Dubai: A Dubai resident’s debut novel, based on the emirate, has become a bestseller in India after its release earlier this June.
Indian freelance journalist and blogger Amrita Mukherjee’s book Exit Interview - published by Rupa Publications, one of India’s biggest publishing houses - is set in Dubai and offers an insight into the life of an expatriate in the emirate. “People in India often have very wrong perceptions about the UAE, believing it is an ultra-conservative country where women have little freedom. I wanted to bust that myth. I have travelled the world and I have lived in Dubai for eight years and I think it is one of the friendliest and safest cities for women,” says Mukherjee, 40, who now divides her time between Dubai and her hometown Kolkata.
Safety of women
Mukherjee says Exit Interview is a fictional story of journalist Rasha Roy, who moves to Dubai from Kolkata and takes up a job in a magazine office located in Dubai Media City.
“I recently wrote an article on safety of women in Dubai in my personal blog (www.amritaspeaks.com) which was published by a Hong Kong news website. Whatever I wrote in that piece is all there in the book. I think when it comes to women, Dubai is one of the most progressive places,” adds the mother of one. It’s something, she says, that even takes her protagonist Rasha by a pleasant surprise when she lands at Dubai airport for the first time, seeing women at work in places like passport control which she knew to be ‘men’s territory’ in India. “There are various instances in the book when Rasha is simply amazed by all this, like when she sees women in niqab driving a buggy or a Pink taxi,” explains Mukherjee, who adds the book is also as much about what she has personally seen and experienced in Dubai. “The story takes off at the Dubai Airport but then moves on to locations like Jumeirah Beach, JBR, Ski Dubai, Mamzar Park, Dubai Marina, Burj Khalifa and even travels to the beautiful Fujairah. This book is all about this place,” she quips.
Known as a shooting hub for Bollywood productions, the book apparently also features a fictional film star Zohaib Khan shooting sequences inside the aquarium in Dubai Mall.
The book has already sold over 5,000 copies globally and is available in the UAE via Amazon and Kindle at the moment.
