NEW DELHI, DEC 4: If Shobha De is a part of it, it's got to be interesting. In this case, `it' was a celebration to mark the release of De's latest book, Speedpost, published by Penguin India, at Taj Mahal hotel. And the interesting part was the author of the evening herself, who spoke lucidly about what brought on Speedpost, a pithy set of letters written by De to her six children, their ages ranging from 10 to 26.``The book rose out of a very serious panic attack,'' explained De, gorgeous in a red and gold silk sari. Priced at Rs 250, Speedpost tackles the problems of parenting in an age consumed by music television, Internet chats and abbreviated attention spans. ``How do you keep your kids' attention for more than two minutes?'' asked De of Delhi's rapt chatterati, including designer Ritu Beri . The book, which rewrites the rules of parenting through anecdotes, is an answer to that. Though De is no grand dame of child-rearing, the six that she has, ``do qualify me to write this book''. In fact, Speedpost is a departure a ``maturing'', as a member of the wine-sipping audience quipped from the author-socialite's usual racy rip-offs on Indian creme.David Davidar, Executive Director, Penguin, added that Speedpost was a ``fun book'', though there are some intensely personal moments penned into its pages. ``Writing Selective Memories (De's memoir, which caused quite a few well-shaped eyebrows to rise) was a cakewalk compared to this,'' said De, who was accompanied by her husband, Dilip. The foray into ``realism'', she assured, was not a permanent move. ``I find fiction very seductive, and I'll get back to it in a couple of years,'' smiled the author who also writes a column for The Indian Express, before proceeding to sign copies of her book, which is dedicated to her kids. Among those queuing up for a De squiggle was Bina Ramani, with husband Georges Mailhot, and actress Mita Vashisht, with media personality Sunit Tandon.
