Knowledge of the history and culture of the backdrops of Dipika Mukherjee’s stories are remarkable. The plots are based across urban Kuala Lumpur to cosmopolitan Shanghai, small towns of India, and the wilderness of Unites States of America. The characterisation of the protagonists with their trappings of desire could have been a bit more varied. In some stories, the political setups are too overwhelming and come across as unnecessary and biased while some stories examine how social mores are obscured by political and economic realities. Nanditaa reviews Rules of Desires exclusively for Different Truths.
Dipika Mukherjee needs no introduction in the world of writers, rather award-winning writers or books. Her meaningful stories in this book reflect life with all its quirks, twists and peculiarities making one sit up with the glaring earnestness and truth of them. What struck me within a few pages into her book was the style of writing and the honest approach to the subjects she chose to portray, mostly, the vulnerability that desires bring.
The short stories deal with seeds of desires that are naturally conceived through the earthly mantle of life – desire for sex, love, status, position, affluence, acceptance, happiness…she goes on to demonstrate the interwoven and underlying rules – inherent, unspoken, intangible rules that subtly govern those desires and actions.
Dipika has illustrated how the consequences of desires are inevitable and calls for repayment in some way. If one does not keep updating oneself or ignores a certain aspect of life, it will follow up and get back at you like a dragon as happened with ‘Maya Chin’ in the story ‘Doppelganger’. Her stories demonstrate an intriguing way of catching up with the karma of the protagonist or antagonist, resulting in an awakening for the reader. There is a striking freshness in the style of expressing, whether it’s love-making or treach
ery.
Another favourite story of mine, ‘The Wife’, deals with the innocence and helplessness of a loyal village ‘wife’, who marries a wayward handsome guard with stars in her eyes that, with a quirk of fate, turns into hopelessness. The lifestyle and mindsets of characters portrayed, turn out to be their ways of coping with life – things we all do but do not disclose. Incidents, anecdotes, degrees of expectations in human relations are all dealt with ease and sensitivity. The language is deftly handled and her plots make us unknowingly empathise with some traits or characters that we would otherwise take as forbidden. The deep yearnings of women are well encased.
One of her stories deals with the quiet and subdued cravings of a child, who silently witnesses the changing relations of his parents and grows up into the alien world trying to adjust to his own perceptions.
Knowledge of the history and culture of the backdrops of her stories are remarkable. The plots are based across urban Kuala Lumpur to cosmopolitan Shanghai, small towns of India, and the wilderness of United States of America. 
The characterisation of the protagonists with their trappings of desire could have been a bit more varied. In some stories, the political setups are too overwhelming and come across as unnecessary and biased, while some stories examine how social mores are obscured by political and economic realities.
This book can captivate those who want to delve into hard-hitting consequences of desires and who enjoy erotic thrillers.
©Nanditaa Bannerjee
Photos from the internet.
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