As soon as I read the title of the book, I felt a certain excitement about the story. The title clarified that I was picking up a challenging and unconventional theme. There exists a significant dearth of stories about LGBTQI+ characters in children’s literature as it is left off as an uncomfortable topic. This gap not only denies representation to the community but also invisibilizes their struggles in everyday life which makes the theme of this book crucial.
The story of Ritu and Chandni’s wedding is set in an upper-class urban Hindu set-up and is told from the worldview of Ayesha. She is excited at yet another wedding celebration in the family, that of a very dear older cousin. The two brides leading their own Baraat procession is something that Ayesha was very much looking forward to. The adults of the family are however tense and privy to a secret that Ayesha is not: