CHENNAI: Novelist Novelist Usha Narayanan does not wish to be among writers who are lured by the comfort of a particular genre. She would rather be called as an explorer of genres.
Her novels vindicate her stand. While her maiden book The Madras Mangler, a thriller set in Chennai, transformed the otherwise safe lanes and by-lanes of the city by giving them a spine-chilling look and frequented hideouts of a serial killer, her next Pradyumna: Son of Krishna, explored the unseen arenas of mythology by narrating the tale of Krishna's son Pradyumna, a forgotten hero.
Ushering in an extra dose of freshness to her repertoire, the writer recently released her third book Love, Lies and Layoffs, a breezy rom-com.
Set in a newspaper office in Mumbai, the book spins the tale of 25-year-old Frieda, a young deputy editor in the features department and her 28-year-old co-worker Girik or Geek, referred to as the 'whiz-kid' of advertising.
Though friends, both are poles apart in their perceptions and opinions of the world. While Frieda is a feisty, independent-minded woman who at times is torn between conflicting emotions, Geek is a realist who believes in being on his guard in the dog-eat-dog world. Delving deep into the world of media, the narrative revolves round deadlines, gossips, mind games and office politics amid camaraderie of colleagues.
"The plot comes from my own experience in the media world and the characters and the situations are ones that you would find in any office," says Narayanan who started her literary career after a 25-year-old inning in advertising.
The book captures a vicious boss and his sycophants, the vamp, the colleague who cracks everyone up and the one who offers a shoulder to cry on. And Narayanan, who could artistically switch between lingo's, thanks to her keen ears, has loaded the narrative with humour and repartee.
Underneath its cheerful tone the book also deals with issues of domestic violence and the patriarchal treatment of women in society. Frieda for instance is shunned by her married friends because she is not hitched, a sign that makes her an outcaste in a patriarchal society.
"In our society, women are always taught to be meek, timid and polite. While Frieda is one who no more believes in being oppressed in the name of relationship, she finds others who cannot break free from their bondages," Narayanan says. On what nudged her to pick Mumbai as her novel's setting, Narayanan says, "It is the bustling energy the city is filled with. Full of glamour and vibrant, Mumbai is a place which is always abuzz with activity. No other place could have been a better setting for the equally colourful characters of my novel," she opines. To do her research, she strolled through the lanes, by-lanes and cafeterias in the city where she plants her characters. An admirer of authors such as Lee Child, David Baldacci, Georgette Heyer as well as George RR Martins and Shakespearian comedies, Narayanan says it is her appetite for different genres as a reader that motivated her to try out the same as a writer. Not intimidated by the competition she gets from young writers, Narayanan says she is not scared of being lost in the crowd of budding writers. "Today you have many writing formulae fiction and self-publishing them. But, to stand out among the clutter, a writer has to provide the reader with something good. A book should not be just something written for the sake of writing. It needn't be a work of literary excellence, but I believe it should be something where one page leads to the next," she adds.