Agony Aunt146;s here

With divorce statistics on the rise and families that include 8220;his8221;, 8220;mine8221; and 8220;ours8221; becoming more common, De hopes that Spouse will offer some simple, practical solutions to the minefield that is marriage. The book 8212; 283 pages in all 8212; is fairly well written in De8217;s signature breezy style that makes it an easy read. The chapters, named after catchy Hindi movie songs and titles, deal with the usual suspects in every marriage: in-laws, exes, children and work and lifestyle pressures. De dishes out armchair advice, so don8217;t expect any marriage mantras. The tone is highly reminiscent of the popular sitcom Sex and the City in the manner in which she raises many questions on marriage, fidelity, commitment and compromise. What may prove interesting though to readers and fans is how utterly conventional De actually sounds. Not quite the writer of raunchy romances.

The book however is significant in De8217;s own career graph as it veers away from the Jackie Collins school of writing in which she has proved so proficient. With Spouse, she appears to be distancing herself from the sex and sleaze opuses she8217;s churned out. It8217;s a changed voice 8212; the voice of a mother of marriageable children, desperate that they make the right choices and, more importantly, make informed choices. While the book is positive in its approach and De emerges vehement in her avowal to the married state, she8217;s verging on the preachy. It8217;s almost as though she8217;s on a higher place looking down on lesser mortals muddling along trying to achieve connubial bliss.

The other thing that niggles is that the unnamed couples in her book are caricatures 8212; all black and white, no shades of gray. Fortunately De makes no claim to having all the answers or solutions and points out that there is no such thing as a 8220;perfect marriage8221; or a 8220;perfect spouse8221;. She candidly admits that her effort is not a definitive self-help book. At best what she does offer is some basic guidelines and like most couples that have been married long realises that once a few basic rules are established, you pretty much wing it. Personally, for someone who8217;s been married for 13 years Spouse offers no profound insights, but as a trend it is extremely interesting.

Fifteen years ago, with Socialite Evenings De anticipated the Indian middle class8217;s enormous curiosity about the lives of the rich and beautiful. She fed that curiosity with sheafs of seamy narrative with startling success. And just five years ago she again anticipated the K-serials, with her family-is-all-that-matters Speedpost. So what should we read between the lines in Spouse? That the sindhoor sagas are here for a while longer?

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