Book Review: Timepass

'scandalous', 'shocking', 'outrageous'... some words which described Protima Bedi's timepass when it hit the shelves. That might've been the reason I wasn't allowed to borrow it from the library (or buy it bookstores) then. You know, parents and their fear of teenage heads. I could have gotten it myself, but lack of cash and the non- availability of book in the next few years meant 'timepass' fell off my reading radar.

Ten years down the line, I find a used copy. I read it cover to cover. And I hate my parents for not letting me read it the first time I wanted to. Here's why.

The book feels like a honest depiction. It has the energy, the uneasiness, the uncomfortability and the happiness we humans usually encounter or feel. The way Ms Bedi embraces life gives a new meaning to the 'troubles' we crib about. The lessons she learned- and tried to explain in the book- could have saved me from a lot of despair in those angst ridden and confused times. But then it might not have mattered- as the book subtly explains, what we think isn't as important as what we do.

I still don't understand why people were scandalized. It is an account of someone living the way she wanted to live; if that scares people...