Book Review: The Great Indian Tamasha by Rasika Bhatia

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 I just finished reading a really interesting book...a topic on which hardly anyone had threw any light before. I have always preferred memoirs over fiction and this book is a perfect example how a collection of real life events can be more entertaining than some imaginary tale.

Book title: The Great Indian Tamasha

Author: Rasika Bhatia

Publisher: Om Books International

Paperback

170 pages

Rasika Bhatia is a bespoke wedding planner based in Delhi, who has been in this business for the past 20 years. She not only executes weddings all over India, but abroad as well. So when she decides to compile many of her wedding planning stories together, you know that you are in for a crazy ride. Because face it, no one is crazier than a would be bride, more anxious than the father of the bride, more apprehensive as the mother of the bride and the list goes on. In a nutshell, the families getting married belong to a different dimension altogether.

These stories are absolutely hilarious; most of these. Like an overweight bride wants to waltz down the moon, parents picking up wedding planners based on initials declared by their Panditji and so on. While some are really shocking, like a big shot politician offering comissions for laundering money. Some are plain sad, like how corrupt the hotel industry can get, demainding comissions and bribes at every level. 

One thing that really perturbed me and people need to know more about it is the delay in payments. I mean how can someone be so unprofessional? Haughty people claiming to be millionaires trying to evade paying is the most shameful thing ever. I, personally , am a no credit man. I clear every kind of payment right away. And hence expect others to do the same. Vendors and managers should not have to waste time in running after money. Who will pay for that time lost? Time is money!

While the situations are elaborate, the endings have not been openly declared. That protects her clients' idenity, which is totally justified. I really like how Rasika and her team manages to tide over the unlikliest of circumstances; with her wit and positivity. Sometimes her client is also like that, eg the sweet bride whose wedding ceremony faces the heaviest of showers before monsoons.

The book is easy to read and highly entertaining. And the illustrations are the icing on the cake. Totally recommend.

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