Falguni Kothari has written a book entitled ‘Bootie and the Beast’, and is now taking over Drunk On Pop with a guest post!

This is one of my favorite scenes from Bootie and the Beast. I love it for its humor, its nostalgia factor—because who hasn’t chanted that rhyme while growing up? Most of all, I love how this scene positively represents romance novels and outward beauty, both of which are often maligned unnecessarily. ~ Falguni.

The Puppy Shame Excerpt:

Life was just too short to be pissed off at the people you loved

She’d worked it all out in her heart to heart with the gods that afternoon. The awesomely amusing chat with Sharda Patel had further cinched the deal.

At first glance, Diya had summed up the old woman who sat on a bench outside the temple as a Dadima clone. Appearances were so deceptive, na? The book in Shardaben’s hands had obliterated any resemblance to Diya’s grandmother. Not that Dadima didn’t read, but Diya would bet she’d never read what Shardaben had judiciously poured over—a romance novel with a rather racy cover, as in the typical half-naked rake smooching the half-naked damsel who practically begged for the smooch.

Giggling at the memory, Diya shutoff the water and began to pat herself dry.

Diya’s snigger had made Shardaben peer over the book, eyes twinkling. “It’s my husband’s death anniversary today,” she’d said in extremely polished, accent-less English.

“Oh? Reading romance totally makes sense then,” Diya had said, delighted by the old woman’s offbeat humor.

“He used to tease me about my addiction. He called them my puppy shame books. They’re my way of remembering him.”

Diya had howled with laughter and ended up exchanging phone numbers with the wonderful Sharda Patel. Puppy shame books, indeed!

Diya had some puppy shame stories to her name. A precocious toddler, Diya would run around the house after her bath, proudly flashing her naked butt for all to see. Pree, with an older sibling’s clothed authority, had tormented Diya with the Puppy Shame rhyme. Krish had too, on more than one occasion.

Shame, shame, puppy shame;

All the monkeys know Dee Dee’s name!

Smiling as the past played peek-a-boo in her head, Diya paraded naked as puppy shame between the bathroom and the bedroom doing the glamour dance she did so well. She rubbed bronzed moisturizer on her epidermis. Applied a bare minimum of make-up on her face—no need to detract from the dress—emphasizing only her doe eyes and masking the bite-marks. She air-dried her hair, pulling the straight length of it over her left shoulder, and secured it with an invisible rubber band below her ear. She secured gel cups over her breasts and shimmied into the zipless dress. She slipped on a pair of gold stilettoes. Last, she slid a beaten gold armband over her right upper arm and a pair of long diamond earrings in her ears.

“Voila!” She blew a kiss at her reflection like she did before any major event. “You look magnificent! Absolutely ready to be proposed to.”

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Fairytales don’t end with True Love’s Kiss, they begin with one…

Diya Mathur (aka Beauty), celebrated supermodel and Party Princess of India, is adored by everyone. She works hard, plays hard, and has the biggest shoe fetish on the planet. But after she purchases one baby bootie, Diya’s reputation is in ruins. There’s only one place to escape the rumours – Texas, under the protection of her lifelong friend, and secret love, Krish Menon (aka the Beast).

Financial whizz-kid, CFO and entrepreneur, Krish is a brooding workaholic with a charisma that still brings Beauty Mathur to her knees. He has no idea, of course! They’ve shared a bond since childhood – a special friendship that thrives on sparring, teasing and goading – but with Diya back in his life and under his roof, Krish’s latent desire for her explodes. And when he finally admits to the secret that has never allowed him to commit to any woman – especially Diya – everything changes. Krish might finally realise how much he wants his Beauty. But he won’t get her until Diya has tamed her Beast.

Purchase: Amazon UK | Amazon India | Mills and Boon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Falguni Kothari is a non-traditional homemaker who accidently tripped on a misplaced soccer ball and fell down the writer’s rabbit hole. Having no more experience with the whole writing/publishing shebang than being a voracious reader and movie buff, it more than surprised her that she could, in fact, write a full-length novel.

Now, several manuscripts down, when she is not trying to find a way out of her many domestic duties or cajoling her Latin dance coach to compose a rumba on Bollywood music, she is found embroiled in some or other scandal—sorry, creating stories—on her ever-faithful laptop.

She’s authored Bootie and the Beast, It’s Your Move, Wordfreak! and Scrabbulous Impressions, a short story. She rumbas across a whole smorgasbord of Social Media daily and loves to connect with most living things.

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