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LifeStyLiSt 1 it’s our job to keep you inspired Like a Star Author Twinkle Khanna talks shop, second novels, and swerving away from sharp, social- media curves... So...the highest-selling female author of 2015 on your first shot! Did you expect that? “I mean, we did a small print run of 15,000 copies the first time around and I thought, ‘Well, I’m sure I can outsell that’. When it went into 25 print runs...that I certainly did not expect. But I knew that I was on safer ground with Mrs Funnybones (as it was an extension of the columns) than I am with The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad.” We did notice a change in style with your second... “Well, while the first story in the book is through-and-through serious (and in a starkly different setting, with little Lakshmi and Sukriti who live in a riverside village that still pratices female infanticide), the voice you know me for comes through more with the other stories [like Salaam, Noni Appa]—the kind of humour and observations you’d find in most of my writing. But there’s a strong ‘woman-power’ stance in all of them—particularly about us making our own choices.” Your Karva Chauth Tweet: “Why fast at all when people are getting married twice by 40?” got a lot of The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad is available at amazon.in for ` 369 Hot List All that’s buzzing this month! traction because it challenged patriarchy. Did it intend to? “Not specifically, no. When I made that comment, it was a joke—it sired laughter the first day, and some degree of offense the next. I wasn’t mocking the tradition, I was simply stating facts. When people say ‘You’re so funny’, the thing is...I just state facts plain as day. And because no-one else does, people think it’s so humorous.” Does your opinion on Karva Chauth seep in to your thoughts on patriarchy in other rituals or traditions? “I think women everywhere— FOR MORE GREAT STORIES, VISIT cOSMO.In January 2017 whether they’re 60 and beyond and have lived through them, or they’re teenagers—have started to question the validity of these traditions, and the inherent misogyny in a lot of them. I think it’s time we questioned it.” Your take on feminism, too, had some people up in arms. Do you think feminism still has a bad rap? “Yep! And, on top of that, the fact that I was joking made me seem anti-feminist—to add fuel to the fire, we’re adding to the idea that we’re humourless! I’m hoping these perceptions change over time.” jAnuARy 2017 COSMOPOLITAN 137