“The hidden harmony of a housewife’s tale is structured, day after day, by simply carrying on.”

The Delhi via Bombay crew reunites in Namita Gokhale’s Priya, the 2013 sequel to her debut novel Paro (1984). With Paro gone – Priya Kaushal’s frenemy through thick and thin – the turbulent drama of Priya’s youth has morphed into a matronly anxiety for her twins Luv and Kush, and demanding spousal duties towards her husband Suresh. No longer a slaving lawyer, Suresh has risen through the ranks to become the Minister of State for Food Processing, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Canneries. A minor portfolio but important nevertheless.

Priya enjoys the VIP treatment – a sprawling bungalow in Delhi’s poshest neighbourhood, a host of servants, and citizens who fawn over her. Priya reiterates that she’s just a “housewife” and a dutiful companion to her husband – still the girl from a one BHK Bombay flat who somehow managed to end up on Delhi’s Dara Shikoh Marg. An upgrade so significant that her elder brother now addresses her as “didi”, based simply on her enviable social status.

And still, Paro looms large in her heart. Priya remembers her as though one would a lover (or a sworn enemy), and admits that Paro’s absence has...

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