The Vague Woman?s Handbook

They start a household in a tiny rented flat, fending for themselves in the big, bad and very snooty world of south Delhi. At fifty-two, Indira Sen is not sure exactly how she meandered to where she finds herself now. A senior government officer and single mother, she lives with her daughter and three eccentric old people in a rambling house in Hauz Khas, drives a battered and moody car, and suffers from credit-card induced shopaholism. Meeting in unlikely surroundings at a critical time in their lives, Sharmila and Indira get along famously, even as they hurtle vaguely through life and its mini-crises while trading secrets on the art of survival. A warm, quirky book that charms as it teases, The Vague Woman’s Handbook reflects on the sparkling friendship between two women, in the process bringing alive the city of Delhi and its people, whose engagement with life, love and (bourgeoise-ish) sorrows is, by turns, moving, hilarious and hopeful.