A couple
of years ago, I happened to listen to Andaleeb Wajid (at St. Joseph’s College
where I was teaching then) talk about her books and the writing process. I hadn’t
yet read any of her books - her first, Kite
Strings, was published in 2009 – but was very impressed by the author
herself - warm, articulate and
approachable. Dressed in a black abaya, a pastel hijab and an amused smile, she
described how she managed to fit her writing into her busy life, and still have
time for social media and friends. She explained that she focuses on the teen
reader, for whom there aren’t too many options, and that her characters were
invariably Muslim. That interested me for most Indian books for teenagers
hardly ever featured Muslim or Christian or Buddhist characters, except as sidekicks.
In the last nine years, Andaleeb has published fifteen books (that’s right!) with the
latest, titled Twenty Nine Going On
Thirty out this month. Most of them are written for the Young Adult reader
(14-24 years) and feature romance and food. Lately, she has experimented with
the horror genre, which she says she enjoys reading. She works with several different publishers including
Juggernaut Books who are changing the way people read (For the first time ever,
I read a book on my phone with the Juggernaut app 😊). A single publisher probably wouldn't be able to keep up with her amazing output.
That afternoon, I went away telling myself I would soon read
a book by Andaleeb but I didn’t (My bad). Not until this week, that is. As part
of my #femmeMarch reading, I was keeping an eye out for women writers – global,
local, writing for adults, teens or children. And that’s how I finally picked
up Andaleeb’s Asmara’s Summer and
kept my promise to myself 😊.
Asmara, the protagonist and the first-person narrator, is a pampered
teenager who has had a privileged upbringing. To her absolute mortification,
she is expected to spend a month of her summer holidays with her grandparents
who live in an area perceived as shabby, down-market and conservative. All these
years, she has not even let on to her best friends that her grandparents live
there! Asmara dreads her ‘summer from hell’ with no air-conditioning, no cool
stuff to do, and no Wi-Fi. But, no worries, for it’s a romance, and so good
things loom ahead, including a new BFF and a neighbor who is a handsome hunk.
The best part of the book for me is that it looks at class issues
in the face, at how we resort to stereotypes about ‘those’ people and ‘their
style’ of dressing and the food ‘they’ like to eat. Asmara moves to Tannery
Road with all these narrow labels firmly in place and even sets up a new
Instagram account to bitch about ‘the bling’ and the ‘loud glitzy colours’ used
by people living ‘there’. But luckily, Asmara is a thinking person, and soon, uses
her critical faculties to understand others and herself better.