PUBLISHED
December 18, 2022
KARACHI:
From being a mood lifter to someone who bluntly reflects upon the day to day, and at times the most mundane realities of life, Twinkle Khanna has proved to be a writer you seem to be in a conversation with, as you read the book. Written by someone who has given new meanings to versatility by being an interior designer, a columnist, entrepreneur and a former actress, Khanna’s debut non-fiction book Mrs Funnybones did not take long to become a bestseller in 2015.
Endorsed and much talked about by the glamour industry, Mrs Funnybones is meant to tickle your funny bones as you flip through the pages of the quick and fun book, best read on a flight, on the beach or on the weekend in one go.
Considering Khanna’s association with the entertainment industry, one might expect her book to be an autobiography or rather an account of the author’s life who is not only a celebrity’s wife, but also the daughter of renowned actors Dimple Kapadia and Rajesh Khanna, but it isn’t. An ordinary working woman who juggles between work and home while giving her best to balance the various roles she plays in life can easily relate to her book which is anything but an autobiography.
From what started as a column in the newspaper, Khanna’s writing bug ended up taking the shape of an entire book. Her writing style is depicted as a regular log or a diary that she maintains where she documents all the amusing and at times quirky occurrences in her life, with her sense of at times self-deprecating and unapologetic humour, which seems to run in the family and is part of her very genes. For instance, this is how she laments her name, “Does anyone still wonder why I have been lumped with a name that rhymes with sprinkle and wrinkle?”
Khanna’s collection of anecdotes has been penned down lovingly in a somewhat fun but matter-of-fact-approach that describes the most challenging of situations, often leaving the reader in fits. This also highlights the fact that a positive attitude towards the most upsetting of situations can sometimes turn the tables in one’s favour without thee need to overthink and make things more complicated.
This light-hearted read can be consumed in one go. The chapters with creative and punchy titles are arranged in alphabetical order rather than numerically, even though Khanna’s mathematical skills are quite impressive as described in a few chapters. She describes her encounters with a rickshaw driver, her domestic staff and everyone else who is a part of her life, in the form of entries with date and time, at times reminiscing past events with parents and friends, while also explaining family values and unnecessary stereotypes being an inevitable part of society.
The narration is simple and packaged with her never-ending sarcasm, with regular stretches of a mother’s sound advice which can come in handy for both parents and children. For instance, she tells her son [whom she likes to refers to as the ‘prodigal son’] that sometimes it is okay to give up. “The only person that you can ever change is yourself; after you have done that, you are the best you that you can be, let go,” explains Khanna and goes on to justify that there is always another option in life because each day one tackles a miserable situation where that person’s day is wasted in the path towards happiness. ‘The prodigal son’ doesn’t shy away from addressing the generation gap through bluntly telling his mother that her sense of humour seems pessimal, something she proudly blends into her own narrative style. Contrary to what her parents taught her generation i.e. to keep struggling and never give up, she points out that parenthood today is different and in some areas, it has become more realistic.
She calls her husband ‘man of the house’ and then there is her ‘baby’ who keeps everyone occupied and bemused with her curiosity and her quest to learn about everything that surrounds her. One is sure to learn a few interesting words from her vocabulary and relate to what life is like in the subcontinent where one generally lives surrounded by loved ones. The smothering care when someone falls sick, the countless festivities for any celebration, the inquisitive aunties crawling everywhere, and the ever-so-protective mothers watching out for you, no matter how old you are. Khanna discusses the common quality of all mothers of married people, where they have this strange fear that their married son or daughter is not eating well, and with that belief the mother decides to conveniently hold the spouses of their married children responsible for steering them away from the healthy [read fattening] diet they have had since their childhood in their parents’ homes.
Khanna describes her love for Isaac Asimov’s science fiction series which she casually brings up in conversations with her reader. At the same time, she writes about her amicable relationship with her mother-in-law who once sat her down when Khanna was newly married and said, “Two tigers cannot live in the same field.” Here Khanna describes her as an animal conservationist, something that was later corrected by the ‘man of the house’.
Some of the chapters read like a blog, especially where Khanna discusses random happenings in her life around obnoxious fellow travellers on the plane, nosy neighbours, plus-sized neighbours who are desperately trying to lose weight or her son’s deep questions that sometimes adults find difficult to answer, and keeping her mother away from investment opportunities that fake friends try to scam her with. After all, daughters are their mothers’ saviours when they are educated well.
The Pakistani reader can relate to almost everything in this Indian writer’s book because of similar culture and traditions. Some instances of Indian or subcontinental English come across as another common rhetoric that only people from this part of the world can understand. Some sentences are written in Roman, alongside their translation in English, hence, making it convenient for the internal audience to understand the author’s particular taste in humour. Similarly, the random occurrence of the expression, ‘blimey’ suddenly reminds one of the character Ali Nadim in the 1977 British sitcom Mind your language, when entertainment was limited yet quite fulfilling, social media did not exist, and yet people had their ways of sharing moments and memories.
This anecdotal book can very well be converted into a sitcom itself, considering the punch lines swung around every so often and the unfaltering issues of a typical desi household that happily hosts people during various occasions and finds any excuse to stuff them with food.
Unlike the stereotyped compliant desi lady the author is perceived to be, she is actually the dominating she-force that beats people up when thwarted, something which the ‘man of the house’ casually mentions without paying much heed to that fact that this may very well be something not really accepted and much less enjoyed by desi men. This macho attribute, Khanna mentions when she writes about a cat-calling incident and being followed by three men at the beach, just when she had stepped out for a walk in order to burn some calories. It didn’t end well for them as she caught up to speed and chased them away.
The first half of the incident is something which local women can also relate to because irrespective of age, as long as you’re a woman, there are high chances of being harassed, although very few are able to muster the courage to react to such situations in public spaces. The author takes the liberty to explain this regularly occurring phenomenon as, “See a woman alone anywhere and our men must harass her even if she has a moustache thicker than theirs. They will revel in hounding any creature that vaguely has two X chromosomes lurking anywhere inside.”
Murphy’s Law of pessimism also holds true for her considering the situations the author finds herself in, however, Khanna has her smart ways to manage these. Her life as a working lady, a mom, a home maker, a daughter, and a daughter-in-law is nothing less than extraordinary and she does not need the validation of being a celebrity’s wife to make her what she is ― witty, smart, and a self-fulfilled person who loves doing what she does.
Much like its start, the book has an abrupt ending, because it is not a typical genre. Being more of a collection of a dairy or journal entries, one can do away with the conclusion as it is somewhat a non-fiction read with a touch of what at times appears to be fiction, unless that is exactly how eerie or funny the life of the author is.
Despite having a touch of sarcasm and wit throughout, there are instances of serious conversations that one can consider reflecting upon. For instance mental health and the glaring issue of suicide, and all the avoidable issues that lead to that state of mind.
This book may not be for everyone, especially not for those looking for a deep and philosophical read, it can perhaps be considered more of a discussion forum content. In Khanna’s own words [from an interview], “I write the way that I speak, what you see is what you get …’
Heba Moeen is a communications professional, an artist and a wildlife photographer. She can be reached at [email protected] All information and facts are the sole responsibility of the writer.
