Writers seem to like escaping from their jobs to odd places, but in this case the writers in question are Ambujakshi Balan, Bobby and Mini — all three of who decide to give up their jobs and go on a writing workshop in Greece.
Ambujakshi is the most successful of them all — she is a part of the PR machine of KayKay Menon, a dishy Tam Brahm star and she seems to receive melting messages from his cocoa brown eyes while her one-liners make him an instant hit on Twitter.
However, Ambujakshi thinks that there is more to life than tweeting and she takes the first plunge towards becoming a serious writer by giving up her job. Ambujakshi is fairly and squarely the centre of the book, this is the story of her budding romance with a man who seems to be the perfect superstar but is in fact someone else altogether.
The author Indu Balachandran has a snappy ear for dialogue and knows what makes Tam Brahms tick, especially when it comes to arranged marriages. KayKay from the family point of view is simply a no no since filmstars are always slightly suspect and definitely superficial, and they have an eligible man lined up for her who happens to work for Nokia in Finland.
Bobby and Mini are both writers who want to change their style of work. Bobby, who is an award-winning ad person like Balachandran herself, wants to become a travel writer while Mini, who has written children’s books, wants to write Fifty Shades of Grey type books.
They feel the workshop will help them do that. Balachandran brings the three together on a ferry to Santorini and the three gorgeous Indian girls gravitate towards each other. Greece is not the world of economic crisis but a place filled with gorgeous men and dances out of Zorba the Greek.
Runaway writers
Since the book is chick lit we know that there’s going to be a happy ending. And there certainly is, but not quite the one that we were expecting, or rather not in the way that we were expecting it.
Balachandran has a line of wise wit to tell her tale with, not to mention her experience of one-liners which ensures that whatever Ambujakshi or Bobby deliver sounds unnervingly persuasive. Her pace is also carefully measured except perhaps towards the end when she holds up denouement for a fraction too long.
Mini and Bobby make good as we know they will. Balachandran’s message is simple — never settle, till you find the life you love. And the love of your life. Not to mention a supporting cast of wise girlfriends along the way.
Anjana Basu is the author of Rhythms of Darkness
