Tongue in Cheek – The Funny Side of Life by Khyrunnisa A.

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The whole time I was reading Khyrunnisa A's laugh riot, ‘Tongue in Cheek’, the smile on my face grew wider, almost like the famed Cheshire cat grin.

Every page is punctuated with genial good humour, accentuated with droll incidents and a sharp wit that keeps the reader eager to read on.

The book has thirteen broad headings, all broken down into smaller chapters which nestle within. Right from ‘Gastronomical Glitches’ and ‘Kitchen Blips’ to ‘Wedding Vows’ and ‘Home Affairs’, and everything in between, this book takes a gentle bite out of life, stressing on incidents that hit the funny bone.

Whether it is 'the bride... bent in the shape of a comma by the weight of the ornaments on her person', the errant broom being ' guided to hitherto uncharted territories ', the amusing description of the car tyre, which was 'deflated and looked down in the dumps' or the case of the angel fish ' biting the hand that fed it' , the author uses humour like a divining rod, delving into the depths to bring forth a chuckle.

Khyrunnisa's turn of phrase is brilliant. Myriad examples populate her pages. One that cracked me up was her encounter with a determined saleswoman who referred to her hair as 'curly'. The author's retort was priceless.

" 'No thanks... and my hair is wavy, not curly.' I like to get these things straight."

Another gem goes like this. Khyrunnisa talks about her Aadhar photo where 'I had a squint in one eye and a glazed look in the other like a fish on a slab'... 'no photo shopping here, only photo shocking!'

Literary allusions abound. In the 'The Gas Man Cometh', the wait for the gas is referred to; ‘all the interim is like a phantasma, or a hideous dream.'

The wait continues. 'But it was like waiting for Godot; nothing happened, nobody came.'

In 'The New Smoking', the verdict is crystal clear. Sitting is the new smoking. Milton could not have put it better. 'They serve best who stand and lose weight.'

'Booking a Seat' has a touch of Wodehouse.

I could go on, waxing eloquent. If, in my effort, I have whetted a few appetites, and inspired a few folks to make their day brighter, I have achieved my aim. For this book left me with the same smile that I had begun with. The author ‘claimer’ claims that this is a book of non-fiction, and every incident happened to happen to her.

As Manu S. Pillai put it, ‘Page after page of absolute unadulterated fun.’

Book Title: Tongue in Cheek - The Funny Side of Life

Author: Khyrunnisa A.

Publisher: Tranquebar

Photo Credit: Deepti Menon


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