“What’s your tech stack like?”
“What’s your marketing mix like?”
Perhaps we should start asking the junta what their virtual mix is like. Mine’s weird. Facebook for memes and the occasional dalliance on a quizzing group (perhaps the fact that I’m still active there is an indication of my steady advance towards being a Boomer). Instagram for comics, celebs, and finding out which one of my batchmates is in Goa. Twitter to view shitposting and professional threads alike but interact with none. Reddit to scour for memes and hot takes before they land elsewhere. Whatsapp feels like a jail and I was hoping all this Signal business would make for a great escape. But expecting the critical mass to move? Who was I kidding.
Nisha Susan’s The Women who forgot to invent Facebook and other stories is an exploration of life in this virtual mix. These stories revolve around women, particularly urban and millennial, with the Internet acting as a common tangent. The author does not shy away from giving them real voices – unabashed, unapologetic, and unfiltered. A compilation of 12 short stories ranging from: A college trio who succumbed to the very same married lives they ridiculed. A first-time writer getting ridiculed by Twitter trolls and dealing with pretentious authors (aren’t they all?). A second wife delving deep into the virtual secrets of the woman she replaced. A woman forced to review disturbing images posted on social media as a part of work. Relationships, workplace dynamics, and social lives are center stage whether it be on GTalk, a dating platform for intelligent folks, an intrusive meditation app, or Twitter threads. The characters are fleshed out really well and you’re left wondering if a few of these stories could have been full-fledged books by themselves. Conversely, a couple of them feel like blurbs. Perhaps best retained as blogs on the internet. Also, that lovely cover almost coerces me to buy a paperback edition for keep’s sake. Thanks to the author for making this a convenient pick up by pushing it to the Kindle Unlimited library.
The Read: I really liked the author’s tone: fresh, conversational, and undeniably Indian. I don’t think a lot of writers manage to get all of it right. Also, the writing tweaks itself to the settings. Some stories are curt, fast-paced, and require you to grasp each word. You might miss out on a name, an incident if you weren’t paying enough attention. Some of them are a slow burn, building up steadily and catching you unaware before you knew it. I rooted for all the characters, through their lives and lies. Except for the obnoxious Sanjeev, who sticks out like a sore thumb amidst all the remarkable women. Susan’s also great with the humour, bordering on candor at times. I’d really like for each of these narratives to exist on their own and not just as other stories. Hopefully, soon.
22/365.
Trivia: Nisha Susan was one of the original promoters of the Pink Chaddi Campaign, a non-violent protest against the Right-wing extremist group, Sri Ram Sena’s violent attack on pub-going women and their companions. You can read more about the same here.
Documentation:
Book: The Women who forgot to invent Facebook and other stories
Author: Nisha Susan
Year of Release: 2020
Publisher: Context