When Padma Bani Paula by Anupama Jain

- July 15, 2018

The quaint cover of ‘When Padma Bani Paula’ gives a whiff of the story that unfolds within the book, with a pack of interesting characters that lead the story on to its not-so-inevitable conclusion.

Padma Luxmi, the unabashed heroine, moves on from her South Indian roots replete with conservative ‘pavdas’ and jasmine strands to an exciting life that she considers her due. Having always hated her name, she is elated when her boss, Saugata Bose, gives her the trendy moniker of ‘Paula’. The book traces the growth of Padma to Paula, as she traverses along a path, at times thorny, at others pleasurable.

Padma grows up in an atmosphere where Nanna and Amma, her parents, enjoy a “comforting silence after a shared laugh over the silliness of their children.” She has a bitter-sweet relationship with them and her mother sums her up rather aptly when she calls her “a rebel without a cause” always hankering after what she cannot have. Her younger brother, Krishna, is, as most of his species, mostly indifferent, but surprisingly mature when he senses a crisis in her life.

Padma’s parents urge her to work towards a career, and a thriving one at that, a desire that strikes a chord within her. It is in college that she falls headlong in love with the flamboyant Rohit Malhotra, and ends up “metamorphosing from a rough, unpolished diamond to a sparkling one.” Varun RaiChand also enters the fringes of her life, albeit unnoticed by Padma, only to emerge later in her life.

When heartbreak follows, she rises like the proverbial phoenix, picking up the pieces of her life to emerge stronger than ever. A dichotomy now takes over, as she makes a success of her career, and yet, is torn between two suitors who woo her ardently. It is to author Ms. Jain’s credit that she does not divulge the identity of the lucky man till the last page.

Anupama Jain is most known for her sparkling sense of humour, and there are instances in the book when this flair comes through, whether it is in the myriad nicknames that describe the lesser characters, like Heartthrob Hunk, Roving Eye or the formidable Mrs. Meddlesome, who “seemed to have discovered the colour fuchsia, with a veritable vengeance” and “overflowed the tiny lift cubicle.” One particular turn of phrase that evokes a smile is the description of Padma’s music-loving roomie who thought 6 am was late morning and sang “as if a pack of hyenas were stretching their vocal cords, turned on by the cool bracing morning air, audience preferences be damned.”

A colloquial writing style coupled with words and phrases that are used by the modern generation make this book uniquely different from most others. It is also a tale of second chances, where, in Paula’s words, “She tried, she made mistakes, she fell down, she got up, she dusted herself, and she walked again. Wasn’t that the way the brave or fortune hunters lived?” A philosophy that gets repeated over and over again in many a book!