The Secret Wish List

I took a reading and writing hiatus for about three months or so. On hindsight, I do think, "how could I've done that?" But, the fact of the matter is I did distance myself from books; when your body and mind is busy working toward another important goal, you can’t help, but give in. Yes, I am all set to enter my fifth month of pregnancy; so the bodily changes kept him away from books.

But, I happy to be back with Preety Shenoy’s books in hands . I kicked off with her first book, '34 Bugglegums and Candies', and immediately moved on to her latest book ‘The Secret Wish' list in a jiffy.  I was looking for something light and fluffy and these books definitely don't disappoint. They keep you hooked throughout and you can be done with them in no time.

Coming back to the book, “My Secret Wish List,” it had all the masala of a typical Indian household. Dikhsa − the protagonists’ early marriage and motherhood, her choosing domesticity over professional life, her underplayed but simmering anger towards her insensitive, authoritative and conservative husband, her eagerness to break free from the shackles of marriage, and so on. I assume every Indian woman could relate to the story, specifically those homemakers who are taken for granted in quintessential Indian households. And, indeed, the book comes as an eye-opener for all of us.

Diksha, at sixteen was punished by her parents, because she made a mistake of kissing her senior in her school.  Naturally, she is forced to leave school in Chennai by her conservative parents and return to her native place in Kerala and finish her studies there. And by the time she reaches nineteen, she is married off to Sandeep, and for 15 long years she stays and makes her marriage work, raising her son Abhay and taking care of household chores, at the same time, ignoring her husband’s taunts and rapes.

On the one hand, if she hates her husband, on the other, she shares a lovely bond with cousin Vibha. She is also overjoyed to renew her long-lost friendship with school friend Tanu, and forms a new bond with salsa instructor Gaurav. Plus, her 9-year-old son Abhay, is always on her side. These friends insist her to come out of her wreaked marriage.  In fact, Vibha prods her to come up with a ‘Secret Wish List’ as an escape from her marriage, and goes all the way to ensure that she fulfills them. The wish list is interesting. She has six wishes in mind and has put them down on paper on Vibha’s insistence. Not surprisingly, Vibha has okayed all of them, except the last one − sex with a stranger.  But Diksha ends up doing it and this brings a wedge in their relationship.

Tanu, on the other hand, comes across as a big supporter of Diksha, and even inspires her to walk out of her hapless marriage. But will she or won’t she? This one question keeps the readers hooked till the end.