Micro Review: ‘Those Days in Delhi’ by Yashodhara Lal

Micro Review: ‘Those Days in Delhi’ by Yashodhara Lal
on Oct 04, 2019

Yashodhara Lal’s bittersweet coming-of-age tale Those Days in Delhi speaks of a simpler time, unhindered by social media, and accented by innocence and young love. Set in Delhi in the ’90s, Lal’s feel-good novel focuses on Gudia, the awkward middle child with a playful imagination, and a sincere love for basketball. Refreshingly funny, the novel charts Gudia’s much too relatable tribulations at school and at the home front, while she dabbles with her grades, puberty and an aching heart. Those Days in Delhi talks wonderfully about growing up in a middle-class family during the 90s in a big city, and most people who read the book will find it exceptionally hilarious and familiar. Gudia, a grumbling, sarcastic 12-year-old girl, seems awfully disenchanted with life and family. The book is written in the first-person narrative and the sass in Gudia’s tone adds to the hilarity. It would be a mistake to call this book a light read, for it combines wit with humour and blends the narrative in a simple, yet timeless appeal. The book is a fictionalized memoir that chronicle around elements soaked in nostalgia for all the readers who grew up in the 90s. From plummeting grades to nagging siblings to a mother more inclined to the younger child, Lal’s book makes it too real for some of us. It gives a different kind of pleasure to read about a time when life’s biggest problems were the heaps of school work and the crush who won’t like back. Those Days in Delhi takes one back to that innocent phase, where the only thing we would look forward to was the summer holidays. Gudia’s love-hate relationship with Chand, her younger sibling, is another point in the story that develops convincingly.