Anita Shirodkar’s book is about learning from past mistakes and giving life another chance. She spoke to Darpan Mago
Author Anita Shirodkar in her first fiction novel Secrets and second chances tries to portray life and complexities of a young and ambitious woman caught in different pulls of life. The book is about desires, relationships and how life can come a full circle if you give it a chance. “It’s about the ambitions and quests of a young woman, focusing on her love life, hopes and an elaborate mysterious relationship with her mother,” says th author. Nandita Dharkar, a talented young architect, decides to move out of Delhi and relocates to Mumbai. The book follows incidents in her life for over one year, unveiling secrets from the past and bringing up fresh challenging.
The theme of the novel is similar to Bollywood movies but has its own twists and turns. It has much to do with love and the fickle nature of heart. The protagonist meets Aryan Rai, a handsome and sophisticated hotelier through her work and falls for him. The love seems to blossom till Aditya Arora, her best friend suddenly gets back in her life. Elaborating the character, Shirdokar says, “I think Nandita is the contemporary urban Indian woman. Having dreams and desires in life is one thing but possessing courage and perseverance to take necessary steps and turning them into reality is another. Nandita is faced with situations requiring her to make tough choices and like any young lady today, she just doesn’t compromise even if it means taking a tough path. The creative side of Nandita makes her intuitive about people and things around her, and this is the reason she is always able to see things from other people’s point of view. The book is about all those twenty-something women who cherish independence and have deep respect for their talent and ability. These are the women who won’t settle for anything less than what they deserve.”
On a surface read, the book seems to be like any of the light reads in the category. But it challenges the very notions for a single woman in the society. Some characters are universally appealing and tell stories of the contemporary and urban India. “From my perspective it is a contemporary women’s literature. I think that my style of writing incorporates a literary aspect rather than being a pure lighthearted romance. I have delved deeper into characters, their professional backgrounds and the back stories of main characters have been my focus,” says Anita. The book reveals a love triangle building between Nandita, Aryan and Aditya. Since time immemorial authors have given different treatment to the concept of love, and Anita too has her own definition for it. “Romantic love is important in the early years of a relationship, but in order to spend a quality time there needs to be a deeper bond of friendship, trust and understanding. It doesn’t come automatically but needs to be worked upon. Nandita's relationship with Aryan Rai and her friendship with Aditya Arora seem quite straightforward on the surface, but her true feelings for the two men are quite complicated. For Nandita, love and friendship are so deeply intertwined that is difficult to separate between the two. The dynamics of friendship and love are explored in the book quite naturally, much in a manner that happens with young people today,” says Anita.
The author has been a keen observer. She has also served as the creative director (art) at Mudra Communications.