One of the endearing characters in modern British fiction is Adrian Mole. Adrain Mole's diaries are a cynical look at modern British society. The protagonist, Adrian Mole, born in a poor, dysfunctional British family, blunders through life. The secret diaries start at the ominous age of 13 and 3/4 and goes on into the forties in a series of books.Written by Sue Townsend, the books are a hilarious read.Through the eyes of Adrian Mole, one gets to see the ironies of British life. They have been made into a TV series also.
The South Asian answer to Adrian Mole comes from, strangely enough, an immensely talented Pakistani woman writer called Moni Mohsin. I read the " Age of innocence " by her when it was released. Like any first book, It had its highs. I presume it must contain a good part of the writer (first books are like that, I suppose). It harked back to the growing years when little girls read Enid Blyton and Mills and Boons. An adolescence tempered by love, longing and the dark clouds of war in East Pakistan
The "Diary of a Social Butterfly came after that. It was nothing like her earlier book. It was a satire of modern Pakistani elite through the eyes of a woman who married rich. The protagonist's life is probably diametrically opposite to that of Adrian Mole. She is a social butterfly from high society, where Begums of the leisure class wear diamond encrusted jewellery, designer clothes and sunglasses. Their lives are dotted with kitty parties, foreign holidays and bitching about other women. It is a nice book which will easily have you in splits. Butterfly's malapropisms are hilarious. Every chapter starts with a headline news of the day which could be gruesome like terrorists blowing themselves up and the chapter would go on detailing the rich Begum's life which revolves around absurd trivia.
Tender Hooks, her latest book takes off where she left in the Diary of a social butterfly- only in a more violent Pakistan. Apparently, the book appeared as a column in Friday Times, a newspaper edited by the writer's brother-in-law, Najam Sethi, of the jailed- by- Nawaz- Sharif- fame.The book is full of endearing characters, like Aunty Pussy, Janoo (the husband) and Jonckers (the cousin for whom Butterfly is doing a due diligence of eligible spinsters to marry). The end of the book shows an uncharacteristically soft side of Butterfly, that is humane as husband Janoo.
The book is aimed at a larger audience of Hindi / Urdu speaking populace that inhabit South Asia. Someone who lived in Tamilnadu/Kerala all their lives might miss most of the double entendres and humourous asides of Moni Mohsin.
With lines like "I am tau so depress so depress, I can't even tell" one could picture identical upper class women in high society Delhi,a few hundred kilometres east of Lahore, mouthing the same lines in westernized Hindi/Urdu. When a famous social commentator recently said that Pakistani media is richer in content than India's we raised a few hackles. I have always held that view. But I always thought we had better writers. After reading Moni Mohsin's delightful book, it felt nice to see Pakistani writers with a great sense of the the absurd in modern South Asia. We become better humans when we learn to laugh at ourselves. A lesson here for young confident Indians who are all of a sudden preening about, full of themselves. It also strikes you that the lives of elite in South Aisa with all material riches, are as empty as Adrian Mole's British youth life devoid of luxuries and struggling for livelihood.
