The 'Desi' Touch

"Dark, short Arulmozhi Kannan from Palayamkottai romancing Muthu Kumari in Silukkuvarpatti corner tea shop... it will sure require some time to get used to these desi ­settings in these desi romance novels!"Oh,"

Guess what?

Local authors are bringing the desi touch to romantic novels in English.

High time.

The concept of romance is hardly new to India, with our rich tradition of epic romances, love stories et al.

But somehow, for decades, a certain genre of romantic fiction set in mainstream life came to you from across the seas in ‘foreign’ settings, creating a mental bizarreness where your fantasies literally...er... ‘looked’ different from your realities.

You kept adjusting the dream dial in your head, taking the TDHs (Tall, Dark and Handsome, in case you’ve forgotten), the Earls, Barons and the exotic Mediterranean types and transposing them to ‘fit’ here at home.

Which was nothing but a spot of ‘cut and paste’-ing – except you didn’t know the term back then.

You needn’t do that now, with romantic fiction planted in purely desi soil.

But, writers – it won’t be easy.

Names, for instance.

It’s a little hard to breathily whisper “Venkatasubrahmaniashastry”. You’ll need a drastically shortened version ... (This is not to suggest that ‘VSS’-es are incapable of purple passion ... oh no, no such thing.)

So, escapists rejoice, romance is in the air... right here in your city. And why not?

Sure-fire happy endings, while predictable, are not a bad thing – especially these days.