The level of honesty in this new memoir, “Dirty Little Secrets” by Nandita Chakraborty, is at times confronting but always refreshing in a genre where so many writers gloss over the difficult parts.
There is no glossing over. This memoir tells it all. It is brave, meaning she is brave, and she will need to be for the future, as this memoir reports. The book includes accounts of being scammed by a man she “loves” but has never physically met. At first this is hard to understand, but gradually we can see how scammers have the ability to trap us.
It is finally a painful story of the quest for love, the yearning for relationship and the impact of a serious climbing fall, leaving the author with acquired brain injury.
The writing style makes the text more powerful – there is no attempt at embellishment or covering up – the style is direct and allows the reader to make up their own mind.
This is also a story about India and Australia. About the different lives of both countries and of the tough times that migrants experience – not the least being their distance from family and the security of home.
This adventurer has left everything behind. Not surprising, then, that the adventurer stumbles again and again.
Her biggest stumble is found in her lasting views that “love is instant” and that “love conquers everything” – both of which leave her vulnerable to some of the nastiest men you will meet in literature.
But for all that, meeting Nandita is to be in touch with joy, smiles, laughter and the spirit that a good life is ahead.
I for one am looking forward to the second instalment.
Into India 