When I saw Shobhaa Dé, last week on the cable, she was extemporizing an interview. I thought it was yet-another-talk-show where they ask questions of national importance like this, So what’s your advice for teenagers or Why men hate feminists. It wasn’t. A little better.
Shobhaa Dé spoke in length about marriage, infidelity, love, sex and what not. Only today, when I saw this page on rediff that her latest book in five years, Spouse – The truth about marriage, has been released on the Valentines day and that cable interview was a marketing effort. Rediff report describes the book as, Spouse is a personal and insightful take on the institution of marriage and offers special love tips to make your marriage strong.
Even as a teenager and much later too, I liked Shobhaa Dé. I thought she was probably the most daring writer about sex in India. The hidden agenda is that you could rightfully read a Shobhaa Dé book at home without being mistaken for reading a porn magazine and yet manage to read all the vivid sex in it. As I found better writers, I mean in the real sense, I had given up reading Shobhaa Dé. She doesn’t even feature in my list of favorite authors. The last I read of her was a book called, Shooting from the hip. I stopped reading it after the first twenty pages and threw it from the balcony.
What makes Shobhaa Dé stay in limelight even after some not-so-indepth-writing ? Probably the arena she chose to write about. Her columns are mostly targetted for the urban lot and their issues of life. My only crib here is that those are shallow. If you are an urban man/woman living in the corner of some metro of India, this writing would appeal to you. You can write tons pages about love and sex life and generalise it. It may not be completely right but readers would still not crib as you are treading down an unmanned path. Easy job. Imagine, if you get a VIP ticket to those Page 3 people’s wild parties, you could just write about the true world inside dream factory and still be politically write. Easy job again.
I have this good/bad habit of watching a film even after the reviews say it is bad. This time the reviews for her latest book says, It’s good. I am not doubting the reviews but I am going to read it for myself to get some tips on, How to write a superfluous and successful book ?
P.S – Rediff did a ‘better’ marketing effort. Shobhaa Dé’s love tips -SMS SHO to 7333. Rediff guys, give me a break. Stop such SMS gimmicks.
kirukkal.com 
19 responses to “Shobhaa’s Day”
Check out Kushwant Singh’s panning of the book in Outlook (through Ramnath’s blog). http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20050228&fname=Booksa&sid=1
The Sardar is at his best when tearing into pretenders, this one is too good.
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Lol !! I am just about to grasp a breath from laughter. This guy is one hell of a dude. Rocking review. Than the book this review is a must read. Thanks Chenthil.
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Saathan Vedam Oodaradhu! Somehow i feel there is nothing real abt Shobaaaaa De… everything is pretense, right from her so called talks abt feminism to this bonding called marriage.. well, i guess she thinks just bcos she has been married a couple of times, its ok to spill out any nonsense.. God what wud the world come to, if the teenagers read such rot!
KS… U rock old pal! Though I wasnt very amused by his Autobiography – Truth, Lies & a Little Malice… the review of shobha’s book is typical KS style… cant stop laughing…. Thanks Chenthil!
LG.. I suppose u r tooooo busy these days… whatever r u upto, i wonder ;-)….”Shobhaa Dé was spoke in length about marriage”…. mind rephrasing this sentence LG? All of u diehard LG fans, pls dont get offended! not pointing out a mistake… just trying to make this thoughtprovoking post better :-).
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Latha Yekovvv!! Romba thanks. Changed.
“Shobhaa Dé was spoke in length about marriage” now changed to “Shobhaa Dé was spoke in length about marriage”.
Enna Okvaa?(in the style of a SCV channel compere Ammu)
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LG, you hv changed that line in article.
But guess you used ctl+c and ctl+v in your last comment twice 🙂
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I am of the opinion that the ‘dirty old man’ doesn’t like competition.
As we would say in Bombay Nobody “aksked” him about the men in Shobaa’s life. He whould review the book and shut up.
PS:
Oh LG : Desikan fwded me your comment on his site :-).
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LG,i know what u r upto ! (Read “I know what u did last summer” style) 🙂
Prabhu, Thnx 4 ur comment. I rest my case!
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Rediff’s SMS marketing for Spouse… One of the love tips from the Love Doc:
“Holding hands with your spouse is therapeutic. Lightly intertwined fingers say:It’s good to be with you sharing this moment”
Aiyyyo..pul arikkuthu baa. Hallmark, Archies cards la podra messages yelaam solraanga love doctor amma
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Maverick, Appreciate your patience to send an SMS and find out that love tip.
Jammy, ouch my blog. enjoy 😉
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so what are your favorite authors?
thanks
mark
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Thats another big post. will write that down. Thanks mark.
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Lazy,
Fully agreed with ur views on that lady…her column in ‘The week’,titled ‘The sexes’,is one helluva example of how-to-write-some-nonsense in the name of feminism,etc..etc things.
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ipadiye pona she should start calling herself Shobha Night!
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*off-topic*
Today(26th) there is a DVD release function abt the works of Maniratnam.they r also going to showcase a documentry abt Mani followed by a q & a session with the man himself.
its at Apex Plaza ,Nungambakkam.6:30pm. anyone knows where is apex plaza??? puleeezzz reply soon.
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So why do men hate feminists?
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Thats an interesting one. Ill go read it too.
So far I’ve never even tried to think about reading Shobha de. For the same reason – Hollow/shallow.
But now I am gonna take a chance.
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hi geek,
i dont understand why people like ‘U'(intended)write abt shoba de…
someone should instruct her to look out the works of subramaniya bharati…
may be you should also can think on this…
thanks & regards,
ranganathan
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hey lg,
i dont like shoba de. have never done. but that doesnt keep me from reading her books. basically i can read anything that comes between two covers! 🙂
but read this one, and let us know what you think!
cheers!
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