The mirror never lies. This is a story of mustering the courage to confront the mirror. Beautifully told, it stays with you
The obvious green flag that holds you in thrall from the very preface of Suvir Saran’s personal journal is the intimacy that envelops you like a cozy blanket on a cold day. The book invites you, as it were, to a parlour with a fireplace that crackles with warmth and a rug that curls up at your feet in snug camaraderie. You sink into the deep folds of the sofa and get lost in the pages.
“Not every life begins with welcome. Mine began with wavering”: Suvir Saran hits the ground running with his first line, and this candour becomes his hallmark. This is a story of unfurling one’s inner dichotomies, self-doubts, fears of criticisms, discomfort of being “different” within preset conditions, the panic of not meeting expectations, trepidations of getting to know oneself, heart breaks and finally finding closure. This trajectory could not have rung true without laying it bare perhaps, but few could have done it with such disarming integrity.
A normal upbringing in a south Delhi household comes alive with endearing details of buas with their unwavering faith in your potential, Dadi with her prayer beads, the soft voice of Munni mausi, the indulgence by Pinky Didi and Chinky Didi, and looking up awestruck at the effortless charm of Junu Bhaiya, who hung out with his ‘perfect’ friends. “Watching them I felt a longing I couldn’t name — a yearning to belong, to be like them, and perhaps, to find someone like them as my life partner,” Saran muses, a moment of self-realisation hitting him early on.
Life took Saran to exciting shores and happening times, not without his quota of distress and despondency. He tasted success with his restaurant Devi in Manhattan, earning the rare honour of being the first non- European restaurant in North America to win the Michelin star. He hobnobbed with the who’s who, and also found love in multiple arms. With Charlie he built a home and a farm, and found a love that fulfilled him in every which way. When it was time to face the mirror, he did not wince. “I stood before it, broken but unbowed, ready to confront the truths,” Saran confessed on turning 40.
The mirror never lies. This is a story of mustering the courage to confront the mirror. Beautifully told, it stays with you.
Tell My Mother I Like Boys
Suvir Saran
Penguin Random House
pp. 240; Rs 699
