Western music presenter-turnedteacher Debapriya Ghosh launched her debut book And You Think I Don’t Know at Starmark, South City Mall on April 19. With the school reunion as the central theme, the book explores the subthemes of gender stereotypes, exploitation of women in multiple ways, kleptomania, homosexuality, adultery and other contemporary social issues.
“We had our own 25th reunion in 2018. When I saw my friends, I realised how much we had changed. Our smiles seemed rigid and rehearsed. What had life done to us? That made me wonder, what is life after all the finishing school that all of us have to go through? That was the starting point of the book,” says Ghosh, a former teacher of La Martiniere for Boys and Modern High School for Girls.
The book is about the 25th reunion of a particular batch of the fictional Jubilee High School, and follows the story of the protagonist Nandini Basu. Interesting parallel plots build up and culminate into an eventful reunion. “My next book will be about my personal experience in the period following my husband’s massive cerebral stroke. Hopefully, it will be able to inspire many others to battle the odds and remain positive,” said Ghosh whose favourite writers are Arundhati Roy, Khaled Hosseini, Ruskin Bond and Thich Nhat Hanh.