Online meet by the book lover’s retreat, Patiala
Gurjit Singh/ royalpatiala.in/ Patiala
When life throws lemons, make lemonade. That is what the members of ‘The Book Lovers’s Retreat’, Patiala did by having their July book meet online with an international best seller author Alka Joshi.
The Mehndi Artist by Alka Joshi was amongst the New York Times and LA Times bestseller’s list. This highly acclaimed book has earned accolades by being the pick of the month by Hello Sunshine book club, Reese Witherspoon book club, Oprah book club and many others.
During the tough, gloomy days of the pandemic (Covid-19), this book and the online meet was thoroughly enjoyed by the members of the local book club. Neetu Narula, one of the founding members of the club was aggressively following the author’s online movement and persuaded her to a have a tête-à-tête with the club.
The interactive session between the author who is based in California (United States Of America) and the members lasted for more than two hours despite of different time zones. It was interactive, engrossing and proved why the author is so well sought after by the literati. As the book revolves around the female protagonist’s life in the pre-independence era, the questions revolved around feminism, women oppression around the world, India post-independence, the rich grandeur of the royals of Rajasthan and women in general.
The meeting was moderated by the sister duo Neetu Narula and Vitesha Bedi and was attended by Khushnuma, Cherry Garg, Rajni Dang, Anudeep Brar, Ritu Jain, Simrat Matta, Dr.Kiranjot Kaushal, Dr AaeeynaSood, Dr Sabrina and others.
This book is an ode to the author’s mother who grew up in Rajasthan, India. The author, who grew up in The States expressed her love towards the rich Rajasthani culture and delicasies in her book. The session ended with the author revealing about the two sequels and a major motion movie in the making, much to the very delight of the members.
July,10,2020
