“Cigarette smoking can kill. This book won’t. Please don’t say you weren’t warned.” These words greet you at the start of Deepika Shetty's debut novel, The Red Helmet . It sets you up for the style and humorous tone that forms the backbone of her plot.
Deepika is witty, irreverent and unabashedly honest, weaving a story about a young Indian woman's struggle with her family, her fight to make it in the professional world and balance the love of her life, Shetty, a South Indian from Mangalore whom she refers to as ‘Saucy the Chef’ because of his penchant for food.
Like a dramatist setting up the stage before the plot can unfold, Deepika makes sure her readers are warned about what is in store for them.
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The book has several chuckle-worthy moments and an over-interfering Punjabi Masi who will leave you in splits with her direct questions to the rebellious Dimpy, the protagonist. This colourful exchange between the two gives you a sense of an India where youngsters in the 1990s were fighting to break convention, sometimes shockingly so.
“How much do you weigh now?”
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“And you have a plan to keep it this way.”
“Yes Masi. I am going to have lots of sex. It is the best workout.”
India in the late 1980s and early 1990s is depicted through Dimpy and her choices. She is a tenacious young lady who manages to live life on her own terms, from working at a shoe store to support her education and deciding to give up a budding journalism career to be with her husband overseas.