When twinkle outshines

Seema Sachdeva

Racy, breezy, effortless and witty! This is how one can describe Twinkle Khanna’s Mrs Funnybones: She’s Just Like You and a Lot Like Me.

Structured on her tongue-in-cheek popular weekly column Mrs Funnybones, her debut book is exactly what the sub-title claims. The book is an account of the life and manners of the family of a Bollywood star from the perspective of the star wife, who is also an entrepreneur and interior decorator, besides being a hands-on mother.

The characters in this laugh riot are, as she says in one of her interviews, “Part memoirs, part musings”. The exaggerated caricatures of her husband, actor Akshay Kumar ‘the man of the house’ and her son Aarav, ‘the prodigal son’ are seemingly familiar. 

Looking at life with much sarcasm and a smile, the book is not only an A to Z comic account of her life, which begins with ‘A: Am I an idiot?’ and ends in ‘Z: Zip your mouth for God’s sake’, there is much to look forward to.

The format and style of the writing is playful and keeps the reader engrossed. Each chapter begins with an alphabet and clipped before it is an interesting quote. 

‘Nothing is free in life except bad advice’ or ‘Don’t look down on people because they can see the crap stuck up your nostril’.

One can find a liberal sprinkling of expressions like ‘Blimey’, ‘Yikes’, ‘Crap,’ etc., which take you back to the world of PG Wodehouse.

With her self-deprecating humour and brilliant observations, Twinkle bridges the gap between her celebrity status and the modern-day woman who is juggling each day managing office and home affairs.

One can relate to her once the veil of her life of glamour and glitz is lifted. One can find in her the girl-next-door, who performs many roles — that of an entrepreneur, wife, daughter, daughter-in law and mother. In all this, she’s struggling to find time for herself, has weight issues and would want to be treated on a par with her husband. 

Her musings like, ‘The new-age Indian woman’s work is never done because she has to do all the stuff that was dumped on men earlier,’ is something every woman can relate to.

Her fun tips will keep you glued to the book: ‘You must always find a partner who can do a few mundane chores around the house so that you can relax in your favourite armchair and nourish 

your brain.’

Twinkle’s sarcasm comes out loud and clear when she talks about the Karwa Chauth festival, ‘We Indians are a strange race; we send MOM to Mars, but listen to mom-in-law and look for the moon,’ or when she says motherhood has changed her status from ‘a cool chick to a mooing cow.’

However, it is her satire on Punjabis that takes the cake: ‘A Punjabi mother, her son and food form a triad as sacred as Brahma, Mahesh and Vishnu and cannot be interfered with as I learnt in the early years of my marriage.’ 

The characters are fleshed out well. For instance, her mother Dimple Kapadia comes across as a wacky, a little eccentric, overbearing but caring mother who loves experimenting. In her own way, she has found ‘unique ways to embarrass’ her daughter. Beginning with naming her Twinkle, which led her to being teased by everyone right from school to telling her entire family of in-laws about ‘how I got stuck in a bucket while trying to have a bath’ to following her innovative weight-loss programmes, or money-making schemes, she remains a lovable character.

Without trying to sound too preachy, she raises pertinent issues such as the high rate of suicides among the youth in our country. ‘We teach our children to study hard, to strive to succeed, but do we teach them that it’s okay to fail? That life is about accepting yourself? That there is no stigma in seeking help?’

At one level, the book seems to cater to those interested in the life of celebrities since it is replete with references to Bollywood stars. However, at another level, it is about every woman trying to balance home and office. In sum total, it makes for a peppy, entertaining read.