Aunties of Vasant Kunj – Anuradha Marwah

Three women, a neighborhood full of quirks, and a hilarious cocktail of Buddhist chanting, intense social activism, and fermented drinks of all kinds. Welcome to Vasant Kunj, where three very different women are trying to make sense of a world that is spinning way too fast.

Meet the trio: Shailaja, abandoned by her partner but permanently lovelorn, who spends her days wistfully teaching romantic literature at a Delhi University college; Mrs. Gandhi, plump, endlessly garrulous, and single-handedly running a domestic hospitality empire built on hot cups of tea and plates of biskut; and firebrand Dini, completely ensconced in her idyllic, strictly female-centric world. Under normal circumstances, these three neighbors simply cannot see eye to eye.

But life has a funny way of throwing curveballs. When a lecherous boss, an unrepentantly cheating husband, and a completely unsuitable yet totally irresistible lover enter the equation, their paths are forced to cross. Bound together by unexpected crises, they are forced to seek comfort in one another. Will Vasant Kunj—with its claustrophobic shared spaces, unlawfully occupied walking pathways, and perennial water and electricity crises—provide the perfect intersection for an unlikely friendship? Or will they continue to collision-course at Aunty Point, the metaphorical shoreline where they’ve all been cast away by time?

Witty, sharp, and utterly unputdownable, Anuradha Marwah’s Aunties of Vasant Kunj offers a side-splitting, empathetic peek into middle-class Delhi. It is a brilliant exploration of how women navigate conflicting identities, domestic expectations, and buried desires at almost forty—proving along the way that life doesn't stop, and you're always liable to be still a little naughty.