The Shattered Thigh and the Other Mahabharata Plays of Bhasa Book

I had never heard of Shobhaa De till Sunday Times exposed her in 1990’s subsequent to a visit by her to Sri Lanka to a book launch of hers. In an interview with her, a Sunday Times columnist had bombarded with a set of questions making her very uncomfortable. In fact, Shobhaa De is nothing but a cheap erotic story writer. But in India she is a respected columnist and a journalist. She was the editor of several fashion magazines and has also worked with few mainstream newspapers in India. She started her life as a successful model then took to journalism. She basically writes about the elite society in Mumbai in her novels. She is famous simply because there is a lot of sex in her books.

After what I read about her in Sunday Times, I wanted to read a book or two by her just out of curiosity. The first book I found was “Strange Obsession.” Name itself was quite curious and I thought I was to explore new horizons with the book.

Apparently the book is about a lesbian relationship. I don’t mind that if the book was written sensibly with a proper plot. There was nothing you can call a plot here. Just a set of incidents with boring elaborate descriptions of the elite society in Mumbai which doesn’t increase your inquisitiveness at all. It was a big pain to read the book further. But for the finish’s sake, I finished reading the book. I didn’t get anything out of the book. It didn’t even enhance my vocabulary much. I don’t know why I read it. I don’t know why you should read it either.

Amrita is a young, elegant and sexy girl from Delhi. She leaves Delhi to find greener pastures in Bombay with the hope of becoming a successful model. She becomes one of the most successful super models in India within few months of her arrival to the glamorous city. There she meets Meenakshi (Minx) who approach her as a dear friend but the latter’s thoughts on Amrita are very queer. Minx traps Amrita into a lesbian relationship with her before Amrita understands what it is. Getting rid of Minx becomes extremely difficult and Amrita finds herself in a diabolical web that Minx weaves masterfully that Amrita cannot find a way out. Amrita loathes the relationship but having no option to get out of it, she surrenders to Minx.

Shobhaa De usually doesn’t go in to the depths of lesbianism in her other books as I heard and even in this book she doesn’t try to elaborate the depths of the relationship. It just happens abruptly.