Do women, intrinsically, feel the same—no matter what class they belong to? Haven’t we all shared laughs or tears with our house help over errant men and life woes? Kapur agrees, but adds, “We may all talk about our husbands and lament about that, but in the end, the resolution will be different, how it plays out will be different. That’s where class comes into play. What you say to your husband, she can’t.” Her book is also set against the art world, a world Kapur is interested in. “I have gone to art fairs, and noticed that most stalls are run by women,” says the 75-year-old. “It’s the one area of business where women really dominate. It works for a certain set of women—many can also do it from their homes, and there is a certain amount of freedom, but it’s a proper business. And so many people are now into it. I used to say, ‘Throw a stone and it will hit a writer’, and a friend of mine now says, ‘Throw a stone and you will find a gallerist/artist’.”

A big part of Kapur’s books is the domestic setup—she has often been called the strongest chronicler of the modern Indian family. She also belongs to the prominent business family, the Dalmias, her husband being Gun Nidhi Dalmia. When we ask her if she finds inspiration at home, or seeks insight outside, Kapur says that the “family” is all around. “We all live in families, and our values are formed there. It’s a reflection of society at large, and even of economic and social truths. It forms the bedrock of society—microcosm and macrocosm. It has always interested me because you can see gender politics play out there.”

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Which brings us to the fact that all her books have women protagonists. Kapur has been a feminist before it became cool to be a feminist. “Of course, I am. But I can’t hate men—how can you hate half of humanity? Men themselves are victims of patriarchy, not as much as women of course. In my books, I advocate equality—I also point out how debilitating it can be when both are not equal. The sad truth is that men have more power, and so they get away with more. But, they are not happy.”

The author is already working on her next book. “By the time you finish one, and it gets edited and finally published, it’s already been one-and-a-half years. So, I get back to writing. There is never a day I don’t write.”