A member of a traditional business family writes her second novel, about a dysfunctional family in the mithai business. Gita Piramal is no stranger to this milieu, and she explores its unique dynamics
A novel deserves to be read only if it helps us discover a facet of ourselves or reminds us of a universal truth.
In the airport action thriller genre, Jeffrey Archer’s latest book, A Prisoner of Birth, traces the journey of an underprivileged football-mad lad who overcomes his enemies. He gains the upper hand by investing in himself. He finds a fellow jailbird who teaches him to read. This kickstarts a programme of self-education.
The stupendous global success of J K Rowling’s Harry Potter series lies in the exploration of our deepest and most secret fears. Children and adults alike find comfort in reading that others too are prey to similar anxieties.
Before I come to the exploration within Aftertaste, Namita Devidayal’s second novel, let me tell you its outline. The novel opens in the mid-1970s and ends in 1984, the year Indira Gandhi was assassinated after the assault on the Golden Temple. In Bombay (as the city was then called), a Punjabi family of two parents and four children is struggling with bankruptcy. Mummyji steps in to save the day with her cooking. A mithai empire is born.
The father dies. Mummyji holds her family together with bribes of money, endless food and adoration. Her eldest son, Rajan Papa, is weak and ineffectual, and short of cash. Sunny, the dynamic head of the business, has an ugly marriage, with a hysterical wife and a demanding mistress. Suman, the spoilt beauty of the family who whiles her time away giving religious discourses and leading prayer meetings, is hypocritically determined to get her hands on Mummyji’s pair of seven-carat diamond ear studs. Saroj is the unlucky sister, dark where Suman is fair, and unable to stand up for herself. Each one of them wants Mummyji to die.
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