[Year in Review 2021] From Indra Nooyi to Priyanka Chopra – 7 women authors who created a buzz

Winter is here, and it’s time to cozy up and read.

The past year threw up a slew of interesting books by women authors. From memoirs and fiction to history and food tales, authors offered up a diverse reading list that provided warmth, succour, interesting stories, and food for thought.

Actor Priyanka Chopra and former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi published their memoirs while Tahmima Anama wrote a brilliant tale about a woman in the startup world and Chitra Banerjee revisited the little-known life of Maharani Jindan Kaur.

Here is our list of books by women, those that we read (and mostly) enjoyed.

My Life in Full, Indra Nooyi

This year finally saw a memoir from former PepsiCo chief Indra Nooyi - My Life in Full, a 320-page treatise on living and making it big in a man’s world. Nooyi takes us through different phases of her life, from growing up in a traditional joint family in Madras, and then moving to the US to chase the American dream.

The book also reveals organisational support, without which Nooyi wouldn't have become what she is today. Most importantly, it sheds light on how that also plays a part in how she perceives her colleagues and their contribution to the company.

She also highlights the gender bias present in large corporations and outlines that the road to becoming a CEO was not easy. But she always took her thatha’s (grandfather) words wherever she went, “give it your all”.

Unfinished, Priyanka Chopra

The former Ms World and India’s biggest crossover star, Priyanka Chopra’s memoir, Unfinished is a long one-sided conversation, ‘unfinished’ in most parts, with the reader left wanting for more. Replete with hashtags that complete her giggly persona, the book has information already in the public domain. It’s also replete with "Peeceeisms".

“If you put water into a cup, it becomes a cup. You put water in a bottle, and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

The philosophical takes apart, it’s one long rambling account of her life through fame, grief and marriage.

By Her Own Rules, Ma Anand Sheela

As second-in-command to controversial Godman Osha Rajneesh, Ma Anand Sheela (Sheela Birnstiel) enjoyed close access to the guru, and also the infamy that came along with it.

The falling out with her Bhagwan was even more controversial. She was accused of siphoning off large sums of money and also unleashing a bio-terror attack in Rajneeshpuram (Oregon). She spent 39 months in prison and later started life anew as a caregiver.

Her memoir, By Her Own Rules, highlights 13 rules she lives by, and talks majorly of life “giving her a second chance”.

The Startup Wife, Tahmima Anam

Tahmima Anam’s The Startup Wife is a comical and satirical take on the tech startup world, full of quirky and interesting characters.

The protagonist, Asha Ray, a brilliant coder, gives up her PhD programme to team up with her high school crush-turned-husband, Cyrus Jones, and friend Jules to work on a social networking app, WAI (We Are Infinite) at an incubator called Utopia. What happens when the app gains popularity and Cyrus is catapulted into the centre of it all? How does it affect their relationship and their fledgling startup?

The book travels down the road, highlighting sexism, faith, and the startup culture as it injects huge doses of satire and comedy to keep the reader in splits.

The Last Queen, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Very little is known of Maharani Jindan Kaur – a kennel keeper’s daughter who become the youngest and last queen of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Defying tradition, she stepped outside the palace, cast aside her veil, and fought hard to keep the British from annexing Punjab. A fiercely protective mother, she became regent when her son, Dalip, was barely six-years-old. In The Last Queen, Chitra examines in detail the love story, her relationships with other queens, and why the British vilified her as a ‘prostitute’, a seductress, and the Messaline of Punjab.

In an interview with HerStory, Chitra said, “I think it is crucial for a culture to admire its women and have many women role models of different kinds - especially women who go through difficulties and emerge stronger. That is why I write these stories - in the hope that they will inspire my readers to handle their own difficulties with intelligence and determination, as Mother Sita, Draupadi, and Maharani Jindan do.” 

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Recipes for Life, Sudha Menon

Sudha Menon’s Recipes for Life germinated from two personal experiences – her conversations with her mother after the death of her father and the resultant cooking sessions and writing down of recipes. A few months later, Sudha’s mother-in-law, a fabulous cook, passed on, ravaged by dementia. With her went recipes that had come down generations because none of her children had bothered to take notes.

The book is both an ode to food and the emotions behind it.

Sudha spoke to 30 personalities from different fields and documented their mother’s recipes in the book, a repertoire of food that symbolises a mother’s love, home, and memories. Whether it’s boxer Mary Kom, banker Uday Kotak, Michelin star chef Atul Kocchar, or politician Shashi Tharoor, Sudha’s list is exhaustive and complete with interesting reminiscences.

The Women Who Forgot to Invent Facebook and Other Stories, Nisha Susan

Journalist Nisha Susan’s book of short stories delves into love, violence, intimacy and friendship – a take on millennial life with its interesting and varied twists and turns. The book is a melange of different stories - a classical musician finds love in a chatroom, a young mother finds a job monitoring content for a social media firm, or a cook deeply worried over her daughter’s telephone conversations. Nisha takes us through different lives, and emotions of helplessness, agony and love.