Sudha Nair
2017
Kalari
pp. 229
The Wedding Tamasha is a cute story of a young Indian woman who shifts to America after an arranged marriage. The book begins with her marriage falling out. The story revolves around her finding friendship, the support of her parents and the love of her life. It is a simple story, made melodramatic at places. It seems to be the favourite writing style of Indian writers, where stories can be converted to movies and this one has as much potential for it as any of the other young adult fiction books that I have read recently.
It is a bit disappointing that all the women in the book seem to be taking professions as pass times and the men are the ones who have to worry about career etc. There are also places where petty jealousy raises its head. The protagonist thus seems to be a mix of an educated Indian woman, who wants the independence to work but hardly the responsibility for life. And this extends to her sister, her mother and several other women characters in the movie. In some ways this is representative of a section of Indian women who are still struggling to balance out social expectations from them and are not quite clear with what they want, in turn embracing what is often described as the “modern Indian woman”. I am hoping that these cliches will soon pass and there will be a place for characters who are more authentic and who have given their identities a little more thought.
The writing is easy and fluid. The story unfolds well, if in a somewhat predictable fashion. Overall an okay read.