Secrets and Lies – Jaishree Misra
Anita, Zeba, Bubbles and Sam have a friendship that spans 20 years – a friendship born out of their years at a private girls school in Delhi in the early 90s. Beautiful, intelligent and secretive, they were the top clique; the girls that everyone wanted to impress – until the arrival of a newcomer to the school.
Ministry of Moral Panic – Amanda Lee Koe
Meet an over-the-hill Pop Yé-yé singer with a faulty heart, two conservative middle-aged women holding hands in the Galápagos, and the proprietor of a Laundromat with a penchant for Cantonese songs of heartbreak. Rehash national icons: the truth about racial riot fodder-girl Maria Hertogh living out her days as a chambermaid in Lake Tahoe, a mirage of the Merlion as a ladyboy working Orchard Towers, and a high-stakes fantasy starring the still-suave lead of the 1990s TV hit serial The Unbeatables.
Half the year has gone by and we’re now in the second half of 2018 and in July.
Another week has gone by with no updates in either in job front or my helper’s status, both of which are intertwined. I can’t afford a helper while I am unemployed and I can’t work fulltime if I don’t have a helper at home. What a catch 22 situation I am in. If this was happening to someone else, I would have probably laughed, but when it happens to you, laughter does not come that easily.
I am slowly getting used to the idea that in the next four to six weeks, I will most likely be a SAHM. I need to start getting used to doing all the housework, something I have not done, or done minimally in the last five years.
Have a great week everyone!
School started earlier this week on Monday and boy are the two happy that the weekend’s here. I am guessing it’s starting trouble after a month of chilling.
Both have an extra period daily and so this means they come home later than usual, which is adding to their stress and tiredness. BB also has to stay back one day a week this term for his Math Olympiad lessons which I understand is going to be taught by a professor from the National Institute of Education, so a teacher’s teacher!
GG will be going on a school trip in August and will miss a day of school. She is super excited about the trip and has been counting down to the days when she will fly off. The school will most likely have a briefing for the parents on the trip closer to the date. BB’s school will also go for their Outward Bound Singapore camp. The cohort will be split into two parts, with one half going in August (where the second half will have their September holidays) and the second half goes in during their September holidays.
Let’s see how this term unfolds. Have a great weekend folks!
Secret Keeper – Mitali Perkins
When her father loses his job and leaves India to look for work in America, Asha Gupta, her older sister, Reet, and their mother must wait with Baba’s brother and his family, as well as their grandmother, in Calcutta.
Uncle is welcoming, but in a country steeped in tradition, the three women must abide by his decisions. Asha knows this is temporary—just until Baba sends for them. But with scant savings and time passing, the tension builds: Ma, prone to spells of sadness, finds it hard to submit to her mother- and sister-in-law; Reet’s beauty attracts unwanted marriage proposals; and Asha’s promise to take care of Ma and Reet leads to impulsive behaviour.
What follows is a firestorm of rebuke—and secrets revealed! Asha’s only solace is her rooftop hideaway, where she pours her heart out in her diary, and where she begins a clandestine friendship with Jay Sen, the boy next door. Asha can hardly believe that she, and not Reet, is the object of Jay’s attention. Then news arrives about Baba . . . and Asha must make a choice that will change their lives forever.
