I've been reading Rujuta Diwekar's new book, 'Lose WeightNot Your Mind.' Nice title;tells you succinctly what the book is about. For those who don't know who Rujuta is, she is the dietician to the stars, now infamously known as the woman who enabled Kareena Kapoor to achieve a "size zero figure."
The book begins well but very quickly goes downhill. Why? Well its badly written. I felt I was reading Rujuta's journal. The language used was terrible. It appears she was trying to personalise the book by using Hindi-English slang. The only person she speaks highly of is Kareena Kapoor. That is hardly surprising since she is the famous body who propelled this little known dietician to fame. Apparently Kareena is down to Earth bcause she called this woman herself, no middleman or secretary had to make the call. Rujuta was so busy she didn't have time to charge her phone and take calls. Kareena appeared to love and accept her body because "she didn't point to flabby parts and say she needed to change things", "she said thank you when she was complimented about how good she looked," and she only wanted "to look more toned and lean" because she had to "wear a bikini for Tashan." The all-round perfect client! Soon Amrita Arora, Saif, Karishma and many others followed suit, to maintain themselves.
Another thing that bothered me about the book were the words "mentally fucked." I felt like she was trying to appear cool, after all, so many of her clients probably use those words when they go to see her. She obviously didn't feel the need to correct them even through her writing. Bad language in a self help is ugly and rude. There are so many other words to express being "mentally fucked" like stressed, frustrated, irritated, had a bad day, angry, sad. Use them! Maybe the people reading your book will also learn to use them. It made me wonder who edited the book. Rujuta keeps referring to this woman as the genius who came up with the eye-catching name. Whoever she is should learn to mind her language and promote good English.
On the positive side, Rujuta does have good ideas. Kareena looks lovely. Power Yoga has become a popular trend in Delhi and Bombay.Rujuta is lining her pockets with a lot of money because even though the book is badly written people are buying it.