Madam Prime Minister – by Seema Goswami

I was in the library after a very long gap. Hard to believe that there was a time when I used to go there to borrow books every week, every month. Then this was no longer the case. For some months I was pressed for time. The enthusiasm to read was simply not there for a few more months. And the rest of the months were gobbled up by the pandemic. But then, all of a sudden, the books called me back. In India we believe that to be able to visit an important shrine, like e.g. Vaishno Devi, the invitation has to come from the Deity herself. Perhaps it is the same for books.

So, there I was. Nudged also by the WhatsApp messages from the library staff who dutifully kept informing me about the new arrivals. I stared at the messages wistfully for days and finally succumbed to the temptation😊On my way there, I kept telling myself that I need to borrow a book in Marathi. I am woefully illiterate when it comes to reading literature in my own mother-tongue.

But then it would have taken some time to look for a Marathi book. So, I told myself that I will do that one Sunday morning. And then, free from the guilt, started looking through the English books when I caught sight of this book. The plot seemed promising and so I checked it out.

Like I said, it has been a month since I read this book. So, I do not remember much of it except for the fact that I did not like it much. Though India has had a prime minister who came to power at a young age, was derided by her own party veterans as Gungi Gudiya (a dumb doll!) and went on to become a force to be reckoned with, the character of Asha Devi who becomes prime minister after the assassination of her father did not appeal to me. The details of her affair with her finance minister felt like an attempt to add the customary ‘sex factor’ to the book – similar to why an item number is added to a Hindi movie, irrespective of the the main plot. It did nothing to add to the story. And I am rather tired of reading about the central female characters who are too beautiful to be real.

The only thing that resonated with me was the fact that it does not take a long time for someone to become adept at the game that is politics. You may start as a naïve one, but you sure do not end up as one.