Book Review: Who would marry a Mamma's boy and other stories by Manjula Pal

Image Source: Amazon.in

About the Book

Who Wants to Marry a Mamma’s Boy and Other Stories is an engaging collection of short stories by columnist and award-winning writer Manjula Pal. She strings together the emotional journeys of a diverse set of women at different stages in their life. The realism in her stories is unmistakable: whether it is a teenager facing the dilemma over right and wrong but eventually succumbing to social pressure, or the dilemma of an ambitious woman caught between a demanding career and an even more demanding boyfriend, or the socio-cultural dynamics that affect relationships, or how guilt can make or break a person. Manjula takes a deep dive into several unexplored areas of life and reaffirms that happiness is all about striking a balance between commitment and compromise.

About the Author

A regular columnist in a national daily, Manjula Pal has won two prestigious story-writing contests and has also written a storybook for children in Hindi. She has done reporting for the different magazines of Delhi Press and worked as a research scientist at AIIMS, New Delhi. She is a Delhi-based grandmother.

I picked up this book after seeing a lot of conversations around it on social media. Honestly, the title and the cover were extremely intriguing. I knew I had to read this story and know who would marry a mamma's boy. However, I was slightly disappointed on reading it.

For starters, the book could have done with another round of editing. Secondly, the stories through simple, sometimes feel too flat and simplistic in narrative. It could be that I have gotten used to more complex level of reading but then these stories were engaging only in bits and pieces.

I enjoyed the lucid language and the narrative which was endearing to an extent. However, there were certain stories which left you feeling blank on completion as you wondered what just happened and why the end here. It all felt too abrupt. I wouldn't deny that certain stories did have the wow element and they did make you feel good, like the one on a teenage crush, the first love letter and such heart-felt emotions have been very well depicted. There are stories from different walks of life and each has been narrated with a certain honesty from the author's end.

The beauty of the stories is the relatability factor which is extremely high. There will be atleast one story and/or character which will make you scream, that's me in this book. It is sheer nostalgia to read about such moments which have been a part of everyone's life is some form or the other. Reading this book is like taking a walk down the memory lane and hence, despite its flaws this book stays close to a reader's heart.

Would recommend this as a one time read, purely for the innocence in the stories and their entertainment quotient.

Movie Review: If by Tathagata Ghosh – A Tender Portrait of Love, Loss, and Possibility

If , a 26-minute short film by acclaimed Bengali filmmaker Tathagata Ghosh, is a sensitive, evocative piece of storytelling that lingers long after the credits roll. Set against the everyday rhythm of life in Kolkata, the film delicately unpacks the story of a lesbian couple torn apart by the weight of societal expectations and dares to imagine a different future, one where a mother's love might just change everything. What struck me first was the film’s raw, grounded realism. The characters feel like people we know, middle-class families navigating a complex world with quiet resilience. The world of If is filled with silences, glances, and stills, rather than heavy dialogue. Ghosh masterfully uses these moments to speak volumes, allowing viewers to sit with discomfort, interpret the unspoken, and feel deeply.

Book Review: The Story of Eve: Selected Poems by Zehra Nigah

Few voices in Urdu poetry have carried the weight of history, resistance, and deep personal introspection quite like Zehra Nigah. One of the first women to break into the traditionally male-dominated world of Urdu poetry, Nigah’s work stands as a testament to the power of words to illuminate, question, and challenge. The Story of Eve: Selected Poems, translated by Rakshanda Jalil, brings together some of her most powerful nazms and ghazals, showcasing both her literary elegance and her unflinching gaze at the human condition, particularly through the lens of gender, social injustice, and political turmoil.

The Urban Gaze : Reimagining the Village in Contemporary Indian Cinema

Indian cinema has long been fascinated with the village. From the earthy, socialist realism of Do Bigha Zamin (1953) to the melodramatic lament of Mother India (1957), the village once stood as both heartland and hinterland — a space of moral clarity, rustic struggle, and often unyielding fate. But as the urban middle class began to dominate cinematic production and consumption, the depiction of the village increasingly came to reflect an urban gaze, that is, a perspective shaped by distance, nostalgia, condescension, or even outright fantasy. In recent years, this urban gaze has taken on new shades, evident in the way mainstream and indie filmmakers alike have re-engaged with rural India. While some have tried to explore the village as a site of resistance, authenticity, or even horror, others continue to reproduce sanitized or exaggerated versions of village life that serve urban sensibilities more than rural realities.

Reviews & Musings

Search This Blog