Lockdown Liaisons: Book 3: Wedding Cancelled and Other Stories

by Shobhaa Dé

As the world is shaken by a virus, Shobhaa De – a writer who understands the human heart and how it beats – felt the need to document not just what she is going through personally but what the entire world is experiencing. And out of this need emerged many unique narratives ...  Lockdown Liaisons is a collection of short stories, from the varying perspectives of both men and women – young and old, brave and cowardly, cheerful and weighed down – each story an unique offering from a writer who understands how very fragile human relationships can be as they break, suffer and are redefined under trying circumstances.   In this little collection of diverse stories you will meet tired but spunky women who refuse to accept unsatisfactory relationships during lockdown. Then there is the travails of the man who is stuck with a woman he has been casually dating because of the suddenness of the lockdown. And in one other story we see how the uncertainties unspooled by the lockdown impact the wedding plans of a couple planning their destination wedding.

38 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 13, 2020

About the author

Shobha Rajadhyaksha known as Shobhaa Dé is an Indian columnist and novelist. She graduated from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai with a degree in psychology. After making her name as a model, she began a career in journalism in 1970, during the course of which she founded and edited three magazines – Stardust, Society, and Celebrity.
In the 1980s, she contributed to the Sunday magazine section of the Times of India. In her columns, she used to explore the socialite life in Bombay lifestyles of the celebrities. At present, she is a freelance writer and columnist for several newspapers and magazines.
De is married to Dilip De, her second husband and they have six children from their first marriages. She lives in Cuffe Parade, Mumbai.

Reviews

[Dr. Appu Sasidharan (Dasfill) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third book in the series.

The weddings and the people working in the wedding sector arranging marriages were the ones who were the most severely affected due to the pandemic. People happily celebrating grand luxurious weddings had to cope with the reality of zero marriages and related functions during the lockdown.

Just like the wedding organizers, the people planning to get married were equally getting frustrated as almost all marriages were canceled due to the lockdown restrictions. A few people who decided to marry despite all the pandemonium had to ensure they followed strict COVID protocols. In this book, we can read a story about a wedding being canceled due to the lockdown.

There are also stories of people in big cities like Mumbai who were severely affected by the pandemic.

“We can do well in any city in the world once you make it in Mumbai.”

The above statement may be theoretically correct, but practically obsolete to a certain extent as the pandemic forced many people to reconsider whether to continue their life in the cosmopolitan cities. The author is trying to explore different aspects of the pandemic compared to the first two books in this book.

[Akshay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lockdown Liaisons: Book 3: Wedding Cancelled and Other Stories by Shobhaa Dé

 An opportunistic but emotionally authentic collection that captures pandemic-era psychological disruption while revealing the author's limitations in crafting cohesive narrative structures. 

Commercial Context and Release Strategy: This third installment in Dé's pandemic-themed series represents a calculated response to the COVID-19 crisis, released as part of a six-book digital-first strategy designed to capitalize on lockdown reading habits. The collection exemplifies how established authors pivoted to address immediate cultural moments, prioritizing relevance over literary refinement.

The serialized release strategy—four stories per week over six weeks—demonstrates Dé's understanding of contemporary attention spans and digital consumption patterns, though this approach inherently fragments narrative coherence. The collection functions more as content delivery than artistic statement, reflecting the author's pragmatic approach to literary production.

Thematic Focus and Narrative Structure: The collection centers on "tired but spunky women who refuse to accept unsatisfactory relationships during lockdown," alongside explorations of suddenly intensified cohabitation and disrupted life plans. Dé employs first-person internal monologues throughout, creating what she describes as "cathartic and self-revelatory" character studies that prioritize psychological authenticity over plot development.

The title story, Wedding Cancelled, examines how pandemic uncertainties unravel destination wedding plans, serving as metaphor for broader disruption of social expectations and future planning. Other stories explore casual relationships suddenly made intimate through lockdown proximity and the psychological toll of indefinite uncertainty on long-term commitments.

Character Development and Social Observation: Dé demonstrates her characteristic skill in creating distinct voices across class and circumstance, though the collection reveals limitations in developing characters beyond immediate crisis responses. Her protagonists function primarily as vehicles for exploring pandemic-specific anxieties rather than fully realized individuals with complex motivations.

The author's strength lies in capturing authentic emotional responses to unprecedented circumstances—the "pent up resentments" and "suppressed memories" that lockdown conditions brought to surface. However, the stories often read more like sociological documentation than literary exploration, prioritizing representation over revelation.

Technical Execution and Literary Merit: The collection suffers from the rushed production timeline evident in its commercial genesis. While individual stories contain moments of genuine insight, the overall collection lacks the structural sophistication and thematic depth that distinguish serious short fiction from commercial content creation.

Dé's prose maintains her characteristic directness and social observation skills, though the first-person constraint becomes repetitive across multiple stories. The collection would benefit from greater variety in narrative approach and deeper character development beyond crisis response.

Cultural Documentation vs. Literary Achievement: The collection succeeds primarily as cultural artifact—a real-time documentation of upper-middle-class Indian responses to pandemic disruption. Dé's observations about relationships becoming "the first victims of Corona" prove prescient, and her exploration of domestic space tensions captures universal experiences.

However, the work's value as immediate cultural commentary may limit its lasting literary significance. The stories feel more like journalism than art, prioritizing topical relevance over timeless insight. This approach reflects Dé's background as columnist and cultural commentator rather than literary artist.

Critical Reception and Academic Context: Reviews consistently praise the collection's emotional authenticity while noting its structural limitations. Many emphasize how the stories capture "different moods we might have felt in such trying times," while acknowledging their "bite-sized" nature. The work functions effectively as popular literature without achieving literary distinction.

Within the broader context of pandemic literature, the collection represents immediate response rather than reflective analysis, prioritizing timeliness over artistic development. This positioning may limit its enduring critical value while serving its immediate cultural purpose.

Lockdown Liaisons: Book 3 succeeds as commercial fiction and cultural documentation while falling short of literary achievement. Dé's talent for social observation and character voice creation serves the collection well, but the rushed production timeline and market-driven approach prevent deeper artistic development. The work functions best as snapshot of pandemic-era psychology rather than enduring contribution to Indian literature.

 Rating: ⭐⭐✩✩✩ out of 5 stars