You Are Here: between the new and old | Book Shelf

"I'm actually not absolutely certain that my story is life changing or earth-shattering," says Meenakshii Reddy Madhavan's protagonist Arshi, as she introduces herself in the book You are Here. And it isn't–this book isn't meant to be didactic or philosophic nor is it about any spectacular adventure that the characters experience. Rather, it's about the ordinary, the reality of life and the small things which have the power to disappoint or break your heart.

The simplicity of the book makes it appealing and relatable. Except for the few with movie-type lives, most live the ordinary, normal life. In the real world, little things that go wrong like cheating boyfriends or girlfriends, unsatisfying jobs, and not being able to find love is depressing and no matter how fortunate we may be compared to others, our own grief is in no way diminished.

Written in a stream of conciousness form, the story is about a particular phase or time in Arshi's life. Arshi is 25 years old and stuck in a job she hates, with a dominerring and dragon-like lady of a boss. Nor can she stop obsessing about her cheating ex or her current very-confused beau. She, like many of us, is learning to accept that time changes us and the people around us. Best friends get married and move away and the simplicity and wonder of our childhood is lost as we grow up.

You are Here is completely out of the traditional mainstream India. It reflects the transitioning India where parents divorce and remarry, sari-clad or kurta-wearing women want and have sex with numerous men. And, while we may know this, reading the upfront manner in which the character talks about sex is, in a way, surprising. But it's not all about modern India as it has glimpses of old cultural values and its effect on the most modern of people through Arshi's bestfriend and roommate Topsy. She may be the cool cocktail-mixing genius who is as modern as they come, yet her family will never accept her Muslim boyfriend. And in the end, she has to choose between her family or her life in Delhi and her boyfriend.

Going the Bridget Jones Diary and the Sex and the City way, Madhavan too talks directly to her readers creating an intimacy of a first-hand look into the character's life. The book is filled with humour and there will be times when you will be laughing out loud. Madhavan has maintained her modern, sassy approach like she usually does in her blog–The Compulsive Confessor. However, while it's an entertaining read, it is a book that is forgettable as soon as you finish it. The intimacy of her blog leaves you wanting to read more but the book fails to leave an imprint in the way that books with a similar approach, like the Bridget Jones Diary, do.