Arranging Love

Sitting at Oxford Bookstore, Jain sips her cold coffee and pointedly tells me that the book is definitely not chick-lit. “Principally, it is a memoir. Every second book in the West is a memoir but nobody in India writes memoirs unless they’re public figures,” states Jain, 35, who embarked on a “grand experiment to merge the memoir with the travelogue”. The experiment has been successful, reviews in the West have been favourable but things might be different in India, Jain feels. “People here are uncomfortable with talking or writing about loneliness. While the West is interested in the whole phenomenon of Arranged Marriage, here the focus of the book has been my honesty,” she says.

Jain began writing about her own dating-courtship experiences when she figured out that the New York City romance scene had failed her completely, and after much thought, she boarded a plane for New Delhi giving herself a year to find a husband. As her search for the ‘One’ became tougher than ever before, Jain found that she was succumbing to the shaadi.com route and even then, things weren’t working out.

“Men are basically the same everywhere,” states Jain a tad philosophically. “There’s as much sexual freedom here as there is abroad,” adds Jain.

In 2005, when she came to the capital, the landscape had changed completely to malls, call centre glass offices, new clubs, pubs and jobs. Jain found herself meeting an entirely different community of people who made up the New India. “Nobody talks about the people who’ve made a journey from the interiors of India to come and work in Delhi. They’re in the fringes, ignored and underestimated by the South Delhi social circles. But they’re the ones who’re responsible for the increase in the GDP every year,” says Jain who has consciously given them a voice in her memoir. The book delves into the inter-play of Old and New India and contains a sharp critique of the rigid class structure in North India, while Jain shifts from one situation to another in her never-ending search for a husband.

Jain refuses to comment on her current relationship status. She’s not writing another book in a hurry but she is definitely staying back in the country. “This is an exciting time to be India, so much is happening. There are no set rules for anything and it’s a great place to find something wonderful to do,” says Jain who would like to move to Mumbai soon and try her hand at film production. There, maybe she will get lucky finding that very elusive husband.