Those Pricey Thakur Girls: Anuja Chauhan

Some fifteen odd pages down this book by Anuja Chauhan: "Those Pricey Thakur Girls”, and I was almost ready to dismiss it as yet another failure of a book that the bookstores are so abundant with nowadays. But something told me to hang on a little bit more and, thankfully I did hang on. The story is an almost predictable romantic comedy. But it’s not so much the story but the way the story is written; hilarious and witty, that wins the heart. The clever part is that though most of the characters are slightly larger than life, they warm up to you and after sometime, seem quite possible in a Delhi family. This is not one of the best books or the most insightful or creative book that i have read in recent times, but "Those Pricey Thakur Girls" is really one of the most entertaining books that I have read this year.

As you might have already guessed, this book is about someone called Thakur’s daughters. Yes, there are four daughters; the third among the lot our heroine. And we have a dashing hero too. Like in all romantic books and movies, they meet and fall in love. I won’t divulge the storyline after that. But let me add some interesting tidbits:

These girls have an aunt; the Meena Kumari of the family. Her life is full of complaints and tragedies (sometime quite ridiculous) and it’s fun to read how the daughters and their mother deal with her. The father normally shuts himself away when she is around.

The eldest daughter is the beauty queen of the family. She beliefs that her expertise on style and fashion should go undisputed and it’s fun to read how the younger daughters survive under her tyranny.

The author’s mockery of Doordarshan, which in her book takes the name of DeshDarpan, is intelligent and hilarious. DeshDarpan is where our heroine earns her bread and butter. This is where the first seed of her romance gets planted, albeit in a not very romantic way.

And a lot of kudos goes to the author for her just use of Hindi and Hinglish in an English novel. Actually, Hindi and Hinglish have been used very sparingly, but it has added to the humour of the story manyfold.

Yes, “Those Pricey Thakur Girls” is a very humourous, heartwarming novel and I am happy that I read it. Anyone wanting a good wise laugh should read this one.