A sparkly addition to the romance genre, Deepanjana Pal’s novel is a joy ride. It is clever, funny, and presents a picture of contemporary India in a new light
The cover art with Aloukika and Meera. Pic courtesy/amazon.in
In a sentiment that echoes Toni Morrison’s writing advice from a 1981 speech, journalist Deepanjana Pal wrote the book she wanted to read. Pal’s new novel Lightning in a Shot Glass (HarperCollins India) traces a moment in the lives of two smart and funny women, who are flatmates in Bandra, and are steering through the complexities of living in present-day Mumbai. Meera is a 40-year-old political editor at a newspaper called The Daily, and is going through a mid-life crisis. Aalo (Aloukika) is a 29-year-old on a journey of finding a sense of self. Having been something of a sex educator on ‘desi internet’ for a few years, she now works at an NGO which empowers young girls through education. Pal reveals that she struggled to find a novel about “an India that a lot of us recognise around us”, but which is written in a tone that’s “funny and uplifting and somehow, doesn’t make light of the darkness, but isn’t consumed by it.” Her novel achieves all of this.
Deepanjana Pal
It is a feminist novel. Her women have agency; they provide a strong support system to each other through their friendship, at work and outside; they are extremely proficient everyday women living their full lives; and in moments of intimacy and sex, they are utterly unabashed. Additionally, the men offer a kinder lens on masculinity. When we ask her, she says, “I wanted to create two examples of men who are desirable while also being progressive.” She further shares, “One of the things I love about romance as a genre is that it has a woman protagonist at its centre and revolves around her desires. However, what we’ve seen in the past is that women still get infantilised by it; there’s always a hero who is showing them how beautiful or capable they are, or saving them in moments of crises.” Pal’s novel offers several examples that testify how she challenges such tropes. “I wanted a love story where men fall in love with truly capable women,” she says. Moreover, Pal chooses to situate the novel in Mumbai, a city where she lived for two decades and which she believes “has the ability to make women, particularly, feel like they can do whatever they want to.”
Two of the best aspects of the novel are Pal’s clever writing and the choice of the professions of the protagonists. With Meera leading the political segment of a daily, and Aalo working at an NGO that partners with various government schools, readers get a sense of contemporary India under the present government. We witness, from close quarters, the implications of the socio-political order on the everyday lives of minorities like women and, in an instance in the novel, Dalits. “I wanted professions that would allow me to talk about the India, and especially Mumbai, that we live in. At the same time, I wanted to give a glimpse of the challenges these industries are facing. The media, for instance, gets a very bad reputation for the kind of role it plays in contemporary society. A lot of the criticism is valid,” she adds. “However, it’s also true that this is a tough fight, and there are some good people within legacy media, which come under attack more.”
Similarly, Pal drew on the nitty-gritties of small agencies working with grassroots level communities that navigate projects with the potential to change lives but don’t get public attention. “They are up against tremendous challenges and they manage all the same,” she tells us. “They do this with the kind of passion which has nothing to do with money; they are making the best of crazy limitations because they’re inventive and committed. We are lucky to have such communities in our country,” she concludes. Pal’s novel, therefore, with its humour, light-heartedness, and consciousness of the times we live in, is a welcome addition to the romance genre in contemporary Indian writing.
Available: Leading bookstores and e-stores
Book launch
Join the author in conversation with stand-up comedian Aditi Mittal.
On December 8; 6 pm
At Title Waves, St Paul Media Complex, Bandra West.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
