Sultry Days

Sultry Days, by renowned writer Shobhaa De, is a romantic tale set in Mumbai. It is a realistic presentation of youth during their college days. It looks into how careers modulate personal relationships in a modern world. This book is the fifth novel by the author and the lifestyle of Mumbai’s upper middle-class is explored thoroughly.

Nisha gets introduced to God (who is actually named Deb) in the initial days of her college. God isn’t the most polished guy around in terms of speech or behavior but Nisha gets unusually caught-up in his thoughts. She feels that God’s rustic personality, raw actions and rough selection of words is what makes him different and desiring. He starts calling her his intoxicant and that gradually makes Nisha a part of his life. After God takes her into his group, both start becoming close to each other. But God slowly enters into the field of poetry and artistic imagination, while Nisha gets a job in advertising. Their different careers gets them introduced to people like party girls, dirty men, whores and other odd individuals.

Sultry Days presents the secure days of one’s youth in contrast to the exploitative but unavoidable, life outside. Sultry Days was published by Penguin in 2005 and is available in paperback format.