Before beginning The Gin Drinkers, I must confess that I did expect the worst and was already muttering curses under my breath about what a privileged little party typie the author is and how her milieu does everything for her (Bhaskar Ghose’s daughter, Rajdeep sardesai’s wife!) rather than her own abilities.
Well in a way I was pleasantly surprised and in another the book turned out to be as expected. Amazing, as it may seem, Sagarika Ghose can write. She has a very sure eye for detail, perceives character nuances beautifully and puts it down extremely cleverly and straightforwardly. A bit too cleverly sometimes I may add (cocktail party witticisms abound boastfully) but that’s forgivable!
Now what do I say about the story. As it happens there IS no story. In many parts the book is like a tacky society column made to sound educated and literary. The characters are well defined but they stay static in the book without going anywhere. The book is not much of a novel. It succeeds more as a narrative about Delhi’s elite intellectuals. A thoroughly annoying bunch I may add what with the way they keep yapping on about symbols in modern art pausing only to gargle with their wine in order to project behaviorally that they know what they’re drinking.
Ostensibly the book seeks to portray the slow dissipation of the upper echelons of society and how the lowlier ’bhaiya’ class is changing societal power equations. It’s a point that’s not shown as well as it could have been. Samaj Sevak messages seem out of place in this book.Nonetheless the book is worth getting hold of and has definite entertainment value. Sagarika Ghose will probably go a long way once she gets out of her imported silk lined little rut.