The shaadi book

I am a sucker for Mumbai the city. I've lived there off and on in the last decade both as a single working woman and a newly wed. The name changed in the mid 90s so it has always been Mumbai for me. But Bombay or Mumbai, the city is incredible. It pulses for want of a better word. It the perfect setting for almost any kind of story whether about power, money or relationships. And what else is a relationship like marriage about anyway if not power and money. It is rarely about love, isn't it. Nothing like legalizing love into a patriarchal construct of marriage to make one really question love.

Written by a journalist, the books is an engrossing read about 3 relationships in Mumbai. No judgement or commentary, the evocative descriptions of one of my favourite cities and the sheer detail of the protagonists thoughts and feelings make this book an incredibly intimate read. I may have taken 5 days to read it but I actually polished off it about four reading sessions. The relationships are familiar and unfamiliar and you don't really root for anyone. As a mother, I end up feeling the most empathy for the children in the relationships, as always. I can never seem to switch this off anymore - whether film or book, I unconsciously look for and worry about the children. They are usually the suckers in the whole plot.