Four lonely female immigrants struggle in Paris

Clearly Invisible in Paris by Koel Purie Rinchet is the story of four immigrant women living in Number Thirty-Six, an apartment block in Paris. The four women are Neera, Rosel, Dasha, and Violet.

Neera is an Indian from Mumbai, married to the famous Parisian producer-director Jean-Paul Allard. Neera has a fondness for weed and a penchant for lovers who, according to her, keep her and her marriage going. Rosel Andal, a Filipina housekeeper-cum-nanny is timid and quiet. Her aim in life is to become a French citizen and reunite with her son Danilo who she has left behind with her sister while she set out in search of a better life. Currently she is slaving away for her Kuwaiti madam.

Seventeen-year old Russian model Dasha dreams of walking the ramp for the biggest fashion moguls. With ramp stars in her eyes, she has to be content with giving audition after audition, none of which are successful. This constant rejection piles up her frustration and ends up making her a rebel without a cause. She challenges the status quo by posting videos on Instagram that ruffle the casting agents’ feathers. But it also brings her under the spotlight and lands her a decent assignment. Dasha hopes to reunite with her father who had left her, her mother and her twin brother Andryusha for his lover.

Violet, a Senegalese transwoman, is a dancer at night who mesmerises the rich and the famous with her moves. During the day she plays fairy godmother and saviour to Raphael, a handsome beggar whose prospects she is trying to improve. In a relationship with photographer Benjamin Vidal, Violet is bold and beautiful. In her former life, Violet was Vafi, a boy bullied by his school mates and beaten by his father.

These four women are clearly invisible in Paris and unaware of each other’s existence. Then comes Covid-19, bringing the entire world to a halt and turning everyone’s life topsy-turvy. A series of mishaps or call it the hand of destiny and the four women’s lives, too, are affected. They and the mélange of characters in their lives aren’t spared. This collision sets them firmly on the path of an unlikely friendship where each one plays to her strength and is a perfect foil for the other.

Koel Purie Rinchet has written the characters with a lot of love and care, taking the reader slowly deeper and deeper into the characters’ lives, revealing a few skeletons in their closet to ensure that the reader’s eyes don’t waver from the page. Each woman’s character is flawed: Neera comes across as extremely self-centred, Violet as moody and temperamental, Rosel as too submissive and meek, and Dasha a worrywart with a tendency to do professional harakiri. Yet they ensure that the readers root for them. The life of the immigrant is laid bare, with all its warts and moles. Reluctant friendships which are forming at every step are celebrated. Dreams find fulfilment, while the fire of hope is kept alive.

Though it took me some time to get into the story, once I sat in the reader’s seat, I cruised along at a steady pace, without meeting speed-breakers or red lights, for a wonderful ride.

Purie Rinchet has weaved an intricate tapestry where each woman’s story forms a pattern by itself but also contributes to the overall design, lending it a beauty all of its own. Purie Rinchet’s words are elegantly crafted to ensure that the reader enjoys this Parisian dish. She throws the spotlight on the underbelly or, shall I say, the sad side of Paris, where a multitude of dreams lie shattered in smithereens, showing immigrant struggles and despair, while at the same time exposing the aloofness and snobbishness of the high and mighty insulated from daily struggles and unaware of what is happening around them. This book will clearly not be invisible on bookshelves.

Clearly Invisible in Paris
Koel Purie Rinchet
Rupa
Price: Rs 495