Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan’s debut novel is called "You are here". The blog which talks about her life as a single, drinking(drunk?), smoking, sexy diva is immensely popular and has many followers and commenters. She talks openly about her sex life, her work, and her random string of temporary boyfriends and admirers. In that, she has found the target audience of the curious, voyeuristic Indian male who would do anything to know what a modern, sexy, independent woman of today thinks and does!
Penguin, the publishers, would probably have assumed that her novel would be as popular as her blog, when they offered to publish her work. Except it is extremely disappointing that Penguin, which associates itself with the likes of P.G. Wodehouse has stooped to publishing Indian chick-lit. Chick-lit Meenakshi’s novel definitely is! But it is chick-lit gone bad, by overexposure and an inability to maintain even a basic storyline.
The book is nothing but a print extension of her blog. If you do not have the patience to go through her archives and you have extra money in the bank, please go ahead and spend Rs. 199/ on this book. She lifts posts from her own blog(playing it safe) and tries to put them in a chronological order. But here also, she fails.
Here’s how. Fans of Meenakshi’s blog know that she injured her toe accidentally in real life. This incident also makes an entry in her novel. This is not so much as a problem, except that she mentions this accident, by mistake, at the start of the novel somewhere as something of the past. And in later chapters, she goes on to describe how the accident took place as if it occurred recently. You would think it is almost like a case of Meenakshi becoming a crystal gazer, seeing that she would injure herself and writing about it much earlier. Should we ask her if India will become a superpower by 2020? I think I know the answer to that one already.
The story(if you can really call it that) revolves around twenty-five year old Arshi, who works in a PR firm. The novel follows her through her partying Page 3 kind of lifestyle, her love for living a drunken life filled with debauchery. She goes about life with no aim or purpose than to enjoy the next drink, book and man that comes along. This is not a typical Indian woman’s life, but it makes for one that most people want to read about. Meenakshi’s raves about fuck-buddies, alcohol and Sex-in-the-City in the Indian context. Meenakshi’s novel is titled "You are Here" but the protagonist is not going anywhere in life, not doing anything of importance but just living in the moment. In other words, Arshi continues to be just "here".
Meenakshi’s language is flowy and very easy to read and I will give her full marks for maintaining the curiosity in a reader. Considering that she has a degree in English Literature in Lady Shriram College, it is only expected that she gets the language right at least!
I only have myself to blame for having had expected something better from Meenakshi. The hype about her novel was a bit too much for me to resist. I love chick-lit and thought she would do justice. But she disappoints because there’s nothing for you to take from this book. There’s no story, there’s no logical feel-good climax. In fact, there is no climax at all. She ends abruptly, probably only to continue and dish out a sequel.
I hear she is writing a second book now, after losing her job at Outlook. I only wonder how different can this one be? This girl can only compulsively confess details of her life. Does she have the’outlook’ to talk about anything else? One thing I know is that I am not buying her second book.
All in all, Meenakshi’s debut novel has sunk without a trace. Meenakshi, if you want to do chick-lit, take a leaf out of Advait Kala’s "Almost Single".