THIS BREEZY READ IS A HILARIOUS TAKE ON THE PANDEMIC LIFE

Chirdeep Malhotra . Updated: 9/7/2021 10:22:41 AM Books and Authors

Book Review: "What The Pandemic Learned From Me" by Anindita Das

What did most of the people do to beat the pandemic blues? Cooped up in their homes, they took part in pandemic trends, watched shows on Netflix, all the while motivating themselves to come out of the coronavirus-induced slump. Anindita Das, who is an advertising creative director, did all these things too. But she also decided to write about this, adding a dash of humour to it. She wrote the book “What The Pandemic Learned from Me” during the pandemic-induced lockdown. Aptly subtitled ‘A hilarious antidote to the pain that Corona dealt us’, the book is part memoir, part random lists and part mean musings.

This is an epistolary book – having a collection of open letters, but not to any specific person. The letters are addressed to plants, memories, things, places, and people. The letters penned by the author are sardonic, but are also filled with insights, both on the pandemic life and life in general.

The letters in the book are woven around various aspects of the pandemic life – about the viral food trends of making dalgona coffees and baking banana bread, googling about fancy holiday homes in Goa, and vicarious travelling. The observations of the author are funny, and the descriptions are quirky and quite creative. Moreover, some of the mundane things have been described with much ingenuity, and this ups the creativity level of the book by a notch.

The book, through its messages, also tries to provide a respite from the pandemic gloom, and has important messages on mental health. By the author’s own admission, this book is her modest pursuit to reaffirm the need for a good laugh to help deal with the doom and gloom that the pandemic brought with it.

This book is highly recommended – not only for the witty musings, hilarious anecdotes, and the giggles – but for the sagacious insights, the interpolations that the author draws from various aspects of the pandemic life, and the relatability that some of the readers (netizens mostly) would find between theirs and the author’s pandemic experiences. Also, at about 110 pages, this short read is perfect for those wanting to read something breezy and refreshing. This book will appeal to millennial readers, and those interested in reading witty literature that has come out during (and due to) the pandemic.


Comment on this Story