Once in a while you need a detox, right? You give your body some fruit infused water, you give your skin a fragrant, cleansing wash, but what do you give your mind to rinse it off all the toxic things that it has imbibed? You give it a read of Daddykins.

It isn't fiction, and neither is it a biographical piece of work that usually takes the top shelves in the non-fiction section. It is a simple, rather extraordinarily simple story of a man, and this man once happened to be a living, breathing and speaking man who lived in Chennai.

Recently, having lived in Chennai for quite a while, I had the opportunity to closely observe the lives of Tamilian people. They have a routine which they like to stick to. They believe in simplicity of things. And if you try to shift them from their way of working, they will definitely revolt. They like their lives to work like a well oiled old machine. Same was the habit with Kalpana Mohan's father, Daddykins.

There weren't any massive peaks in his life or some major dramatic turning points, thereby fueling the desire in his youngest journalist daughter to pen a book on him. I think it was the way this man led his simple life with slight humour, that she wanted to share with the world after his demise. He is a very tangible man, a person with whom we can relate to. Parts of him can be found in every household, which is why he as a person becomes so endearing to us.

Kalpana Mohan writes the book in such a tone that it almost feels like she is meeting a friend on a weekend morning, and regaling all her memories of her father over a cup of unadulterated filter coffee, in one of the quaint yet beautiful cafes of Chennai.

While Daddykins and his stories of travel, career, care and concern form the crux of this book, there is another man who is absolutely detrimental to the survival of Daddykins, so much so that he almost slips in to becoming a part of Daddykins' character. This person is what Kalpana Mohan fondly calls her Daddykins' 'Man Friday', that is Vinayakam. He personifies what loyalty, love and respect could possibly mean in today's world. This chauffeur cum caretaker of Daddykins, spent every minute of his waking hours looking after Daddykins and engaging in light, funny camaraderie.

Just because she is writing about her father doesn't mean that she sugar coated her words for him. She showed his conservative side, his reservations against those who came from a non-Brahminical background to work for him, and showed his ability to take things in his stride as well, and accepting the fact that one of his offsprings actually had a lover right across the street. Overall it feels like a wonderfully honest read about a man and his life seen through the eyes of his daughter.

Note: I received this book from Bloomsbury in exchange of an honest review.

The world of glamour and glitz has always appealing, but The Miss India Murders appears to be especially so as it involves smooth moisturized legs, shimmery shiny hair, bright dazzling smiles and murder.

The expectations I had from this book on reading the blurb and the fact that the author has spent years being a lifestyle journalist, was that this book would be absolutely zazzy! To be an absolute masala of a read! But unfortunately it wasn't so. There should have been more details regarding the murders, the behind tales could have been murkier, given that this is such a massive platform and the world's eyes are glued to the screens when this show airs. Although there were mentions of it of course, but there wasn't much depth or urgency added to it.

Gauri Sinh had ticked all the essential ingredients while picking up plot points but when it came to the broth, the proportion of the ingredients fell far less than required. If it was a recipe I would put it down something like this:

Murder : 800 gm                                                        
Thrill : 75 gm
Suspense: 150 gm
Romance: 0.5 gm
Twist: 250 gm
Mystery: 200 gm
Tension: 100 gm

So the point is, when you got a whole lotta meat (read MURDER) to cook, you gotta season accordingly.

Author : Gauri Sinh

SOC Rating : 3/5

Publisher : Harper Collins

Publishing Year : 2018

#Pages : 248