#37// the aunties are here
listen to your aunties
Dear Reader,
Here comes yet another letter where I go *blank* on what to write for the introduction. My editors would tell you I am terrible at writing an introduction for a piece, but my real-life people would complain how I go on and on with the ‘intro’ and never get to the topic until someone tells me ‘we get it, enough of the intro, now spill’. And just like that there’s a first paragraph. Phew. How are you all? March has been good. I roamed around a lot, got lost in urban landscapes (literally), observed people and dogs from park benches (wearing a hoodie, now that I think of it, it sounds very creepy), and also baked two cakes. March was my birthday month. My previous few birthdays haven’t been great, so I was quite nervous about the month. But it was alright. The cakes came out lovely. Fluffy and soft; perfect for evening tea, or topped with ice cream for dessert, and good for breakfast too. Baking calms me and gives me so much happiness. I baked after nearly two years—That just gives me a happy + hopefulness boost you know. Maybe I can do anything. The instant ego boost seems to have worn off by April; Maybe I need to bake again.
Read
If cakes could bring happiness, so can books that make you laugh. I mean stories with one of those hilarious, omg-my-tummy-hurts laughs. I began listening to Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q Sutanto on Scribd sometime over the pandemic and set it aside (signed, forever mood reader) and resumed the audio book recently. Before we talk about the book, let’s talk about aunties. I have amazing aunties and the current trope of bashing aunties (RIP diaspora fiction) and portraying them as caricatures really gets under my skin. Where’s the cool aunt? Where’s the irritates-the-hell-out-of-you-but-can’t-do-without aunt? Where are the aunts who will help you bury a dead body? Hi Meddeline Chan ‘Meddy’ “basically driven by a mixture of caffeine and familial guilt” and her ultra-cool over bearing aunties.
In Dial A for Aunties, we meet an Indonesian-Chinese family of aunties who now live in America. Meddy has joined the family business (wedding planning, “Don't leave your big day to chance, leave it to the Chans!”) as a photographer. When she accidentally kills her date hotelier Jake, and brings the body home, the aunties unite to cover up the murder; and also, simultaneously plan a big wedding for a client on a private island.
These aunties are loud, bold, demanding and take up all the space—the dominating Big Aunt, the quieter Second Aunt who breaks into tai chi poses whenever she is stressed (and when she is not), the youngest Fourth Aunt with glittering clothes, funky nails and a life-long feud with the third sister, and Meddy’s Ma. They gossip, cut mangoes and eat at the worst possible time (“Meddy, how can you say that? Your aunties coming over, so late at night, coming to help us get rid of body, and we don’t even offer them any food? How can? Oh, we have dragon fruit, good, good.”), find faults in the way they bring up children, sing praises of filial piety at the most inopportune moments and judge one another (youngest aunt’s nails invite debates while she laments she could’ve made them feathered). They brainstorm how to dispose corpses, fight to be the ‘best’ aunty (aka the sacrificial one on whose shoulders the family honour rests), praise Meddy’s ideas (corpse disposal ideas that is), but also praise villains because they have ‘good business minds (Meddy learn from them!)’. They also have the most childish sibling-rivalry charades. Mayhem and chaos, drunk groomsmen, burglary, elaborate tea ceremonies, corpses in deep coolers, and that’s when the love-of-Meddy’s life—college sweetheart Nathan—appears in her life again. Meddy has to handle love, a wedding, a murder, a burglary and her aunty gang.
One of my favourite scenes in the book is when Meddy’s mother catfishes as Meddy on a dating site (Anything to find the best husband; just that he ended up being a corpse) and chats with Jake. Aunty is a novice in the dating world and omg this section is hilarious. In the book the youngest aunt howls reading the chat history—that was me in real life. My eyeballs nearly fell out and so did I, from my chair. In the evening, I made my husband listen to this section and believe me, we laughed so much, so loudly, and couldn’t stop. So, we listened to it again; laughed some more. I loved how Jesse Q Sutanto shifts conversations in many different languages in the story. Meddy’s American voice blends with her aunt’s speak-way English; they switch languages, there’s some lost in translation, and also they’ve made a foreign language their own.
This is a comical book; expect exaggerated, animated incidents with a generous helping of ‘things going very wrong’. Writing a funny book is no joke. See what I did there? It is difficult to get your timing right and somehow convey the joke in your head to the page to the reader’s head; and actually, make them… laugh. But Dial A for Aunties gives you guaranteed happiness with its hilarious monologues, pesky fights, plot twists, and aunty supremacy.
Almost immediately after finishing the book, I switched to Book 2 Four aunties and a Wedding. The aunties have now taken secret classes on British accent and lingo (at a steal deal, no less) to blend in with Meddy’s rich in-laws. There’s yet another big wedding (Meddy's), and a new best friend—Asian wedding photographer Staphanie with a misspelled name who Meddy believes to be another version of herself—BUT this time the mafia has come to plan Meddy’s wedding. There’s blackmail, and a possible corpse, and an aunty-uncle romance on the side. The aunties are determined not to let anything—not even the mafia—spoil Meddy’s big day. I love these aunties. They would do anything for Meddy, but also indulge in some holier-than-thou and good old sibling rivalry at the most unlikely moments. They also have the best tips—like how to smuggle marijuana through customs, or the importance of a cuppa (There’s a scene where one of the aunts has got a kettle running because she thinks they have another body to dispose and tea would be good and I had to rewind and listen again in disbelief because auntyyyy!!), or 101 uses for a pantyhose. But the last quarter of Four Aunties and a Wedding left me slightly underwhelmed by the resolution (note : This isn’t a police procedural. So, many outlandish things happen in the story, which is totally okay, I am here for that; but the loose ends were tied up quite haphazardly). I felt slightly annoyed when the aunties were being stupid (and hence caricature-ish and not comical; mostly in the last few chapters)—I missed the clever, plotting women in Dial A for Aunties. But overall, I really enjoyed the second book too just as much. It was a laugh riot and I would love to have yet another book with these awesome aunties.
PS: I would highly recommend the audio narration by the talented Risa Mei. She was so good in Book 1 that I knew I simply had to listen to the audio book and not stick to a physical copy.
Buy on Bookshop
Middle grade funnies?
Another book that left me howling with laughter is the middle grade book Help! My Aai wants to Eat Me by Bijal Vachharajani, illustrated by Priya Kuriyan. I loved it so much that I narrated the story to my husband when he was washing the dishes at night; and we ended up laughing so much that the dishes were done in twice the usual time. I love both Bijal V and Priya K’s previous works, so it is no surprise that I absolutely adored this book revolving around Avi’s big problem. His aai wants to eat him!! Really. That isn’t just some unfounded fear. Avi has got the facts and the evidence and notes in a diary. The sad, shocking truth is that ‘His aai is a cannibal’ and she plans to eat him. Talk about danger at home! It is a slim book and made me wonder how does Bijal Vachharajani write exactly like she is in a kid’s head? More importantly, how does she know so many cool environmental facts? You need this cool book in your life.
My usual go-to in middle grade books are the fantasy books. I simply cannot get enough of them. I think it is really difficult to find a bad middle grade fantasy adventure. So reading a middle grade is almost always a win-win. You might enjoy this new list of the best middle grade fantasy books to read. There are troll trains offering postal services, badass girl pirates on magical ships, cursed sisters who cannot escape or travel beyond a boundary, girls who leak magic and so much more.
Watch
This month’s must-watch is the Malayalam film Pada. Based on real life events, Pada is a socio-political drama where four people who call themselves the Ayyankali pada— Vinayakan, Kunchacko Boban, Dileesh Pothan, Joju George—stage a protest for Adivasi rights and express their opposition to the new land reform rules. This involves holding the Collector hostage, but the sequence of events is mostly unplanned. The movie brings to screen an important real life political event and also ensures that there's no actor-heroism—something that many movie adaptations fail at. Rather this is a fire-in-the-bones story to make one’s voice heard as a team. Kunchacko Boban, one of the four musketeers, completes 25 years in the Malayalam film industry. For more movie recs starting Chackochan, browse this list.
Book Club
Over at @thesatchelbookclub, we are reading Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P Manansala, a cozy food mystery where ex-boyfriend and nasty food critic gets murdered. The police suspect Lila and her Tita Rosie as the murdered man ate at their restaurant. Featuring the best name for a daschund—Longganisa. Join us.
Amazing Links
Living : I don’t live in my dream home, so I am making it one (The Good Trade)
Writing : Untangling the braided essay (Catapult)
Living : Why don’t you waste some time here instead of Twitter?
Food : The love language of saying goodbye with a suitcase full of home (Goya)
Write a letter to your future self
Productivity: I got an amazing rec from Urvashi on Twitter about Stay focused app. I haven’t used it as it isn’t available for iOS but I like the idea of an app popping up a message (your custom msg) to make you rethink whether to open Instagram for the sixty-th time today.
Hear stories about awesome Asian aunties and more
Sign up for TWO months of FREE Scribd using my Invite Link.
Stay well. Until next time,
Resh x
(This newsletter may contain affiliate links which might earn me a very small commission at no extra cost to you)
If you liked this newsletter, the best way to show support would be to share it via your favourite social media or buy a book.