does your single-until-3 months-ago friend forget that? Why does she forget that she was the one who didn't like public displays of affection until 3 months ago? At the very least, how come it's so easy for them to forget that they had other friends with whom they used to share everything, even something as small (or maybe as magnificient) as the smell of flowers announcing the arrival of spring while walking through the garden? How do they so easily justify their friend's behaviour as jealousy and unfairness and their own behaviour as just a change in the situations? How do they forget that they have an individual identity (well, at least used to)? How do they forget that sometimes, other people might want to talk to just one of them, not the whole package? And how do they even possibly assume that this someone else (of course it's me! I'm the one ranting, aren't I?) might be okay with talking to them only while their smugly coupled significant other has gone for a bathroom break? (Unless of course I gag him and lock him there for a few hours. I would if I didn't know that my friend would go looking for him as soon as 3 minutes are over.)


Alright, now that I've taken a deep breath. So, ok, these are not exactly my "singleton laments." I'm just raving at the loss of a close friend.. But what the hell, I did lose her to the sea of the smugly coupleds. And of course, I am always going to have the problem of how to adapt my super unromantic self to the increasing number of smugly coupleds around me! Even if and when I am one of them myself. Food for thought: Maybe going to Mars will help.