Book Review: The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad

Twinkle Khanna comes as a fresh breeze among the current crop of Indian writers who write similar stories without any literary appeal. Her writing style is different from the rest and she hits the right note with her sense of humor and dry wit. I ordered ‘The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad’ online on an impulse and completed the book within a day. It’s a collection of utterly simplistic yet magical stories which will touch your heart.

All the four stories are good but the one which I loved the most was that of sixty-eight years old Noni Appa who is a widow and takes pride in living a dignified life after her husband’s death but her world turns around when she finds herself drawn to her yoga teacher Anand ji who is not only younger to her but is also married. She resists at first because she is concerned with the opinion of the society but slowly warms up to the subtle and pure love she has found in her twilight years.

Another very interesting and inspirational story is that of Bablu Kewat who becomes obsessed with sanitary napkins much to his family’s horror and dismay. He wants to make low-cost, affordable sanitary napkins for rural women and in the process, he is not only boycotted by his village people but his family also leaves him. Everyone thinks he is crazy but with his determination, he succeeds and brings a huge social change. The story is inspired by the true story of Arunachalam Muruganantham who is the inventor of low-cost sanitary pad making machine.

The title story is of a simple village girl Lakshmi who brings a revolution in her village with unique idea. The village folk now celebrate the birth of a girl child because a simple solution by Lakshmi has secured the future of the girl child. My least favorite story in the book is ‘If the weather permits’ which is about a Malayali girl Elisa Thomas and her failed marriages. The story made no sense for me though the author has described a typical Malayali household in a good manner.

All the stories in the book have an air of simplicity and a certain charm. The language is simple with the occasional humor in between making the stories a perfect read. The simply written stories have clear and strong messages for the readers. It’s a good attempt by the author and worth a read.

© 2017 Shaloo Walia All rights reserved

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10 comments

  1. I am yet to read this book, but must say I do love reading her witty tweets and TOI articles….I love how bravely and openly she expresses her opinions on things that bother

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