Dec 12, 2016 01:04 PM
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I have a new born at my house. That was the reason why I picked up Madhuri Banerjee and Rohini Tiwari’s The Flaky Mummy – A quirky guide to surviving motherhood. As I read the book with all the dedication, devotion and sincerity, I thanked all the Gods in the heavens for I did not lay my hands on this book during pregnancy. Otherwise the newborn would have been still born or would have suffered from chronic lunacy. Such are the tips in this book meant to be a guide for surviving motherhood.
Having said that let me tell you I haven’t read anything as humorous as this book in my life. This book gave me a good belly laughter on almost every page that I turned.
This book offers funny and obviously insane tips on child rearing. There are five case studies in hand. A Punjabi mother who comes with all the craziness and colourfulness that surround a Punjabi family in the media, whether print or electronic. A tiger mother who wants to be the perfect mother. No wonder she plans her conception according to the Chinese calendar. A fad loving disaster mother who wants to try all the child raising strategies and whose quest for knowledge is unquenchable. An American mother returned to India, a page three socialite who marries a small time prince and manipulates everything in her life including her pregnancy to fit into the ideal pictures in the newspapers and in the words of the authors a menopausal woman hitting jackpot with her last egg, add to the madness that pervades throughout this book. Read the following lines from this insane journal of motherhood.
A fact that most diaper-using parents miss out is that as soon as the baby has had a bath and worn fresh clothes, she will soil herself once again. As I carry Priya, every time she relieves herself, I too, am relieved of the clothes I am wearing. Within a day I am ready to exchange all my wedding jewellery for a large packet of Pampers, all without the blink of an eye.
The nanny says, “ Now if you have one child, I can work for you. But two children! Are baba! Itna kaam! I am no Durga! Two hands can only hold one child. If you somehow had only one, then I would’ve work for you.”
She was the quintessential domestic maid who came with the whole baggage of alcoholic husband, three school-going children and various other problems.
At my last count, each of the three maids- including Meenu three who was not yet married – must have, between them, lost some twenty-two aunts and eight sets of parents-in-law. As for the two Chottus, they managed to produce six children between them, in about three years, without visiting their wives in the villages.
The author duo creates a number of caricatures including the protagonists in each of the chapters. Interestingly they stretch real life traits to the optimum and hence their humour appealed to me. This is a book not to be missed. This is undoubtedly one of the best books that I have ever read. I would love to read the next one in the series, if the authors plan to have one no matter - planned or accidental.
