Shobhaa Dé is a widely read author and columnist. She is known for her outspoken, irreverent views, making her one of India's most respected opinion shapers. Her writings have consistently chronicled her deeply felt socio-political-cultural concerns.
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. These stories speak to you about an elderly woman who lives alone in a building who can’t bear her nosey neighbors, a migrant worker who has to make a tough choice as he gets ready to walk hundreds of uncertain kilometers homewards, the Hollywood star who is stuck in his lavish weekend home and raves and rants to no avail, a couple whose wedding plans unravel due to the uncertainties of the times, a special little boy and how he negotiates his intimate relationship with Ganapati during lockdown, and a man who finds true love at a juice stall near his Office — in the days before the lockdown starts — but, then, ends up alone at home with his parents, writing letters to a lover who will never read them. And many more. But what binds these stories together is love. These are stories that show how Covid19 is affecting the hearts of hundreds of people as they struggle to make sense of altered circumstances, of the ‘new normal’ that will emerge in a post-covid world.
