Those Pricey Thakur Girls - Brossura

The 5 daughters of BJ (Bau Ji) are the 5 different hues of the spectrum. Well, technically 4 because the 3rd offspring((Chandu with her Estonian spouse and son Hendrick Narayan Lippick) never surfaces. You can hear the Judge yelling "no one should take her name in the house" and ultimately discover the "secret" nexus between old Mr Gambhir and LN which clearly marks out the fact that a father can't be weaned away from a child for long. The show stealers are themembers of the thakur clan--Anjini(who tries her hand at "goodness" so that she can get pregnant but fails at it) , Eshwari (who has Modernites swooning over her), Binodini with pati Vickyji and her brood of Monu-Bonu who believes that marrying a Christian would discredit her sister a hissa in the ancestral property, Satish Sreedhar (with his wolf-pup grin and blatant ways who asks Eshu twice to be his chick), Samar Vir Singh( Anji-ma's step son who wouldn't let Bonu take away his one-sixth hissa since he's the eldest and smitten on Eshu because even if she's his mausi,they aren't related by blood), Chachiji( on whom her mother-in-law Pushkarni descends to avenge her pushing off the terrace by hubby Push-kar) ANT(BJ's brother who's having an affair with hot Dulari, the cook),Gulgul Bhaisaan(with chest hair that could be used up for a carpet) and ofcourse Debjani (the pretty mole-on-chin lass,D-for-dabbu, lover of losers ) The Shekhawat boys are half Rajputs, half Isaih. Juliet Lobo,Saahas Shekhawat,Jason and Ethan plus the Mangys and the Rajus will tickle your bones. And D-for-Dylan, well, read for your yourself folks. The entire India Post team with Bade-Papajee, the owner of the publication, will not disappoint you either. Chauhan will give you fits of laughter, make you gape in awe, let you go mushy-mushy and feed you with some GK too( Anti-Defamation Bill is in the book too). The book is set in the 80s and will bring back the pictures of the post Anti-Sikh riots period( there Hardik Motla too), opening up of the market, end of licence raj and the emergence of video news tapes as a competition to DD! There are VCRs and ambassadors scuttling down the roads. It's a fun read. Go for it! --Gorki Bora Feb 16, 2013

This is my first Anuja Chauhan book and i must say it will be the first of many books to read from this Author.after reading the first few pages i just couldnt put it down n completed within 3 days ...and it has its mushy moments and all in all a great peak into the era when we only had one channel to boost of and off course you do come to know abt politics @ that time ..all in all a good read and the characters stay with u even after putting down the book..go for it .. !!!! --Tabitha Mar 19, 2013

I think its a very brave move for Anuja Chauhan to write about the 80s- it was a huge risk taken on her part as descriptions are very important for creating the background in a novel- and she nailed it! Although I am only a teenager right now, I was able to clearly imagine the 80s because of the apt descriptions. I remember my mother telling me about those times when they used to have Doordarshan as the only channel and the whole family used to be huddled in front of the TV every Sunday to watch that weekly movie. (and Buniyaad on weekdays) At the same time, Anuja Chauhan managed to depict the difficulties the riots had imposed on the Sikh families- I had no idea about the atrocities the Sikhs faced during these times. Hats off to Anuja Chauhan for portraying problems faced by the print-media at the time as well! The imagery this book created was powerful and I must point out that the author has improved her writing style (as compared to that in The Zoya Factor and Battle for Bittora) through this book. Besides enjoying the humour and romance (and the stolen glances exchanged between Debjani and Dylan, characteristic of the 'old times') she created, I also enjoyed the way this book was written. (Secretly, I felt proud to be a Delhiite because I could associate the diction of certain 'characters' around me with the way in which she tweaked with the spellings of a few English words to depict how some Indians pronounce them! I also loved the smooth way in which she mixed our hindi slang with her flawless use of english vocabulary). Reading the book made me want to be a part of the endearing Thakur family in the 80s because of all the family drama. I can't wait for the sequel to this novel! --Geeticka Mar 30, 2013

Anuja Chauhan is an Indian writer and advertiser. She was working in the advertising industry for over 17 years, before quitting to pursue a full time career in writing. She has been responsible for creating some memorable ads for big brands like Pepsi, Kitkat and Nokia. As a novelist, she is best known for her bestselling The Zoya Factor, post which she penned down Battle for Bittora.