The Great Depression

Warning : If you’re over forty and reading this, your laugh lines will deepen. If you’re under forty, your laugh lines may begin. At forty-three Mantra decides to quit her job to experience the pleasure of retirement while she’s still able to walk without a nursing attendant in tow. But to her horror, she has to smooth the wrinkles in her marriage before she can get to work on the ones on her face. As her husband’s cholesterol begins to shoot dangerously high, Mantra’s libido hits rock bottom. She has to do something ASAP or she’ll spend the rest of her life as an ageing, frigid divorcee. To make matters worse, mantra also has to caution her sister-in-law Anjali about the ghost of a boyfriend past, counsel her page 3 – wannabe neighbour on how to make it to page 3, and figure out how to win over her surly cook. The Great Depression of the 40s is Rupa Gulab’s delightful take on mid-life crises and the bizarre ways in which people cope with them.