About leaving your city behind and interesting tales in Gurgaon
Book: How I Became a Farmer’s Wife
Author: Yashodhara Lal
Publisher: Harper Collins
Price: Rs 250
Pages: 328
Who hasn’t dreamt of giving up city life for a pastoral idyll? Author Yashodhara Lal’s husband, however, actually followed it through and the events that unfolded thereafter formed the plot of her novel ‘How I Became a Farmer’s Wife’.
Lal’s book is a memoir of sorts complete with her husband Vijay and their three kids quirkily named Peanut, Pickle and Papad. She is both the exhausted supermom with a career as well as a committed partner to her husband.
The book has a comic voice that describes the cataclysmic changes that the family undergoes after they leave city for life at a farm. The Gurugram-based author’s book tickles you with its portrayal of a city-trained family in a rustic setting complete with mooing cows, dogs, farmhands and an occasional snake. At the same time, it looks at the problems of farming, especially in a setting removed from comforts of city life.
The book takes cue from an incident in Lal’s debut work ‘Just Married, Please Excuse’. This time Vijay decides to turn his dream of becoming a farmer into a reality. A techie all his life, Vijay has little idea about crop rotation, rearing animals and handling pesky farm hands. It’s a learning process for the family as they move from being complete novices to learning the tricks of trade. Lal puts together a storyline that throws up a number of surprise scenerios and challenges culminating in a mish-mash of humour and emotions.
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Book: Gurgaon Diaries: Life, Work and Play in Drona’s Village
Author: Debeshi Gooptu
Publisher: Rupa
Price: Rs 295
Pages: 240
Another interesting book about the city is ‘Gurgaon Diaries: Life, Work and Play in Drona’s Village’ by Debeshi Gooptu. The author looks at Gurgaon’s transformation from the legendary village of Guru Dronacharya to a swanky steel-and-chrome metropolis. It brings out how the city pits together the opposites - new wealth and old poverty, Mercs and rickshaws, potholed roads and swanky malls. The book is in the form of anecdotes that introduce a bevy of everyday characters with a generous serving of sarcasm and humour.
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