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Fiction

The Improbability of Love

Hannah Rothschild

Language: English

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Published: 2016

Pages: 479, Paperback

I have mixed feelings about this book. Though I wouldn’t rave about it, I wouldn’t tell anyone not to read it either. The blurb was catchy. I was intrigued and curious. Around 100 pages into it, I wasn’t very sure. But then, in the end, I was glad I stuck with it. Hannah Rothschild’s debut novel, ‘The Improbability of Love’, is confusing and takes time to build up, but it keeps you wanting to know more.

Annie McDee is a 31-year-old struggling chef. She is also recovering from a devastating break-up. Then, she buys a painting at a junk store for this guy she met at a speed-dating event and he never shows up. The painting becomes a sad reminder of her recklessness and she wants to get rid of it but her mother thinks it could be something of value and forces Annie to find out and thus delve into the world of art.

Since the novel opens on the night of an auction where there’s a lot of commotion over a painting with many people trying to profit from the sale, you get an idea that the painting is important. But you don’t really understand what is happening. As the novel jumps back and forth between six months, after Annie discovering the painting at a junk shop and the night of its sale at the auction, the story slowly starts to unravel.

The Improbability of Love was apparently penned as a satire on the corruption in the London art scene—the painting, the one being actioned that Annie eventually buys, is fictional but the artist, Jean-Antoine Watteau, isn’t. Rothschild meant to pose serious questions regarding the value of art. But more often than not it falls flat and comes across as silly. Though there are a lot of things going on—with romance, intrigue, murder, and more—and the book has all the potential to be a riveting read, you can’t help but feel the story could have been better narrated.

On one hand, Rothschild’s descriptions of the elaborate feasts that Annie prepares makes you want to read more, on the other, the frequent inconsistencies (and there are quite a few) make you cringe and put the book down. The same man has different colored eyes in different instances. It’s almost as if Rothschild was so invested in the art part of the story that the details elsewhere were written as an afterthought and thus feels slapdash.

The novel’s saving grace is that Rothschild knows a lot about art. And that knowledge shines through, which makes reading The Improbability of Love a pleasure, albeit in bits and pieces. Also, the eclectic mix of characters are well developed, each with their own frailties that warm you up to them. The painting itself becomes the narrator too, recalls its maker, and expresses grievances at being confined to Annie’s flat. It’s so amusing that it’s worth putting up with the problematic bits.  

“Just a slap?,” Amrita or Ammu (Taapsee Pannu) is asked again and again as she looks for validation, comfort and justice against an incident of physical abuse she has to bear from her husband Vikram (Pavail Gulati). A housewife in an affluent household, Ammu’s life had been seemingly normal before the incident.

She lives a comfortable life with her husband and mother-in-law (Tanvi Azmi) in a posh house with all the modern amenities. A zealous homemaker, Ammu’s lives her life in the same daily loop: doing chores, and taking care of her husband, mother-in-law, and the house. But one day when her drunk husband slaps her in front of party guests, things change for her. 

Ammu starts questioning her position in the marriage. Where is her self-respect and dignity, she asks herself? Her life begins to unravel and she misses her pre-marriage happiness and freedom. The sacrifices she made in the marriage haunt her. Then the revelation that she, as an obedient housewife, has turned into nothing more than a commodity for her husband and her family strikes her hard. Ammu thus starts legal proceedings against her husband. All that for a slap. Because the slap rattles her conscience. 

Directed and co-written by Anubhav Sinha, “Thappad” (‘Slap’) is a film that uses one incident of domestic violence to tell a representational tale of millions of women facing domestic violence, marital rape, and deeply embedded misogyny in India and the subcontinent.

With no notable big names from Bollywood, besides the talented Taapsee, and a host of other equally gifted performers, Thappad is a film that paves the way for women-centered narratives that question the male privilege. Thappad delves into the lives of different women and disturbs deeply-held notions of orthodox families and women’s roles therein.

Right from the introduction, Thappad captivates the audience and lets them know that it is taking up much more than a couple’s relationship. The introduction shots of all relevant characters in different settings, living different lives but eating the same orange candy (popsicles), gives a clear message that the film will surpass the ‘hero-heroine’ narrative and give everyone equal space to tell their stories. This shared burden of storytelling makes the film even more captivating.

With stellar acting by Taapsee and the supporting cast, Thappad is a sensible movie that discusses the dynamics of husband-wife relationships in orthodox South East Asian families. The film cleverly blames men for the toxic relationships they create but also the society and even women who have been submissive for generations to give men the privilege of treating them like commodities. Thappad questions the self-beliefs that enslave the housewives. What makes them give up their lives, dreams and comforts to create that ‘perfect household’? Why have generation after generation of women been teaching their young daughters to sacrifice themselves to save far-from-perfect conjugal relations?

After directing socially compelling movies like Mulk (2018) and Article 15 (2019), Director Sinha has put out another gem that doesn’t overly dramatize relationships and reactions and gives life lessons in all their subtlety.

Who should watch it?

The only problem with Thappad is its length of 2hrs 24min and the stretched second half. But the storytelling is still captivating and this is easily one of the most important movies Bollywood has produced in recent times. A must watch for its compelling storyline and visionary filmmaking.

Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Drama

Run time: 2hrs 24min

Director: Anubhav Sinha

Cast: Tapsee Pannu, Pavail Gulati, Dia Mirza

Two lines of thought have always dominated Nepal’s political landscape: democratic and communist. While the communists think democrats are capitalists, the latter would like to call themselves social democrats, along the line of BP Koirala, late prime minister and leader of Nepali Congress. It’s a different matter that the term social democracy is little understood. Even the followers of Koirala are often at loss. Explaining it is the first task Ram Sharan Mahat undertakes in his lat­est book Trials, Tremors and Hope: The Political Economy of Contem­porary Nepal. He does it beautifully. In the initial chapters, one will get a concise picture of the concept of social democracy.

“Given the contradictions between communism and democ­racy, it was obvious that the two couldn’t be practically combined in the real world,” Mahat writes. “But the positive elements of the two systems could be incorporated into a middle ground philosophy of democratic socialism.”

“The burgeoning model of social­ism is liberal, democratic and mar­ket-oriented, but not market-dictat­ed,” he elaborates. That gives the gist: think of the market and help it grow, just don’t let it dictate you.

“BP [Koirala] was adamant that ‘abundant production’ must pre­cede distribution. The goal is to dis­tribute ‘one glass of milk’ each to all citizens, ‘not a spoonful.’ Socialism could never be seen as ‘distribution of poverty’.”

Capitalist and socialist systems are borrowing from each other based on social and economic imperatives, giving credence to convergence the­ory, Mahat concludes.

Nepal’s post-1990 liberal eco­nomic policy hit roadblocks in a new democracy perturbed by awful inter- and intra-party conflicts, a Maoist insurgency, and a stupid royal takeover. The perennially hung parliament and ever-changing governments stopped those poli­cies from bearing fruit. They never­theless gave a roadmap for Nepal, which continues till date. Mahat, a six-time finance minister, is credited as the man behind Nepal’s economic liberalism.

The Maoist conflict was indeed a serious setback for the coun­try. Though the exact estimate is not available, the cost of the war, according to DFID, was between 8-10 percent of GDP. It simply means that instead of aiming for 8-10 per­cent growth and making capital investment accordingly, the country was spending almost one tenth of its resources on a violent civil war. Nepal Peace Campaign estimates that the cost of conflict between 1996 and 2003 was US $66.2 billion.

Mahat laments Nepal’s lost oppor­tunity in hydropower as the country couldn’t start projects when invest­ment cost was low. But hydropower is still a viable option. Nepal, how­ever, will have to mostly depend on India for export. Antagonizing India is not an option. Mahat suggests consensus-building among political parties to negotiate with India on water rights and benefit-sharing.

But his support for the Koshi High Dam, a project India has been pushing in Nepal, can invite contro­versy. Also, he hails remittance as an important source of livelihood and the largest source of foreign exchange for Nepal. That can be contested too as other economists reckon heavy reliance on remittance is dangerous. 

Structure-wise, the book can be divided into four parts: chapter 1 gives brief philosophical back­ground of socialist-democratic thoughts, while chapters 2-10 dwell on Nepal’s history of political econ­omy starting from the BP Koirala days. The eleventh chapter, State of the Economy, talks about where we stand now and the last chap­ter, Challenges and Tasks Ahead, shows the way ahead. We ultimately need to act today to build the tomor­row that we want. In that sense, the last two chapters are the most important ones.

To sum up his recommendations for both today and future: make the new federal governance work; overcome the deep-rooted polit­ical culture that prevents imple­mentation of written laws and pol­icies; build and enable institutions at sub-national levels to perform constitutional duties, make them efficient in fiscal management; have a merit-based bureaucracy; scale up private investment; and ensure high­er, sustained flow of FDI to expand Nepal’s industrial base. Populism leading to unproductive recurrent spending worries the author.

Mahat is a senior leader of Nepali Congress. But the economist in him speaks more in the book, which offers a professional analysis of Nepal’s political and economic his­tory. It is a book worth investing in O

The 242-page book, published by Adroit Publishers, is priced at Indian Rupees 795 (NRs 1,272)

 This review appeared in the print edition under the headline "A capitalist-socialist midway"​

Although pronouncing its name might feel a little hard, dining at the Jham­kefaal Restaurant and Bar can be a refreshing experience. For one, it’s located at Kapurdhara, where you won’t find many restaurants that offer such a clean and com­fortable dining experience. And for its ambience and food, it is inex­pensive. So inexpensive that we’re at the verge of comparing it to the local ‘khaja ghar’ food we order at work every day. The food at Jhamkefaal is an everyday affair too. It’s a bit of a multi-cuisine menu with the regular “momo/chowmein” as high­lights but there’s more when you carefully go through it. And you also get freshly brewed coffee—so its way better than our “khaja ghar.”