Why is Janhavi Samant’s Faaltugiri a must-read for parents and children?

Those following DiaryOfAnInsaneWriter would know that Janhavi Samant was featured in the #GetInspired series a while ago. Many people continue to draw inspiration from her life & living. Recently Janhavi released her book, Faaltugiri – a unique take on life in the 80s.

Faaltugiri was launched by the director, Rohit Shetty and actress Sonali Kulkarni on July 2019 among great fanfare.

Synopsis:

A long, long time ago, much before Hindi films were called Bollywood and Bombay was called Mumbai, before cellphones and internet – there wre kids who had no gadgets and were left mostly to their own devices.

What was the world like for children in the ’80s?

Full of Faaltugiri for sure

Traverse a bustling gully in Dadar with a Mumbaichi mulgi and witness her worthless attempts at cutting edge socio-scientific experiments like collecting soap choora, pencil shavings, talcum powder, mastering the Bambaiyya language and her dreams of becoming a heroine.

I was unable to attend the book launch of Faaltugiri due to work commitments and when Janhavi asked me to do a Memoirs workshop with her, I first asked her to send me the book before I agree for the workshop.

I received a book specially signed for DiaryOfAnInsaneWriter and I must say, when I started reading, I just couldn’t stop!

Why is Janhavi Samant’s Faaltugiri a must-read for parents and children?

It’s INSANELY HILARIOUS!

In today’s chaotic world where there are so many unnecessary reasons to feel sad, Janhavi’s writing is like a breath of fresh air. The book has some hilarious moments like when the telephone arrives at her home for the first time, her tryst with talcum powder, conversations with the dhobi, maid and others. Each is peppered with innocent, child-like humour that makes it a delightful read.

The language is lucid and easy to understand

It is really difficult to write in a simple manner that has universal appeal in terms of simplicity. Janhavi has achieved this in an amazing fashion. Anyone from the age of 8 to 100 can easily read and comprehend without having to refer to a dictionary once in a while. This is the biggest plus point of the book because it will allow a person of any educational background or age level to enjoy the book.

It is a window to life in the 80s

I am born in the same era as Janhavi and I firmly believe that we are a generation where 150 years are living at the same time. We are the generation that has seen science and economy progress in a manner that has never been seen before. We are the generation that saw floppy discs, recording tapes, no telephones, no TV and today we are speaking about Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning. Our children can now relate to our childhood, thanks to Janhavi’s Faaltugiri.

It’s extremely relatable

There are so many anecdotes in the book that will make you smile and nod in agreement – especially if you were born in the 80s. Life in those days was pretty simple and most of us led similar lives. We all played till we were shouted at, all of us had scraped knees, our parents would make us run the tiniest errands 10 times a day and we all had neighbours who would be like guards for our homes. Janhavi weaves each character with the panache of an engaging storyteller.

Parents who leave the kids alone at home instead of handing them to a baby sitter – requesting the dhobi to watch over the children from the window, neighbours who charge INR 1 for incoming call and INR 3 for an outgoing call, children chatting up with strangers without fear etc. I loved the way she has handled the news of the death of Indira Gandhi – almost every 80s child will relate to it.

150 page of memoirs – quick & breezy read

We are all hard-pressed for time, so, even if a book is a page-turner, sometimes its tough to find time to finish it. Faaltugiri is a small book – just 150 pages, a small-sized book that will allow you to finish it in a maximum of 2 days and a minimum of 3 hours.  What’s more, the memoirs are independent so you can actually skip a chapter and still be in sync with the entire plot – brilliant way of writing. Well played ploy by the author!!

You will fall in love with the narrative style

When you read Faaltugiri you will feel as though a friend is narrating the story to you. It has drama and humour, cleverly spun in an interesting way. This unique narrative style will make you fall in love with the characters in the book. The best part is, there are no rights or wrongs in this book. No aspect is kept hanging and open to silly judgment – it’s just the memoirs of a simple girl next door – life from her perspective.

It has a social commentary that is neatly woven within the sub-text

Well, you will not notice this at first, but after you finish reading the book and are enjoying a warm cup of coffee, it will suddenly hit you how Janhavi has neatly woven social commentary within her writing. Those were days when people didn’t have social media to vent their anger and spew negativity. This made life simply because every human being has always suffered from short-term memory loss – it makes them forgiving. Very different from today’s life where social media keeps slapping the past on your face.

Here is what Rohit Shetty had to say about the book:

Before I sign off, I need to mention that this is NOT a sponsored post nor am I writing this post because Janhavi is a dear friend. I have written this post simply because the book DESERVES it!

Trust me, you will LOVE this book!

Penned by:

Mayura Amarkant 

P.S: In case you wish to buy the book, click here.

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