Mrs. Funnybones…My thoughts…

Mrs Funnybones by Twinkle Khanna
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

About a quarter of a century ago, a daughter of a very (very very) famous father walked onto the silver screen and lit it up like no one else had…every movie she did was a masterpiece in itself, with roles being written for her and awards raining on her doorstep..

Na, not really. Twinkle the actress was a flop.

Can’t say the same about her alternative career choices though. Her candles (I assume) sell well, and of late, we have discovered a new side of hers, new to us, but am sure people close to her had dollops of the good thing before we did. Humour, or more precisely, wit.

Twinkle started writing a column in the Times of India, and before I knew it, I would start eagerly awaiting her weekly dose of quirkiness, fact dipped in the breadcrumbs of fiction and fried to perfection…a way of looking at life that very few people have the gift for.

So when I heard that she was writing a book, couldn’t wait for it to release. And here I am, the book read in one take (inspired from Akshay’s famous monologue), the last page turned, the last anecdote ingested.

Ok, first things first. This isn’t a ‘book’ book, I would call it an extension of her columns, rather, a compilation of 26 columns, some read, some not. The only binding thread is the alphabet, and so we have 26 chapters, each with one letter of the alphabet starting the title. Innovative. But thats hardly the tip of the iceberg. Dive in, and you get Twinkle uninterrupted, going through her daily chores and looking at the world both straight and upside down. The humour quotient is boosted by the fact that many incidents (or most?) have actually happened, and so I suspect that either she has a very funny family, or a very positive way of looking at things. Here is a gem:

“All right, so now I am sitting in an aromatic cloud of shit and Chanel No 5.”

Don’t ask me the context, I’m still laughing!

But what surprised me was this:

“As my eyes are shutting, I think about the word ‘love’. It is multilayered, convoluted and as imperfect as all human emotions. It is not your heart beating fast when you look at him (I even knew a girl who would throw up each time she saw her beloved) or constantly wanting to be with the other person. Love in any relationship, family or an intimate friendship, is only about putting the other person’s needs ahead of your own, and that, my friend, is just as simple and as complex as you make it.”

Simple, yet profound…

And there is more. The humour dominates, but at times Twinkle lets us peek behind that wall, and there is a wonderful person hiding there. Right in the corner, observing, caring and compassionate.

I started the book laughing…and when I finally put it down, I had a smile on my face. The first was amusement, the latter contentment. With a dose of wisdom, that life comes and goes in a blink, its how you look at it that matters.

Twinkle, we forgive you for Bollywood. But we will not forgive you for taking long to release the sequel. And thank you, some things you managed to say, without even saying them once.

Mrs. Funnybones, MUCH RECOMMENDED!

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