Radhika Oberoi

Radhika Oberoi, author of Of Mothers and Other Perishables, reads a poignant extract from her book✨ Of Mothers and Other Perishables is an exquisite articulation of grief. It is also the sharp-eyed tale of a city tethered to violence and bursting with nazms. The novel oscillates between the dead woman’s yearnings and the immediacy and excitement of a parallel narrative — her daughter’s. Nicknamed The Wailer (from the band Bob Marley and the Wailers), the dead woman’s daughter offers a sardonic glimpse into the world of advertising — the night before a presentation, temperamental colleagues, the buzz of writers and art directors at work. But the peculiar dynamics of The Wailer’s advertising firm alter drastically, when protests break out in the city of Delhi. Protesters swarm the streets, hollering against a new bill that persecutes the Muslim community. A Muslim art director is drawn to the pulsing heart of this movement. The Wailer, too, is inadvertently involved. Both narratives — the deceased mother’s digressional memories, and The Wailer’s palpable reality — also tell of Toon, The Wailer’s younger sister, who is the CEO of a coffee startup. Their worlds converge to offer shards of the past, and navigate through a turbulent present. Personal and political histories collide in this haunting tale of many betrayals. Of Mothers and Other Perishables is available at bookstores near you! Grab a copy today📖

1. Among the Big Blessings of My Life The most fortunate are those who are blessed with such good health that they never have to go to hospitals or depend on doctors to keep them in functioning order. If you don’t belong to the above super fortunate category, the next best is to have caring doctors or vaidyas as your good friends. I belong to the second category. Among the most caring doctors I have ever known is Dr (Col.) Shekhar Pant, who is considered among the top most radiologists of India. He is a distinguished war veteran, a successful medical practitioner & innovator plus a social entrepreneur who provides valuable health services in villages of Uttaranchal. In the last 40 years he has seen me through several medical emergencies, including some major unavoidable surgeries. When I am careless about follow-up with certain tests, it is Col Pant who will phone me and insist that I better not delay any further. But I hold him in high esteem not just because he has been amazingly good to me-- and whoever of my family needed his help, diagnosis or advice-- but more because he is caring about everyone. Most of those who come to him as patients become his life-long friends. He provides high quality and ethical care to people in his South Delhi clinic where every patient is treated with equal courtesy and warmth. His present clinic in GK 1 is so pleasantly designed, without being ostentatious, and so well landscaped in the midst of densely populated neighbourhood, that my driver commented, that just being in such an environment gives you sense of well-being. His patients include countless VVIPs of Delhi. But even ordinary patients are treated with care and courtesy. But I value Dr Pant’s friendship most of all because he has reached out to and has been servicing the most neglected sections of our rural population for more than two decades. Continued...