Sneha Pathak reviews Vigil Aunties by Richa S. Mukherjee (published by Black Ink, 2024).
Vigil Aunties is Richa S Mukherjee’s latest foray into the world of crime writing after her two detective Prachand novels. This time, her sleuths are a group of women or ‘aunties’ as the teenager Philadelphia ‘Philly’ Waghmare calls them. The group includes Philly’s mother, Varsha, and her neighbours Patience Pereira, Charu, Lu and Shobha, who all live in Adhunik Vikas Cooperative Housing Society.
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The Secret Lives of Ordinary Women
They are all like the women we see around us – overworked and underappreciated. But they also have a secret life – they help police catch sexual offenders by conducting their own investigation and sending the police anonymous yellow envelopes with all the information needed to arrest the criminal.
I’m sure none of those women get to any problem-solving before burping their babies and husbands, getting an earful from the mother-in-law or haggling with the bhajiwala. That is our lot. Nabbing criminals one dekchi, baingan and Rin bar at a time!
– Richa S. Mukherjee, Vigil Aunties
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The fact that they are ordinary women, the kind we see all around us all the time, is their shield. And they wield it so effectively that even Philly doesn’t have a clue about this vigilante persona of her mother.
But this changes when things get personal, and the aunties are forced to take the law into their own hands after an accidental death, which they don’t want the police to know about. Unfortunately, Philly, too, learns of the group and its activities, and soon, there’s an investigator – Bharatendu Bandopadhyay – on their trail in an attempt to solve the case. The bulk of the novel is formed by this hide-and-seek between the aunties and Bharat, with Philly trying her best to shield her mother and her mates.
Structural Elements of Richa S Mukherjee’s Vigil Aunties
Vigil Aunties draws on the currently popular trend of cosy mysteries like Dial A for Aunties that feature unlikely criminals. These characters are forced to take the law into their own hands in certain unusual circumstances and have the full support of the readers as they try extreme measures to stay out of the reach of the law. Like the books of this genre, Vigil Aunties, too, is replete with humour, and the tone of the narrative is light throughout the book.
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We witness the action through different points of view as the chapters alternate between first-person narration by Philly and third-person narration from the point of view of various characters. Moving at a steady pace, Vigil Aunties is the kind of book where pages fly by as you read on to learn more about how the aunties will get themselves out of the hole that they have dug for themselves.
Themes of Womanhood and Identity
The book is not all fun and games, though. Behind its light, fluffy exterior, it raises important issues of women’s identity, the discrimination they face, and the small, subtle, yet soul-crushing rules and regulations that women have to operate in.
It is a sort of vagueness that comes from belonging to the middle class. We have big dreams, but we chicken out halfway, as if convinced that we don’t deserve them.
– Richa S. Mukherjee, Vigil Aunties
Women like Varsha are housewives who have spent their entire lives killing their dreams so that their household could function smoothly, yet they hardly get acknowledged for their constant sacrifices. Then there are the subtle ways in which women are constantly judged—on the basis of their weight, appearance, age, and the length of their clothes. All these issues find voice through the various characters of the group.
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It’s in raising these issues that the weakness of Vigil Aunties lies, for Mukherjee makes sure that she spells out everything in detail. This means that the reader is constantly being told what she is supposed to feel about a particular issue. While Mukherjee’s attempt to bring forth the issues she raises is worth praising, it would perhaps have been better if she had left it to the reader’s intelligence and believed that they would understand her motivations instead of spelling them out every time. This sometimes makes the dialogue feel stilted and preachy, thus affecting the reading experience.
Final Thoughts
Overall, though, Vigil Aunties by Richa S Mukherjee is an interesting read for those who love mysteries with a dash of humour and a social message. The cover art perfectly suits the book’s mood, and the ending leaves enough scope for Mukherjee to make this book into a series. If she does that, I will definitely read the next adventure of the aunties.
Have you read this tale of a thrilling, laugh-out-loud pursuit of justice? We’d love to know your thoughts! Share your experience of the book with us in the comments below!
