Almost Single-Advaita Kala

Almost Single
Advaita Kala
Bantam, Feb 24 2009, $13.00
ISBN: 9780553386103

In NewDelhi, twenty-nine year old Aisha Bhatia works as guest relations manager at the five-star Grand Orchid Hotel. She is good at her job, but the single woman knows the pay stinks especially for the long hours she works.

Her mom and other relatives especially the females constantly remind Aisha she should be married by now. She agrees secretly but hides her loneliness with champagne and spending time with her two best friends Misha and Anushka, whose divorce was just finalized. Her search for love has run the gamut of internet dating to fasting on a Hindu holiday. So far she has had no luck until New York banker Karan Verma comes to New Delhi; for the first time she reconsider what she wants in life.

More a contemporary Indian chick lit than a romance, ALMOST SINGLE is a superb glimpse at how India’s modern day society treats single females as they close in on thirty. Aisha feels the pressure of getting married, but though she wants too she refuses to settle; instead she prefers the fun with her two pals until she meets Karan. Fully developed Misha and Anushka augment this profound look at single women in modern times especially with the latter getting divorced. Using plenty of wit and jocularity, Advaita Kala lifts her novel above a Bollywood version of chick lit romance with an entertaining tale starring an almost thirty- year old single.

Harriet Klausner