Lockdown Liaisons: Book 5: Miss La Di Da 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 a 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 these pages of Lockdown Liaisons, we have the touching story of a special little boy and how he negotiates his intimate relationship with Ganpati during the lockdown. Then there are the deluded and feisty ruminations of a snobbish old lady who never understood why her husband left her for the woman that he did. In another story, entertaining and satirical, a single man struggles to manage life under lockdown with his young son and tries to forge a relationship with an attractive neighbour whose daughters go to school with his son. And then in ‘In Malibu Mansions’ we have a woman coping with losing her high profile job during the lockdown and the news that a neighbour has died by suicide by jumping off her balcony.  

44 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 27, 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]

The people who faced the pandemic can be broadly divided into two- those who had to stay in the house during the lockdown and those who fought it from the frontline.



The people in the healthcare sector, law and order, and other sectors whose work was considered indispensable for us to stay alive belonged to the latter category.

The first category can be again divided into three. The first was the people who returned home and stayed with their families. The second category was people who were in the cities where their offices were situated but had the proximity of their loving friends. The third category was the people who were the most affected due to the pandemic. They were the people staying alone in a new place (most probably recently relocated due to work or study reasons) with no friends or family nearby. This book tries to deal with each of them.

“Feeling trapped was going to be my new normal from now on.”

“Lockdown changed everything.”

The lives of the people who got trapped alone due to the pandemic are the toughest to read in this series.

—————————————————————————
You can also follow me on
Instagram ID - Dasfill | YouTube Channel ID - Dasfill | YouTube Health Channel ID - Dasfill - Health | YouTube Malayalam Channel ID - Dasfill - Malayalam | Threads ID - Dasfill | X ID - Dasfill1 | Snapchat ID - Dasfill | Facebook ID - Dasfill | TikTok ID - Dasfill1