Rachna Singh’s Nuptial Knots is a different kind of book where she writes and literally advises six young couples who are about to marry or are already married. Each chapter is devoted to the journey of a couple, their ups and downs in their marital life. The author deals with a wide range of issues from making the right choice to taking the help of counselors when married. She is in fact, the agony aunt as she counsels and writes about the varied problems newly married couples face in their day to day life when it comes to living together
“New relationships are like wet clay pots, likely to bend wherever pressure is applied on it. But if you let it take shape after being bent to extreme contortion towards one side, it just won’t stand. It will just tumble over,” writes the author who has written these commentaries that are placed in the middle of the story. Most of the advisories that come as an attachment to the story focuses on issues of daughter-in-law and mother-in-law tussle where the author writes how the first year of marriage is generally the worst and the newly weds have to strike the right balance.
This book is neither a steamy romance nor an adventurous journey but one is surprised at the amount of advice for the newly weds which could have been toned down. But Rachna has managed to pin point the problems faced by couples very aptly. Written in an interesting style, Rachna grapples with the issue of marital life as she sees marriages around her crumbling.
Each story has the subtle current of pessimism running across , all from a woman’s point of view. In one story, the female protagonist is torn between her own life and family; in the other, she is perpetually troubled by a bossy mother-in-law; while one is burdened by an unhappy childhood; one is trying to get back at an indifferent husband; in another, she is dealing with a depressed husband and juggling a long distance relationship to save her career.
This book is as a result of her own observations, perceptions and experiences as she talked to, cried with, and felt the pain of these couples. In this novel, Rachna shifts from anecdotal humour to what she calls ‘therapeutic fiction’ to write six unique stories that gently unravel the knotty realities that newly-married couples face. Each story is based on a true account, and unscrambles a different aspect, each, of the intricate relationship called marriage.
Making her debut as first time writer in 2011 with Dating, diapers and denial, Rachna Singh who works in the area of marital counselling, has tried to present various situations that might unfold in a not-so-happy marriage. The book further talks of the flaws in the human nature that hinder openness or open interactions between the couples, leading to either separation, divorce or just suffer in a dissatisfied relationship.
The book in fact, has managed to raise a few questions about Indian marriages like parental interference, arranged marriages, compatibility between couples and the continuing Saas-Bahu issue. Although not a must for every newly wed, it makes for an interesting read during one lazy afternoon.
