Review: Promise Me A Million Times

Promise Me A Million Times by Keshav Aneel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

#BookLysis of 'Promise Me A Million Times' (Book Review: 4.6/5*)

I don’t read already published reviews of the books which are added to my bookshelf. 'Promise Me A Million Times' was added to my bookshelf even a month before its launch. This book is an exception because one of my author friend and an avid commenter on my blog Mr. Pankaj Giri sir asked me to read his review of this novel. He is a consistent visitor and probably a first commenter of my reviews from so long, so I couldn’t deny his request. I read his blog post and I already got to know how interesting this book would be. I ordered the book from an online store Amazon at a very next moment, but delivery of this book was delayed to me due to some technical issue by local courier service office and continue holidays. In the process of an inquiry of my delayed product, I communicated with several customer care executives of related online store as well as courier service. I believe that “whatever happens, happens for the best.” (Jo bhi hota hain, achchhe ke liye hota hain). As a result of our communication; surprisingly, I got one very good friend Shammi Shahid who works in Amazon as a customer care executive.
Keshav Aneel’s debut novel, 'Promise Me A Million Times' is the third book published by Srishti Publishers which is being analyzed on my BookLysis. And I would like to proudly mention that the novel has already hit the Bestseller chart and around 2000 copies of this novel’s first edition have already been sold within the short span of two months.

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Review: Just the Way You Are

Just the Way You Are by Sanjeev Ranjan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Just The Way You Are - Nonstop Humour & Satire! (#BookLysis 4.25/5)

Cover: Book cover of Just The Way You Are is really catchy. The cover itself gives a hint of a romance genre. A young couple’s image is captured on the book cover. Sky blue and the pink color combination looks really charming. Couple’s stuff like footwears, a ball, and a guitar can be seen beside girl’s right side. Vegetarian food like slices of watermelon, arranged in a neat order and cold drink/beer bottle inside the basket can be noticed beside boy’s left side. Green background of the cover resembles green grass in a lawn. How can I forget a smartphone and an earphone? So, this is not a sketch but a perfectly captured photograph by the big firm in photography ‘Images Bazaar’. Yes! Yes! Same ‘Images Bazaar' which is founded by the popular motivator Sandeep Maheshwari. Just The Way You Are is a romantic title. I would give 5 stars to 'Images bazaar' for the cover image and Tara Upadhyay for the cover design.

Themes: The novel Just The Way You Are is a romantic fiction based on love, humor, and satire.

Setting: The story of Just The Way You Are runs through different locations. Though Sameer’s (main protagonist) love story belongs to Delhi, the main story is set up in different locations of Delhi and Noida. The story also runs through Bhopal, Agra, Gurgaon, Patna in India, Bern in Switzerland. The story also travels to America. All the locations are described in detail so the reader feels like not only reading but also visiting that place in real.

Language and Writing style: Sanjeev Ranjan uses very simple language to narrate the story. The language is very lucid. The story helps me to add some new words in my vocabulary. The Author narrates the story in the first person through the character Sameer. He uses flashback technique. I like the phone conversation between Sameer and his mother which is narrated in a brilliant way. Sanjeev’s presence of mind while describing the story adds more humor to the scene. He uses fantastic satire to remark reader’s attention towards errors in the system and society.

Characters: Sameer is the protagonist and the narrator of the story. He leaves his girlfriend Shagun who luckily becomes his wife alone on their first wedding night. Shagun is the female protagonist of the story. Sameer’s mom Rekha is one of my favourite characters. Her innocence and funny English makes us laugh. She represents a typical mother. You relate yourself to your father while reading the sacrifices of Sameer’s dad in the sixth chapter. Further, there are so many notable characters like Sameer’s friends Rakesh, Gaurav, Sankalp, Satyan, Mayank and colleague Taufeeque, Kajal, Shweta and cab driver Vishu.

Plot: There are thirteen chapters divided into three parts. I like the drama on the first night of Sameer and Shagun’s marriage because that is portrayed beautifully. A scene in which Sameer compares two decades is fantabulous. I would like to note a quote in which Taufeeque tells Sameer that how girls end up a boy’s proposal, they say- “I have never thought about it. I thought we were friends. I consider you to be a very good friend of mine, you are such a nice guy and you will get a beautiful and nice girl.” An example of Rama hitting an arrow really inspires us to achieve our goal. Reference to other books is enough for readers to understand author’s knowledge in reading literature. Sameer indirectly appeals to donate to an orphanage; he says- “If you get some time, please visit an orphanage. When you look at the children there, your heart will be filled with an overwhelming sense of peace. You will wonder how life gives everything and will understand the art of appreciation better than before.”

Sameer comments on spam phone calls. Sameer’s dad points out the dark reality of corruption that how one needs to pay a bribe to officers for transferring a job. The book comments on girls’ makeup. Sameer indirectly remarks the reality that how conservative parents don’t appreciate and don’t accept inter-cast marriages of their sons and daughters.

Humor is the main aspect of this novel. In the beginning, funny pronunciations of English words by Sameer’s mom make us laugh out loud lol. Her diction like phoren (foreign), Amreeka (America) may seem like spelling mistakes, but those are intentionally misspelled by the author himself and he succeeded in creating humour from those funny pronunciations. A discussion about Delhi girls and special tips to impress sexy girls will make you go crazy. Sameer also comments on long queues in a humoric way. He indirectly comments on ladies’ show off. The first chapter is full of fun and humor.

After reading Sameer’s facebook status on his first Delhi visit, I remind my facebook status in my first Kota (Rajasthan) tour. I didn’t go to a parlour in metro-cities but Sameer’s experience in Anis Unisex Parlor Delhi felt me realistic. I relate myself with Sameer’s expectation from to be wife.

Like humor, satire is the soul of this novel. Author Sanjeev Ranjan or his characters don’t attack or criticize directly but they point out dark reality in the system and society through the combo of satire and humor. This novel also comments on security guards, south actors and ladies’ show off. Sameer comments on the day to day issue of the late arrival of Indian rail- “No train journey in India is fruitful until and unless it is late by a couple of hours. This is almost inevitable to mark as a subsidiary tribute to the legacy of Indian Railways, where time runs in a different dimension altogether.” He adds, “Nothing can ever be said absolutely about train journeys in India, at least until the train actually reaches the destination. Till then everything is musky.” The author doesn’t spare even a pillow in Indian rails from his satires. A scene inside the train is portrayed beautifully. Sameer’s satirical comments on arrange marriages are remarkable because of logic and reason. I would agree with Kajal’s statement that having a boyfriend (or girlfriend) is just a status symbol today.

Quotations:

“The one thing we can never get enough is love, and the one thing we never give enough is love.” – Henry Miller
“There is a great value in disaster because you can start all over again” – Thomas Edison
“I understood that whenever one faces a problem, one should look at the people who have lived a harder life than one and who have worked harder than one to get what one already has by luck and inheritance. And that will make one forget all of one’s problems.”
“Power of love is just the same as the power of innocence.”
“A relationship doesn’t work on candle light dinners but on trust, understanding and mutual affection.”
“I have always thought that a relationship requires care, patience, understandings and trust.”
“I understand that just like ‘these young people of today’ do not understand what elders say, ‘these grown-up parents’ will also not understand the logic of not wasting money on marriages.”
“Good boys get heaven and bad boys get women.”
“People who read, generally have a lot of time on their hands and they wouldn’t want to spend or waste time with a girlfriend doing all sort of thing.” (Correct in my case! razz)
Drawbacks:

Poor page quality
Italic fonts could have been used more properly.
Typing Errors: you (your), A (As), and Bhagnra (Bhangra) on page 18, 117 and 138 respectively. ‘you’ is missing in 2 interrogative sentences on page 55. ‘the’ and ‘that’ are repeated in a sentence on page 69 and 103 respectively. A punctuation mark (‘) is missing in the last line of the first paragraph on page 94. Closing inverted comma (’) is printed instead of beginning inverted comma (‘) on page 60.

A NOTE BY THE REVIEWER

"Just The Way You Are by Sanjeev Ranjan is a well-narrated novel. This novel keeps readers engaged with the plot and the story. This novel does not only make you laugh with its humor but also make you think on the dark reality in the system and society by criticizing with the use of satire.”

Rating: Just The Way You Are deserves 4/5 according to me, but I would give 0.25 as a bonus for the humor. So, I rate 4.25 on the scale of 5 stars to the novel Just The Way You Are. If you like humor, you must read this novel.

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Review: Life and Promises

Life and Promises by Ila Garg
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

COVER AND TITLE:
Life & Promises is an attractive title. The novel has a beautiful cover with a lovely color combination. Heart (<3) on the head of ‘i’ in Life & Promises is like a cherry on the cake. Anniversary Edition tag tells specialty of the third edition within a year. Yes, you read it right 3 editions within 12 months. That’s why the novel is ‘A National Bestseller’.

LANGUAGE AND WRITING STYLE: Language of ‘Life & Promises’ is lucid. Italic fonts are used in a proper way. English synonyms are mentioned in a bracket next to several Hindi words. The introduction of several terms from the medical field like Renal Angiography/Angioplasty, nephrologist, urologist,haematologists, clotting disorder and PT-INR (Prothrombin Time) shows author’s knowledge and research for a perfect storyline. First person narrative conversation style and wonderful dialogues keep readers engaged with the storyline. Flashback technique is used gracefully. Some scenes are titled by place and date which make us feel like reading a diary.

UNIQUE FEATURES: - ‘Life & Promises’ contain beautiful poems by Rachna Sheth. Her poems perfectly suit in certain situations. I liked the poem ‘She said- I said’ in chapter 4. Hindi poem by Abhishek Atul comments on the irony of life in the epilogue.

CHARACTERS: 'Life & Promises’ is a beautiful piece of wonderful characterization. Sketches of all the three protagonists Rachit Aggarwal, Khushi Gupta and Radhika Banerjee are sketched beautifully. Sketches of major characters is another unique feature of this novel. I always see such kind of experiments in Gargi’s books.

SETTING: The plot of ‘Life & Promises’ is developed at Apollo Hospital, Delhi where Rachit narrates his story to Khushi. The storyline is developed into 3 major cities Delhi, Chennai (Tamilnadu), and Kolkata (West Bengal). Laxmi Nagar and Parathe wali gali in Delhi is portrayed beautifully. I felt like visiting the location live while reading few scenes. Description of IIT Madras and East Coast Road (ECR) is amazing. The introduction of Kolkata and Kalighat temple is described in brief, but helpful for those who haven’t heard or read about the temple.

PLOT AND STORYLINE: Life and Promises contain 16 chapters alongwithprologue and epilogue. I like a comparison between two different education systems in the second chapter. Rachit’s sarcastic comments are just brilliant. He comments on children’s fear or hesitation to talk about physical changes, sexual problems and symptoms of any decease with their parents. He beautifully demonstrates the beauty of Radhika in the fifth chapter. I loved the romantic scene between both of them. Rachit’s room in boy’s hostel represents a typical room of a college student and take readers back in those happy days of college life. Authors elegantly maintain the generation gap by referring the use of Bluetooth and Infrared for data sharing in the current generation of advanced data sharing applications. They remark on college students’ variety of passion and hobbies from different states. Jay satirically compares booking railway ticket with a war. A scene in which Rachit’s friends from different states debate to claim Rajinikanth ‘our’ superstar is just amazing. I got new information from Rachitthat “prepaid numbers don’t work in Kashmir.” Eighth chapter ‘Chak de! India’ take us into flashback and recollects memories of so many real incidents like Chak De! India movie in 2007 and T20 Cricket World Cup 2007.

In the second half, Rachit introduces a course of CA. His reference to Coaching classes in Kota reminds my recent trip to Kota. He describes coaching life of CA aspirant in detailed. I would like to quote his words which relate to me and every unemployed friend of to be an engineer- “The worst part is to see your engineer friends getting a job in the 7th semester, getting a promotion, increments, making foreign trips and finally getting married.” lol!! Rachit’s speech delivered to CA aspirants is truly motivational and inspires me a lot. Four examples of his inspiration show Rachit’spassion and authors’ knowledge about cricket.

Radhika’s letter sent to hospitalized Rachit is very emotional with Radhika’s sentiments and touches to reader’s heart. Her notes written in her personal diary literally brought tears to my eyes. Her diary relates my own diary and remembers memories of my someone closed which I am going to rewrite soon, if I found some traditional publisher of Marathi novels then you shall read my debut novel soon in coming years. Khushi indirectly appeals not to compare our failure with other’s success. She appeals sensitive people- “Don’t let your emotions overrule your decisions. Just give yourself some time, talk to yourself and relax your mind. Do what you like. Something that you love to do and it will act like a stress-buster.” She tells Rachit that what does inner happiness mean!

A MINOR TYPING ERROR: This is the second novel in last 20 books I have read as a book reviewer where I didn’t find major drawbacks. (Now you don’t start counting my mistakes in this review, you will be tired by counting lol!) This novel is almost error-free but the only exception is a minor typing error on page 64 (which I am highlighting with strikethrough effect in next sentence)- “Arrey,you will the get the answers to all of our questions there.” Of course, we can ignore this minor print error but I have pointed out here for the correction in the next edition of ‘Life & Promises’.

REVIEWER’S COMMENT:

“Life & Promises by Pulkit Gupta and Ila Garg keep readers engaged with so many twists and turns in the story. Second half of the novel gives you goose bumps. The love story of Rachit and Radhika make readers laugh and cry at the same time. Rachit’s deep observation and sarcastic comments make us think on crisis in our surround. Khushi’s positive attitude towards life motivates me a lot. I already have mucked every page of the novel as my favourite. ‘Life & Promises’ is added into my alltimefavourite list of the romance genre. I am glad to share that ‘Life and Promises’ is recently published in Hindi by Petals Publishers. I wish author and publisher a huge success for LNP’s Hindi edition ‘Khwaeshein’.”

RATING on BookLysis:This novel deserves one of the highest ratings in my BookLysis and I would rate Life & Promises 4.75 on the scale of 5 stars. This is the second highest rated book on BookLysis.

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Review: Ensnared

Ensnared by Prashant Wase
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

'ENSNARED' BY PRASHANT WASE- A FANTASTIC HORROR-THRILLER!! (RATING: 4.4/5*)

Hello friends, I am back with one more BookLysis. Guess the genre of the book I am going to review here. Guess… guess…! Don’t know? Okay, let me reveal the suspense. I am not good at keeping suspense anyway! So, I am reviewing the novel ‘Ensnared’ by Prashant Wase. ‘Ensnared’ is the horror- thriller published by Authors Ink India. After ‘ The Pocket Love Story’by Ajitabha Bose, this is the second title by the publisher which I am going to review here. After reading ‘Khel–The Writings’ by Vishal Goswami,Ensnared by Prashant Wase is the second horror – thriller I am analyzing here-

About the Author

Prashant Wase (born on 1st September 1985) is an aspiring Novelist from Nagpur, Maharashtra, India. His previous novel “ It’s Complicated- An Uncommon love story of a common man” was published in 2013 by “Notion Press”, the book received very good response overall. Apart from writing, he is fond of watching thriller/horror movies. He has completed his higher education from Melbourne, Australia.

Cover and Title:- The cover of Ensnared is very soft and smooth like gauze, if you finger on the cover, you feel like fingering on silk. Black background, black shadow, gray, blue and red color combination perfectly suits to the horror thriller. A shadow image of a witch girl in the mirror, a shadow image of an another witch on the front cover and a black cat on the back cover make readers understand all the themes of the novel. Ink Studio deserves full marks for perfect cover design. One word title ‘Ensnared’ seems interesting and relates to the genre and themes of the novel.

Language and writing style:- Author Prashant Wase uses very lucid language, which is really easy to comprehend each and every page of the novel. Hindi words are highlighted with the proper use of italic fonts. Author Prashant Wase uses the flashback technique and narrative style to scribble the story from protagonist Neil to listener Prashant himself. Author’s fast pace grows curiosity among readers for flipping pages and going through the climax.

Haunted Locations:- The conversation between Prashant and Neil starts in London. The author takes us to Rajasthan trip when Neil shares his experience with wife Divya in Jaisalmer, Jantar Mantar, and Hawa Mahal in Jaipur, Jaigarh fort and City Palace in Rajasthan. The story of Ensnared runs through several cities like Lokhandwala (Mumbai), Pune, Kolhapur and Konkan in Maharashtra. The author beautifully portrays the background scene of Konkan, so readers feel like being on a Konkan tour. There are some glances of Maharashtra-Goa border and Gandhinagar (Gujarat) as well.

Themes:- The novel Ensnared by Prashant Wase covers various themes like friendship, love, betrayal, crime, superstition, invisible negative power, psychology, science, thrill, and horror.

Characterization:- Author Prashant Wase introduces each and every character pretty well. I figured out 13 characters in the first half and 24 characters in the second half. So I can count 37 characters in the novel. However, I have ignored some very minor characters. It seems that author has portrayed each and every character keeping a presence in mind. He correctly scribbles Bengali accent in the name of Bengali character Pronita.

A businessman Neil Mehta is the protagonist in the novel. He shares the story of past life’s strange happening around him and his wife Divya with his friend author Prashant Wase in the novel.

There are so many other characters in the novel, but if you want to meet them, you will have to be ensnared in their trap like me. HaHaHa! (This isn’t a smiley smile , this is witch’s laugh evil ).

Plot:- Ensnared’s plot is constructed into two halves (Part I and Part II) like a film script. Part I contains 14 short chapters scribbled in 49 pages meanwhile Part II contains 9 long chapters (compare to the part-I) in 68 pages. Like a Bollywood movie, both parts are separated with ‘INTERMISSION’ page which makes the book more interesting and somewhat unique.

Author Prashant Wase’s beginning of ‘Prologue’ reminds me the prologue of a national bestseller ‘ The 3 Mistakes of My Life’ by Chetan Bhagat where protagonist Govind asks an author to scribble his story in the next novel. However, I don’t intend here to compare both authors. Please don’t get my observation in a wrong way. The conversation between Prashant and Neil makes us believe that Neil’s story might be true.

The novel ‘Ensnared’ points out superstitions like Aghori Vidya (black magic) by Aghori Sadhus. The novel reveals the difference between Traditional-Tantra and Neo-Tantra- “In Traditional Tantra the guru is the ultimate authority and is treated with utmost respect. In Neo-Tantra utmost importance is given to sex.” A character Ramlal explains Neo-Tantra- “Neo-Tantra brings sex into the light, making the practitioner more sexually aware. It gives you the opportunity to expand your limits of pleasure, to try new positions and techniques, and to delve deeper into intimacy. It helps you to have better, fuller orgasm and deeper, more meaningful communication in the bedroom. By bettering the quality of your intimate relationships, you better yourself, your partner, and those around you. Not to mention, every aspect of your life is bound to benefit when you achieve a great sense of peace, balance, and harmony with the world.”

In the prologue, author sarcastically comments on the same negative news of politics, accidents, and corruption in newspapers. I would like to note a quote by Pronita, “People (with negative energy) don’t love anyone. They desire lust and sex and when they cannot achieve this on their own, they transfer their negative energy in doing wicked spells, curses or even black magic.” Protagonist Neil remarks the serious reality in India that how bribe stops legal procedures. Inspector Prabhakar’s assistant police Vijay ironically comments on the dark reality of average salaried policeman (any government servant’s) financial crisis, “An average salaried policeman doesn’t have enough money to save his wife from cancer. We are saviors for others, but we can’t save the people who belong to us.”

Protagonist Neil warns readers that how the first attempt of smoke for fun turns into a bad habit, it means he indirectly message readers not to smoke. When Neil takes an appointment with a psychiatrist for his wife Divya, he indirectly appeals people not to ignore the abnormal behavior of their loved ones and to consult a psychiatrist for patient’s better mental health. I would like to mention the quote of tarot card reader Pronita here where she tells the importance of laughter therapy, “Laughter really is the best medicine because you can use it quite effectively against any type of curse. When you feel the effects of the curse around you, think of something funny and laugh. Focus entirely on a funny video or book and see how it makes you feel.”

I felt Goosebumps and thrill while reading brutality in chapter 13. The first part ends with a hint of something unexpected, unpredictable and more deadly incidents in Divya and Neil’s future life. Neil, Divya, and their friends experience after being trapped/ensnared by Chhalava in a jungle in the dead of the night really entertains me! Unpredictable climax thrills us with so many shocks when suspense gets reveals in an unpredictable way with more twists and turns.

Quote:- “We make unnecessary comparison with others and become sad. We don’t value what god has given us. This all leads to the vicious cycle of unhappiness. Learn to be happy in what you have instead of looking at what you don’t have. There will always be someone who will have more or less than you have. Person who is satisfied with what he/she has, is the happiest person in the world.”- Prashant Wase

Minor Drawbacks:-
1.Typing Errors:- Prashant is misprinted instead of Neil in the last paragraph on page no.2 but is was corrected by pen (in handwriting) in my review copy from the author. But your copy may have this error as it is. Neil is misspelled as Neal on page no. 46 and 47. A Comma is missing in the last line of page 51. Poorab’s character is spelled as Purab as well as Poorab, though both are correct; I think anyone spelling had to be continued because two different spellings confuse readers to think both are different characters with the same name. An author uses doctor’s abbreviation doc., I know it is correct but I believe that abbreviations should have been avoided in the piece of literature.
2.Binding of the book could have been better because current binding seems cheap a bit.

Blurb of Ensnared:-

Neil and Divya are the perfect couple with a perfect life until they are not. They fall prey to strange happenings around them. It doesn’t just stop there; along with them, their family and friends experience the unspeakable. What is the secret behind their tragic fates? Will they survive this haunting?

Prepare to taste the dark side of Tantra and find out the answers for yourself. Feel the chill for yourself. Get ensnared.

Reviewer’s opinion:-

“Ensnared is the fantastic horror-thriller which shocks readers with non-stop twists, turns, thrills and suspense. The novel haunts readers and sometimes make them feel goosebumps with horror. As the protagonist, Neil says to Prashant, “To make a film we need a perfect script.” I would like to note that, “Without any doubt, this is indeed a readymade script of to be a blockbuster movie.” This book is a perfect entertainment piece for the lovers of horror. If you are interested in haunting yourself with entertainment, you must read Ensnared by Prashant Wase. I would rate this novel 4.4/5*.”

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Review: Yama

Yama by Kevin Missal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book Review of Yama by Kevin Missal; A perfect mythological thriller (Rating: 4*/5)

I have finished reading the second book published by 'Half Baked Beans' publishing. The first book was ' A Minute To Death' by Ganga Bharani and today, I am going to analyze another book titled ‘YAMA’ by Kevin Missal. Co-incidence about both the books is both titles belong to a thriller.

BookLysis of YAMA by Kevin Missal

Cover and Title:-
YAMA is a familiar name from Hindu mythology so the title seems devotional as well as mysterious. Book cover of the novel looks attractive and grows curiosity among readers to pick the book. One can notice the huge portrait of a dark man with red eye. Blood spots can be noticed on the body of huge portrait and horns can be seen behind the huge portrait, so the portrait looks like a replica or imagery of Yama (God of Death). On the bottom of front cover; shadow image of a human being is portrayed who represents the protagonist. On the background; moon and shadow image of trees represents the night scene. Picture of buildings having big towers and street-lamps represent any metro city. Assassinated dead body’s blood can be noticed on the road. Overall Yama has a beautiful book cover designed by Manoj Nath, which hints towards the thriller.

Setting:- The story of YAMA runs around several locations like Gurgaon, Noida, Delhi, and Mumbai. The story has a background set in Srinagar. The whole story runs to find the Hell (Narak) for victim’s sins.

Language and Writing Style:- The language of YAMA is lucid. Italic fonts are used to highlight few Hindi words like Narak, suhaagraat, dahej and lafanga etc. But I feel that italic fonts could have been used better. I felt the font size small a bit. Author Kevin Missal uses some uncommon words which confused me as typos but later added to my vocabulary. He scribbles all characters’ proper movements. Few scenes are portrayed gracefully. Kevin uses a narrative technique to scribble the story into past tense. The author uses some phrases like ‘coos of pigeons’ and ‘hoots of the owl’. Another phrase ‘silent crier’ reminds me and accurately suits to my own character (Hehehe!).

Characters:- There are three protagonists, five victims and more than eight minor characters in the novel.
1.Yama:- There are 2 character sketches of the character YAMA. Yama is referred as the God of Death according to Hindu mythology. But here in the novel, Yama plays a character of a violent saint who is a suspected psychopath. He treats himself a messiah entitled to kill sinners, bad persons, and criminals. His character commemorates me the protagonist Shahenshah (Amitabh Bachchan) and Gabbar (Akshay Kumar) from Bollywood movies ‘Shahenshah’ and ‘Gabbar Is Back’ respectively. I don’t claim that it is copied, but I felt Yama’s philosophy of punishment inspired from the protagonist Anniyan (Vikram) in Tamil psychological thriller movie ‘Anniyan’ which was further dubbed and released as ‘Aparichit’ in Hindi.
2.Iravan Rajput: Iravan Rajput is a second protagonist in the novel who plays a character of a delusional hero. He belongs to an Ex-Black Cat Commando (Fauji). He receives a time frame with the name of Yama’s targets to find their sins and save them from Yama’s punishments.
3.Swati Kaushik:- Author portrays Swati’s character as a widow and an ambitious news reporter.

Plot:- The story and plot of YAMA are constructed into 90 (actually 87) short chapters in 167 pages.
Chapter one begins with a familiar portrayal of the God of Death YAMA. Author gracefully describes Iravan’s psychotherapy session by psychiatrist Dr. Tapaswa Gandhi. Iravan also mentions his wife Rutvi Rajpoot’s disease schizophrenia. The author describes the shootout scene in brief which could have more thriller. The author portrays some crime scenes which seems familiar as we watch and experience daily in crime shows on a television set. A serial killer Raghu (Psycho) Yadav’s entry thrills reader in the fourteenth chapter. I like the conversation between Iravan and his nephew Vardhaan Sippy where Vardhaan asks his uncle Iravan to ask him a ‘right’ question. Journalist Swati’s interrogation by ACP Surya seems realistic. Dr. Tapaswa Gandhi tells different psychology disease like schizophrenia, bipolar, depression and the usual sort to Swati Kaushik. Swati’s interaction with a patient of depression named Samar Anand in Dr. Tapaswa Gandhi’s clinic seems interesting.

Social Plot: Author negatively refers ‘letters’ as an outdated service in the current era of an advanced technology. I agree that postal service is being used on rare occasions these days. But I personally think that Indian postal service needs to be promoted by authors in their literature instead of such negative comments to save this oldest telecommunication service in the period of an advanced technology. A character Tapaswa Gandhi comments on the people’s mindset and a reality of bribe in India- “People want to get rid of the bribing thing in this country, but when it comes to their getting favors they always want to hop back”. The author also refers ‘Gulabi Gang’ in the book. Author gives indirect message not to believe in superstitions and explains the scientific reason of one act- “Its science. The killer made invisible ink with the help of lemon and water. You can make your message invisible by just writing it with the cotton bud that was dipped in the mixture of water and lemon. Lemon is an organic substance that oxidizes and turns brown when heated but when it is dipped in water, it changes its rhythm.” Author comments on Indian Army (faujis’) aloofness from their family for a long time. A bit negative picture of a soldier doesn’t feel fair to me. Author comments on corruption in the government system. Swati’s offer to her friend Arjun to spend a night together being a media person seems controversial. I saw some controversial statements in the novel. Thank God! That authors do not need a censor certificate like movies from censor board of India; otherwise, many controversial scenes would have been suggested to cut like Anurag Kashyap’s movie Udta Punjab! LOL! Jokes a part! The author remarks to the fact that how hooligans, criminals, and addicts can be seen behind schools, colleges, factories and other desolate areas. I like a conversation between Tara Rajpoot and her father Iravan Rajpoot where she gets angry for offering dowry to her to be in-laws by her father. I think girls and women need to raise a voice against dowry in practical life. Tara and Iravan’s another conversation says a lot about a negative impact of parents’ (father’s) absence/ignorance in children’s (daughter’s) life.

Author comments on escort’s financial crisis and unwanted need to do such disrespected business. A character Pinky narrates about a physical torture of prostitutes. Though the narration is a hyperbole, reality is not very good. Kabeer’s description of Kotha (bordello’s) scenario seems realistic. I never visited such places, and I am sure that many of you wouldn’t have gone there. So you must read the description. I felt the scenario real because although I haven’t experienced, I have passed through red light areas so many times by bus and sometimes on my foot in Itwari, Nagpur. Hence I have sensed the wretched reality of prostitutes in bordellos.

Author Kevin Missal elegantly refers real two incidents like 2012 brutal Delhi gang rape case; he also remarks an impact of Gujarat riots. Author also scribbles few sarcastic comments through characters in the novel. ACP Surya’s comments on journalists is an ironic reality in India. Author comments on a charlatan like a character Guru Shiv. He also comments on politicians and police for protecting charlatans and hypocrisy. Yama’s quotation from the novel- “I don’t blame the authorities. There will be a day when our authorities will be righteous enough to punish criminals rather than freeing them. But for now, my authority is the supreme authority.” is a satire on the judicial system in India. The author gives an indirect message that a human being does not entitle to kill another human being, it doesn’t matter that how bad circumstance is because a human being can not be a God of Death YAMA. He informs that “knowing about the murders and not reporting them is also a crime.”

Mythological Plot: It seems that author Kevin Missal has researched a lot about different and primarily Hindu mythology. He narrates the philosophy of ‘hell’ according to Christianity mythology- “There are too many mythologies consisting different hells, especially Christianity. In ‘Dante’s Inferno’, it is said there were nine hells and in the end, there’s the devil. Every hell consisted of a certain punishment to a certain sinner.” Chapter Seventeen make bore in the beginning but turns interesting when ‘hell’ is defined from ‘ Percy Jackson’- “Hell is derived from the word helle. Every culture, a mythology has an overload, like for instance the one who holds it tightly. In Greek mythology, the hell is known as Tartarus… and it’s controlled by Hades.” “There’s Nergal in Mesopotamian mythology. In Norse, hel is a being who presides over hel. Osiris in Egyptian mythology.” The author defines sins- “Sins are the bad deeds we perform, and every sin has a punishment.” The author introduces Yama (The God of Death)- “Like every mythology, we (Hindu Mythology) also have one. He’s called Yama. He has a lot of Yamdoots, as well, who are his messengers. His hell is known as Narak.” Author Kevin Missal scribbles about different hells described in various scriptures from Hindu Mythology. “In Agni Purana, it mentions four hells. In Manusmriti, its twenty one hells. And in Bhagvat Gita, it has twenty eight hells.” He defines a hell ‘Tamisra’- “Tamisra. It’s a hell for those who grab another’s wealth, wife and children.” In Chapter twenty-three, author writes- “PRANARODHA- Wanton killing of animals. Yama play plays archery sport with this sinner.” Author clears the confusion between Maharaurava and Sarameyadana- “Maharaurava was for the sinner, who inflicted pain on others. And Sarameyadana was for the sinner, who used his wealth and pride for wrong reasons; you know to plunge other people in fires and destruction. Now, Maharaurava hell with sinners will be eaten by ferocious animals called Rurus and Sarameyadana with seven hundred and twenty ferocious dogs, the sons of Sarama, will eat his flesh.” The author defines ‘Andhakupa’ and ‘Ayahpana’ - “Andhakupa is the hell where such people are attacked by birds and insects and all sorts of reptiles.” And “Ayahpana is a narak where alcoholics go, the ones who give up everything to nasha.” He also tells about one more hell-“Asipatravana is a hell reserved for a person who digresses from the religious teachings of the Vedas and practices heresy.”

Drawbacks in the novel:
1.Missing 3 chapters: There are total 90 chapters in the book. Though the 90 is too much, I don’t mean that a book can not have chapters in such large numbers. But the drawback in those 90 chapters is, 3 chapters (chapter 58, 65 and 77) are missing in the book. When I checked missing pages, I found correct page numbers; which clears that there are only 87 chapters in the book, but editors have mistaken in typing chapters according to their correct order. You may call it a minor print mistake, but it is a major drawback in my opinion because this mistake is repeated 3 times and it is about chapter’s title.
2.Typing Errors: I found minor typos which had to be corrected as mentioned in the bracket- I (It), ram (ran) and Sanjavan (Sanjayvan) on page numbers 21, 22, and 60. I found some punctuation marks missing in the novel.

About the Author

Kevin Solomon Missal is studying History Hon. In St. Stephen’s College. He loves to write plays, books, reviews, watch television shows, classic movies and has a knack for thrillers. He has written two books (Damien Black- The battle of Lost Ages and Unlocked), with the second one(Unlocked), being number one best seller on Amazon Christian Fiction.

Blurb

What will you do if you have 24 hours to save someone?
A VIOLENT SAINT…
A man who claims he is Yama, is punishing sinners by killing them according to the twenty eight hells described in the Bhagavat Gita. Who is he? What does he want? Is he a vigilante or a psychopath?
A DELUSIONAL HERO…
Iravan Rajpoot, an Ex-Black Cat Commando with a dark past is receiving letters with names and time limits. It’s no sooner that he learns about the intended victims than they die within the mentioned time frame
AN AMBITIOUS REPORTER
Swati Kaushik, a widow and a woman who can do anything for success, must team up with Iravan to stop the god of Death and Justice

Reviewer’s Verdict:

“The novel Yama by Kevin Missal keeps readers engaged until the end with a lot of twists and turns which surprise and sometimes shock readers. Short chapters and author’s fast pace of narration maintains the curiosity to flip pages and finish the book in one seating, so a reader doesn’t wish to put the book down. Overall, Yama by Kevin Missal is the well-researched mythological thriller filled with action and a lot of suspense until the climax. I would recommend this book to all history and mythology lovers. I would rate the novel Yama by Kevin Missal 4 out of 5 stars.”

Title: YAMA
Author: Kevin Missal
Publisher: Chetan Soni (Half Baked Beans Literature Publishing)
First published by Half Baked Beans in 2016
Copyright © Kevin Missal 2016
Cover Design: Manoj Nath
Language: English
Typeset in Utopia 9.50 pt at De Unique
Binding: Paperback (in India by De Unique)
Genre: Fiction (Thriller)
ISBN: 978-93-84315-245
ASIN: B01C2YB5SW
Pages: 182 (including cover)
Price: Rs. 175
My rating: 4*/5
Reviewed by: ©Rajesh D. Hajare (RDH)
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Review: KLASS - A Man Is Lifeless Without A Passion In His Life!

KLASS - A Man Is Lifeless Without A Passion In His Life! by Prita Yadav
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My Analysis of the novel KLASS by Prita Yadav: 3 Stars Rating

KLASS by Prita Yadav was waiting for its turn to be read by me from my bookshelf since 13th Nov. 2015. Finally, I have read this book in this month, Before starting the analysis of KLASS. I apologize to the author for the delay and thank her for the patience.

COVER AND THE TITLE:-

The title KLASS is familiar to us as it sounds like CLASS but it’s not CLASS, it is KLASS so the novel becomes interesting from its title. The title is mentioned everywhere in capital fonts so obviously one can guess that KLASS is an acronym of something. Full form of KLASS reveals in the very first chapter. The title KLASS carries a meaningful subtitle “A Man Is Lifeless Without A Passion In His Life!” Book carries a beautiful cover. Book cover has green shades with full of nature, trees, and garden.

SETTING- The story of KLASS runs around Pune and nearby locations like Lonavla and Shinhagad. Kanchansingh’s life has a background of Kolhapur, Mumbai, and Uttar Pradesh.

LANGUAGE AND WRITING PASSION- Author Prita Yadav uses lucid language with the use of some splendid new words. Grammar is properly used until the end. Prita uses third person narrative technique and narrates the story in past tense so each chapter feels like a unique story. Use of phrases like ‘twenty-nine pair of curious eyes’ shows author’s passion and imagination for writing. Author gracefully scribbles all kind of expressions by each and every character. However over description of some unnecessary scenes make readers bore at several moments.

THEMES- The novel KLASS is based on different themes like Friendship, Love, Romance, Flirt, Sports and mainly a Passion.

PASSIONATE CHARACTERS- Author Prita Yadav has beautifully portrayed all characters. Readers meet so many characters in the novel. Jolene Jordan aka ‘Jo’ is the protagonist. Rino is the mother of Jo. Kelvin Jordan is Jo’s father. The author portrays Tejaswee Gupta (Teju) as a best friend of Jo. Two Khan sisters Zara and Aafrin are sketched in a contrasting way. Tanuja Singh is portrayed as a clever student in KLASS. Mr. Kanchan Singhs’s character is very motivational. He is the Director of KLASS, Nikhil Chavan (Nik), Ankit Patel, Shumi, Sunny and Jogeshwar (Jogesh) are friends of Jo, Teju, Shirin Shaikh and others. Ankit’s character is portrayed as a flirt with a pure heart (hahaha!). Bharat Sharma and Zara Khan are portrayed as brilliant students in sports. Rashmi Sonawane aka Sonawane ma’am’s character is described beautifully. I liked the way she and Jo’s uncle Angus Jordan care for Jolene. Mrs. Ashwini Marian is sketched as the strict principal of KLASS. Ashwini Marian’s son Dennis’ character is sketched as a disobedient student. Readers meet some other minor characters like Somesh Advani, Scollie, Dalia Sen, Dr. Palteru, Dagad ma’am, Agrawal ma’am, Patil ma’am, Bedi ma’am, Jerry, Mr. Abraham Marian, Mrs. Rose Yadav and Mr. Vivek Gupta etcetera.

PLOT- Story of KLASS begins with an introduction of XI A in KLASS. I like the first interaction between Jo and her class teacher Sonawane Ma’am. Timetable and a whole first scene from fourth chapter take us in past into our childhood and reminds our school days. The interaction between ‘Jo and Teju’ touches our heart. The second scene in seventh chapter feels us like watching a live India vs Australia cricket match. I literally laughed while reading a naughty trick when Jo places magnets under the iron table and teacher throws her out of the class. Tanuja and Teju’s passion for numbers (Maths) remind me my friend Tarendra, whose name is again coincidentally starts with alphabet ‘T’ as Tanuja and Teju. I look myself in Jo when she reminds nothing except useless Pythagoras theorem (a^2+b^2=c^2) in Maths test (hehe!) Author Prita Yadav gives an indirect message to ‘Save plants and Trees’. Jo’s answer in history class grows your knowledge of history. The second scene is one of my favorite where ‘Angus Jordan tells his story’. Author Prita has interviewed the chemistry between Jo, Ankit and Aafrin in an amazing way. The scene of ‘Mixed football match’ is scribbled very well so the scene looks like a live football match.

Jo’s conversation on a ‘Skype call with Angus’ touches to my heart and reminds me someone close. Sinhagad trip comes with so many twists and turns in the story and thrills us with goosebumps! Mr. Kanchan Singh Yadav’s interview by Teju and Jo is truly motivational. The journey of KLASS comes to the climax in ‘Summer Vacations’. Farewell scene reminds me my last day (farewell) of DTEd. I personally think that author Prita Yadav had to add Epilogue and share the story after farewell, but epilogue is missing in the novel.

CLASSIC QUOTES:-

1.“Determination, dedication and devotion will definitely help you to fulfill all your dreams. Don’t dare to dream if you don’t have the prowess to fulfill your dream.”
2.“Time and tide waits for none.”
3.“Learn to value what you have, rather than cribbing about what you don’t.”
4.“You need to start wearing bright colors, maybe that would always keep you in a cheerful mood and you may smile more often.”

DRAWBACKS:- KLASS has so many typing/printing errors. The surname of Jogeshwar Rao is printed as Roa on page no. 20. Other misspelled words are you (your), way (was), SPOCS (SPOCs), herded (heard), twelth (twelfth), dairy (diary), couch (coach) and rerurning (returning) on page numbers 35, 60, 241, 260, 280, 298, 301 and 303 respectively. 1 is used for I next to the roman numbers XI and XII (i.e. X1 and X11). Punctuation marks are missing at the end of so many sentences. Use of italic font could have been much better. Font size of content is also small a bit. Bright white page quality is a unique and plus point of this novel; however, some words have fainted.

REVIEWER’S VERDICT:

“KLASS by Prita Yadav is a novel which comments on a friendship between Jo and Teju. The book focuses on the life of a fortunate girl Jo and tells that how twists and turns change her life. The book shows contrast behavior of friends and a father and reminds your school/college days. I feel the story stretched to 312 pages so it feels boring at some points. So, I personally think that story of KLASS could have been finished within 250 pages. I felt the book average, thus I would rate 3 out of 5 stars to KLASS- A Man Is Lifeless Without A Passion In His Life, by Prita Yadav. Still, I would recommend this book to all who are passionate about sports and life...”

BLURB OF ‘KLASS’-

Jolene Jordan has been forced to join KLASS by her father and she dislikes the fact that she has to toe his line. She makes up her mind to be extremely rude, disobey the teachers and break all rules; so that she would be expelled from school and father would be humiliated. For some time Jo is the ‘Mind your own business’ girl and the bottom performer in her class until a sudden unfortunate twist in her life makes the girl change over a new leaf. The story revolves around Jo’s whirlwind journey through KLASS, her dilemma to choose a game as her MAJOR, her resolve to get thrown out of KLASS as a rebuke to her father and her struggle to overpower her nation to be friend with anyone at KLASS.

About the Author

Born and brought up in Pune, Prita Yadav is extremely passionate about sports, especially hockey. She has represented Maharashtra state in hockey and is currently part of a women’s hockey club. She developed an interest for reading books at very young age and was especially fascinated by the ones from the fiction genre. The fond memories for her alma mater, plus the zeal to master as many sports as she can, motivated her to write this book on a sports school.

Book Cover of KLASS by Prita Yadav

Title- KLASS
Subtitle- A Man Is Lifeless Without A Passion In His Life!
Author- Prita Yadav
Copyright- © 2014 Prita yadav
Publisher- White Falcon Publishing (Self-published by the author)
Language- English
Genre- Fiction
Pages- 312 (excluding cover)
ISBN 978-1-63415-137-5
Price- Rs.180 (inclusive all taxes)
Rating- 3/5
Reviewed by- Rajesh D. Hajare (RDH)

DISCLAIMER:

1.This is not a paid review.
2.This is my personal opinion about the book KLASS by Prita Yadav, and your views may be vary.
3.Author signed review copy of the novel KLASS was sent to me by the author Prita Yadav.
4.Quotes from the KLASS are used in this review with the written permission of the author Prita Yadav.
5.©All rights reserved | No parts of this review can be re-published (except author) without permission of the reviewer RDH Sir.

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Review: Love Story? Seriously!

Love Story? Seriously! by Shivi Pandey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

BookLysis of Love Story? Seriously! By Shivi Pandey (My Rating: ***½/5)

I have finished reading the second title published by Petals Publishers. The first book I read by same publishers was Heart of Bullets by Nikhil Kushwaha. Today I am sharing my
BookLysis of Love Story? Seriously! by Shivi Pandey.

BOOKLYSIS of Love Story? Seriously! By Shivi Pandey

COVER AND TITLE: Love Story? Seriously! is the catchy title in itself. The use of question mark and exclamation mark create curiosity among readers. A man is covering his face with his both hands who is looking desperate on the front cover. Back of a couple sitting near trees can be seen on the front cover. The book title is printed at the center of the cover. ‘L’ of ‘Love’ looks like slept ‘T’, ‘O’ in ‘story’ represents broken heart. Opening end of ‘S’ in the ‘Seriously’ looks like a mouth of a black snake. Grey, Red, Black and White colour combination of front cover perfectly attract readers and gives the hint of different themes like friendship, attraction, love, betrayal, one-sided-love and humour. Overall Jimmyeric Films & Media designed one more perfect cover.

SETTING: This Love story seriously runs across Kurseong, West Bengal, Delhi, Noida, and Tirrupur. Author Shivi Pandey describes brief but enough historical background of Meenakshi temple, Madurai, and the city Coimbatore.

LANGUAGE AND WRITING STYLE: Author uses quite a difficult language in the novel. Use of capital fonts does not seem good to stress words as compared to italic fonts. Author’s language Bengali’s impressions appear in his writing. Author Shivi Pandey uses first person narrative technique but it feels like reading a diary. Author elegantly avoids bold words like f**k or hell replacing dots which shows character’s frustration and anger. I see my own writing style in one to one conversation held in the novel by the young author Shivi Pandey. I like author’s imagination in one scene where he writes H I J K L M N O to mention the formula H2O.

CHARACTERISATION: Author Shivi Pandey portrays Samar Singh as the protagonist whose love story it is. The story reaches to readers through Samar’s point of view. Sayan aka Sam’s character is gracefully sketched as Samar’s friend. Samriddhi Dwivedi and Surbhi are two female protagonists in the novel. Shivi introduces Kajal as a beautiful Nepali girl. Readers meet some other characters like Rahul, Jyoti, Sapna Pradhan, Ujjwal, Miss Deepa Roy, Shekhar Tiwary, Aniket, Anup Saha, Amit Soni, Shrija and Aadhya etc while going through this love story.

PLOT: Samar’s love story begins in Kurseong where readers get some glimpses of students’ boarding life. The beginning of the first chapter bored me but it turns interesting with Samar’s humoric comments on girls and Rahul’s look. I feel fourth chapter boring again because the chapter is stretched. The scene of question paper stealing reminds me the same scene from the novel Heart of Bullets though my intention to compare both books here is not at all. The author remarks his comment on cheating in board examinations. He also remarks his sarcastic comment on educated peoples who take medicines without doctor’s prescription. ‘Freshers’ is my one of the most favorite chapters from the novel. The ending of the ninth chapter ‘Mad For You… come have a look’ touches to my heart. I like Samar’s comment on arrange marriages. The author beautifully scribbles the intimacy scene. However, I don’t understand the logic and need behind author’s experiment/theory to prove the connection of the word ASS with the names of Samar’s friends Anup Saha and Amit Soni. I don’t have any intention to extinguish Shivi Pandey or any other author from making experiments in the novel. Unique experiments are welcomed in the literature but authors should understand what kind of experiments have to be done. Humour ke liye kuchh bhi nahi chalta. The author has done one more experiment in the twelfth chapter where he relates Samar’s life events to the numerology and I would really applaud for this.

QUOTES:
1.“Past is the most gifted possession, it is something not to relent upon but to be looked upon as a process to success.”
2.“Love doesn’t come your way, you have to reach for it and even if it does, in whatever form you have to accept it.”
3.“After every worst time there comes good time and after every great time there’s a worst.”

HEART BREAKING CRITICISM: After reading two titles by Petals Publishers, I have come to one conclusion- Petals is the well-known and prestigious publisher in the industry of Hindi and English books publishing, but their editors and as a publisher Petals itself needs more hard work, put a lot of efforts and be careful to make their titles error free. I would like to note some simple printing errors from the book which could have been avoided for the improvement of the book- Rememberd (Remembered), Divedi (Dwivedi), and planed (planned) on page numbers 75, 79, and 133. After an introduction of Aadhya’s character, her name is misprinted everywhere in the whole book. Further so many punctuation marks are missing in the novel. Some words faint in the book. Though the price Rs.175/- is not too much, it becomes expensive a bit for the book having major drawbacks like this.

REVIEWER’S VERDICT: “After reading the novel, a first thought appeared in my mind was, is it a Love Story? Seriously! Aisi koi love story rehti hai? You too might have asked same question. And my answer is- No! This is not a typical love story we read everyday because this is somewhat unique, a fresh love story with humour and lot of experiments by the author Shivi Pandey. Some scenes relate to my own past life and reminds my someone close while reading the novel. Though 168 pages are not too much I feel the story stretched by the author and I think the novel could have been much better if author Shivi Pandey would have escaped some unnecessary experiments. Otherwise, Love Story? Seriously! is the good choice for one-time reading.”
I would have given more rating for the beautiful plot by the author but due to the bad editing of the book, I would give 3.5 out of 5 stars to the Love Story? Seriously! by Shivi Pandey.

Disclaimer:
The Signed Paperback copy of Love Story? Seriously! was sent to me by the author Shivi Pandey for an honest Booklysis.
This is Reviewer’s personal opinion about the book Love Story? Seriously! by Shivi Pandey and your views may be vary.

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Review: Falling In Love...

Falling In Love... by Neeraj Mishra
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Let’s ‘FALL(ING) IN LOVE’ with the debut novel by Neeraj Mishra (Book Rating: 3.9*/5)

Did you ever fall in love? Doesn’t matter whether your answer is Yes or No. But if you have fallen in love, or even if you haven’t; let us Fall(ing) In Love… Yes! Falling In Love… This is the title of the debut novel by Neeraj Mishra which I am going to review

Catchy Cover and the Lovely Title:

Cover in Red colour perfectly suits to the romantic genre of Falling In Love… One can see a girl holding her boyfriend’s hand. ‘In’ in ‘Falling In Love…’ is printed into a shape of a heart which looks like a cherry on the cake. Overall Rashmita Jha has designed an attractive cover.

Setting- Story of Falling In Love… runs through several locations like Patna, Rajgir (100 km far from Patna) from Bihar, author beautifully illustrates the metro city Bangalore. The story has a foreign touch of Bahamas in North America.

Themes- The novel Falling In Love… by Neeraj Mishra covers various themes like romanticism, comedy, love and e-love etc.

Language and Writing Style- Author Neeraj Mishra uses very simple and lucid language so one does not need a dictionary. He even wins my heart in his ‘Two Words’ in the beginning of the book. Editors have formatted italic fonts in a proper way but I think italic fonts could have been much better. “Naanu ninna preethi suthene.” Confused? No! I didn’t abuse you. This is the Kannada translation of English phrase ‘I love you’. So author also uses some regional phrases and words. Beginning chapters of Falling in love… are written in a diary style without mentioning dates. All the chapters are narrated in a fast pace so a reader doesn’t feel bored while reading. The author uses first person and past tense to narrate the story and this technique works fantastic.

Characters- Manav Goswami and Sriti Agarwal are the protagonists in this story of Falling In Love… Vikas Nandan and Ashish are super seniors of Manav. Mr. Subramanyam and Chef Chatterjee represent Manav’s college as the director and first-year teacher for kitchen training respectively. Sriti’s best friend Pooja aka dashing_poo’s character is portrayed beautifully. I am really impressed with the character of Sriti’s father Ghanshyam Das Agarwal- a businessman of plywood and timber at Agarwal Timbers Pvt. Ltd. Sriti’s mother Laxmi’s character represents typical housewife. The author also introduces about Sriti’s brothers Aditya Agarwal and Adarsh Agarwal. Mr. Suri’s character is also sketched gracefully. I liked all the characters portrayed in Falling In Love. But I really missed one character. Author Neeraj Mishra talks about Manav’s father in beginning, but a name of his father and description about Manav’s family is missing in the whole book. So I would have liked more if the author would have described Manav’s parents as he influenced on Sriti’s family.

Lovely Plot:
First chapter ‘Welcome to Bangalore’ begins with Manav’s admission to college and introduction about his college rules and regulations. Beginning of ‘Falling in Love…’ commemorates me the beginning of You are the Best Wife by [authior:Ajay K Pandey] as both love stories start with the college admission. Cute_Manav and sriti.agarwal’s chatting is just realistic as we do nowadays in our own life in the virtual world of the internet in the second chapter ‘And She Came Online...’ First chatting scene between Cute_Manav and sriti.agarwal in the third chapter ‘The New Approach’ is really funny. I would like to mention Sriti’s definition of Dumbo “Dumbo means you! The person who has little malfunction on upper floor is called dumbo.” Manav’s theory of difference between chatting and talking is really logical and brilliant, I won’t wonder if prestigious dictionary like Oxford approves his theory of difference chatting and talking; “Let me tell you the difference between chatting and talking! See, when you think something in your mind and you want to express it to another person then with use of hands you type on the keyboard and your message travels via computer’s binary language to the other person and the person receives your message and then responds to your message via the same procedure! This time consuming utterly slow paced conversation is called chatting while vide hearing the voice over telephone or mobile instrument or face to face is called talking where the conversation is fast paced and filled with real emotions!” Author comments on friends who poke their nose in every matter of friends and interferes in their life. Manav and Sriti’s first chat in the fourth chapter ‘From Online To Offline!’ on love and other funny topics reminds me my chat with my FRIENDS. Fifth chapter ‘Listening to Her’ touches to my heart and let me back in the memory of my someone close. The ending of this and eighth chapter made my cry literally. Sixth chapter ‘The Rendezvous’ brings so many twists in a relationship between Manav and Sriti. Author comments on girls’ modern dressing fashion in the seventh chapter ‘New Beginning.’ Manav’s experience of a ride on Sriti’s scooty commemorates me my own experience of a ride in the back seat of my best friend’s scooty (heheheJ!!! Oye Hello! Dirty minds, didn’t I write FRIEND??). Sriti’s birthday event and Manav’s ‘zid’ to wish her is described beautifully in chapter eighth ‘Her Birthday…’ Author comments on Marwari’s misery and pundits’ prediction of future. The author gives brief but enough information about American chop suey and dry baby corn Manchurian (Naam padh ke hi muh me paani aa gaya na?? Mere muh me bhi aaya…). In the ninth chapter ‘The Bad Days And Good Days’, author scribbles that how one phone call of friend’s interference can create misunderstanding and how the relationship can go to a sad end (No! I am not sharing the climax you fool..!) I myself commemorate me the same phone call when Pooja calls Manav to forget his love Sriti. Eleventh chapter ‘The Mission’ tells everything about author’s deep observation and satiric comments about Marwari community when Manav quotes “The smell of business to a Marwari is just like the smell of biryani to a hungry man!” My mouth watered while reading names of various delicious dishes cooked by Manav in the kitchen on Sriti’s home. Knowledge of cooking studied in Hotel Management is elegantly used in the novel by the author Neeraj Mishra. The author also shares some useful ethics of business. So, this love story was formed in the virtual world of internet. We are aware of the future and reality of relationships formed on the internet. So, what happens next? Do Sriti’s parents refuse Manav and Sriti’s relationship? Or they accept them? Does this story ends to a happy end or fails like common e-love stories at a tragic end? I won’t share the climax but you must not miss the novel ‘Falling In Love...’

Quotes from Falling In Love…

All the quotes and one-liners from the novel ‘Falling In Love…’ touches to my heart and relates to my own life.
“Telling a lie does not make you cool! You become cool only when you are truthful and when your heart speaks truth. A friendship is based on trust and if you lie, the trust breaks and without trust any friendship cannot sustain.”
“You know sometimes it happens that someone else knows about your heart better than you, because your heart doesn’t remain with you, it belongs to that someone.”
“Value Of Relation” Is Not That How Much You Feel Happy With Some One. But It Is That, How Much Some One Feels ALONE Without You J!!”
“Never regret a day in your life. Good days give happiness, bad days give experience, worst days give lessons, and best days give memories!”
“Memories are always special. Sometimes we laugh by remembering the days we cried and we cry remembering the days we laughed.”
“‘Life is everything’, when the person you love misses you in your absence. But ‘life is nothing’ when they miss to understand your importance in your presence.”
“Love happens only once and rest is just compromises and then life goes on and on.”
“Love makes you do everything that you never imagined doing.”

Oops Factors of Falling In Love…

Improper Typing and Editing: Sriti.agarwal is printed instead of Cute_Manav on page number 50. Space is printed between ‘w’ and ‘hy’ (i.e.: w hy for ‘why’ on page no. 103. Double inverted comma opens which should be closed in the last paragraph on page 108. I am highlighting misprints with strikethrough effects- may, Maam and Srits’s instead of my, Ma’am and Sriti’s on page numbers 134, 160 and 211. I would say that editing could have been much better than what it is now.
Header margin is too much and footer margin is very less, so lines are printed to the footer line.
Though the light weight of the book is plus point, we can’t ignore very cheap quality of pages.
Price Rs 175/- is too much for the book when we compare with poor page quality.

Reviewer’s Notes-

“The story and fast pace of author’s writing style keep you hooked with the story of ‘Falling In Love…’ and won’t let you put down the book. I can consider Falling In Love in my all-time favourite love stories. Author Neeraj Mishra may claim ‘Falling In Love…’ as his story but this is my and everyone’s story who have TRULY LOVED even once in ANY RELATION. I have mucked almost every page and every line of the book. My friend Trupti almost finished the whole book in one seating and I too finished the book in two seating. I feel the climax scene short in length, so I would have liked more if author Neeraj Mishra would have stretched the climax scene with more thrill. Otherwise, Falling in Love is the perfect love story which will make you smile, laugh and cry at the same time. I would recommend it to every student of Hotel Management, romance lovers, and businessmen. I would rate the book 3.9 on the scale of 5 stars.”

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Review: Her Resurrection: A Survivor's Journey of Emancipation, Reclamation and Redemption

Her Resurrection: A Survivor's Journey of Emancipation, Reclamation and Redemption by Soumyadeep Koley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

‘HER RESURRECTION’ – A SURVIVOR’S JOURNEY OF EMANCIPATION, RECLAMATION AND REDEMPTION. (AUTHOR: SOUMYADEEP KOLEY, BOOK RATING: 4.15/5)

'Her Resurrection’ by Soumyadeep Koley is the fantastic thriller which enlightens so many unsaid and hidden dark truths of prostitutes’ life. Maya’s journey represents the life of so many unlucky prostitutes. The book tells the journey of common girl’s entry to exit in prostitution. This novel highlights the horrible fact that how emancipate life or even a thought of emancipation is almost impossible in the destiny of prostitutes. The novel thrills us with so many twists and turns and motivates us to think positively. I totally agree with a prediction on page no. 211 about this story of ‘Her Resurrection’, I exactly mean “Maya’s (possibly true) story will give immense strength and support to rape survivors, survivors of sex trafficking, as well as prostitutes. It is indeed a moving eulogy to every Indian woman’s life.”

I would highly recommend the novel ‘Her Resurrection’ to all photographers, models, respected citizens of the society and prostitutes themselves.

I am giving 4.15 out of 5 stars to the novel ‘Her Resurrection’ by SoumyadeepKoley.

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Review: #iAm16iCan

#iAm16iCan by Kirtida Gautam
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

#IAm16ICanRape by Kirtida Gautam:- Well researched psychology and debate!!! (Book Rating: 4¼ of 5 Stars)

"#IAm16ICanRape by Kirtida Gautam is not only the typical novel but it is like a tonic and doses of philosophy on unspoken and sensitive subject like rape. The novel does not only give you big philosophical doses but make you and society answerless with a lot of serious questions. Rape victims and rape survivors must read this novel because this book will not only inspire them to live a life with a positive attitude, but the #IAm16ICan will work like any scripture of motivation for them. #IAm16ICanRape is a perfect psychological thriller and a perfect page turner with so many twists and suspense till the end.

I would recommend the novel #IAm16ICanRape or #IAm16ICan as a reference book for the study or research of rape, juvenile psychology behind rapes and criminal minds, general psychology of human being, information about psychotherapies, the judicial system, and amendment of law.

I would rate 4.25 out of 5 Stars to #IAm16ICanRape

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Review: Heart of Bullets

Heart of Bullets by Nikhil Kushwaha
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.8 Stars to Heart of Bullets by Nikhil Kushwaha

First of all welcome back! I am also back with one more book review. And this review is quite special for me because I am writing this first blog post from our new home!! Okay… I finished reading a fantastic book Heart Of Bullets by Nikhil Kushwaha. This review was expected to be published in the last week of Feb but I apologize to the author for not publishing this review within time due to my busy schedule. Anyway, I don't want to bore my readers with a long introduction so let me come to the book review now…

BOOK COVER:



On the front cover, one can see a soldier with his sweetheart. Rifle in a standing move keeps distance between a soldier and his sweetheart. A helicopter of the army is in the background. Three fighter planes are flying in the sky in three different directions (\|/). Saffron, White and Green color of background makes tricolor. Petal Publishers' logo is printed below the rifle in the middle so it looks like a bullet. In short, Cover of Heart Of Bullets is filled with patriotism and love. So, I would give full marks to Jimmyeric Films and Media for the cover designing. Title Heart Of Bullets is quite impressive which commemorates me the title To The Last Bullet which I read and reviewed few years ago.

SETTING: There are 26 chapters along with prologue and epilogue in 296 pages. The author narrates the story in present tense as the first person.

THEMES: Heart of Bullets covers various themes like pride, patriotism, friendship, love, betrayal, philosophy, motivation, bravery, intelligence, and thriller, etc.

LOCATIONS: The story of the novel runs through so many locations like Uri, Kashmir (a place near LOC), Ranchi, Gir (Gujarat), Kargil, Banaras, Calcutta and Pakistan (Pak).

WRITING STYLE: Author elegantly uses literary terms and figurative language. This is a novel, however, author Nikhil Kushwaha mentions his self-written poems and one-liners which touch to the heart. The author wisely arranges twists and turns and keeps suspense until the end. One-liners by Nikhil Kushwaha make his writing style unique and interesting.

CHARACTERS: There are so many major and minor characters in the novel. But I would like to introduce few of them.

Arpan: Author portrays Arpan as a narrator of the story who works as a soldier in an Indian Army. Arpan is the protagonist in the novel.

Sameer Das (Sam): Sameer is the second protagonist in the novel. Author portrays Sameer as a friend of Arpan and a senior in the army. Heart of Bullets is the story of Sameer narrated by his friend Arpan.

Shradha: Author portrays Shradha as a classmate of Arpan. She loves Sameer and she works as a social activist.

Soni: Mutual friend of Arpan and Sam in school and junior college.

Dr. Kumar: Dr. Kumar is the listener of this story of Sam from the narrator Arpan.

PLOT: The Heart of Bullet starts with a beautiful, touching, sensitive and patriotic poem ‘The Story Is Old' in the prologue of the novel.

First chapter ‘Terrorists hiding' is about the humble aspects and different roles in soldier's life apart from his service. When I read about the successful mission by Arpan, I felt like a soldier for some moment. In this chapter, Arpan tells the facts about the army and their service. Arpan tells soldier's respect towards the nation and army and pride about his duty. The first chapter is filled with fun, sarcasm, patriotism and a thrill. Author Nikhil Kushwaha gives the glance of woman's life. Arpan tells the truth of soldier's leaves in an emergency. Author gracefully scribbles the tough life of martyr's family after a sacrifice of a soldier. It seems that author Nikhil has researched or have knowledge about missiles, rockets, advance 7th generation rocket science technology and Combined Defence Service (CDS). He also gives the brief information about heart transplantation. Fighting scene in the fourth chapter ‘Attack at MH' seems like a war. Indian soldier's fight till the last bullet thrills us. Author writes about the difference between soldiers and terrorists. ‘Towards a new home' comes with an unexpected thrilling scene. Some quotes and one-liners touch to my heart and relates to my own life.

Chapter six commemorates me my college days. When Sameer gets caught while stealing question papers, I remind my experience when I had raise a duster on my science teacher in SSC (Wo matter alag hai, yaha nahi padhne milega!!). Arpan elegantly defines the difference between development and growth. It is noteworthy that author make us worried about current generation's priorities in life. Story narrated by Sameer Das touches to the heart in the twelfth chapter. Poems and lullabies are also nice. The thirteenth chapter touches me. I wish the one too could thief my personal diary/diaries and find her name on almost every single page as Sameer reads secrets of Shradha in her diary.

Nineteenth chapter is about true friendship. Sameer's apologetic answer to Arpan touches to the heart. He quotes the importance of apology and forgiveness in friendship "After all, friendship means forgiveness. It means forgetting the thing that ruins it. A small gesture of apology sometimes saves a bond whose value is more than millions." Bittersweet introduction of love at first sight in the fifth chapter ‘The first time I saw' is really fantastic. Sameer's conversation with Shradha and Soni are just pleasant. Author comments on sacrifice in love and relationship "Sometimes, one needs to sacrifice the things that matters the most, for them who matters the most, and that's the truest form of love that exists. It's just stupid to breathe when there is no reason to live. When you love someone for true, you will do anything to make them happy, even if that happiness doesn't include you." "It's better to be hated for what you are rather than being loved for what you aren't. Relationships aren't built on bases of lies."

He beautifully portrays the romantic scenes. Author indirectly scribbles short description about intimacy in beautiful way in chapter ‘Once in a monsoon'.

Author comments on Indian Railway. In the second chapter ‘Sudden call', he comments on people's patriotism in an ironical and satiric manner- "People talk about politics, war and condition of country for hours, but very few do something to change it, to make it better. Everyone wants a change but no one wants to change. Being patriotic is one other thing and doing something for a county is another." He comments on inactivity of peoples "The world suffers, not because of the dirty works of bad people, but of the ignorance of good people." The author raises some other social issues. He criticizes private tuitions. He also comments on the education system in India where more importance is being given to grades and marks than knowledge. But at the same times, he remarks some positive comments about teacher's profession. Author comments on gender equality in his quote "No matter how much we change, it's the woman who has to carry a baby in womb, and the man who has to light the fire." He defines WOMEN as the World Of MEN. He comments on parents' dignity and social values more importance over children's happiness. Arpan's comments on fate commemorate me the conversation between Karna and the protagonist Vasu in novel Karna's Alter Ego where Karna explains the philosophy of fate to Vasu in detail. Author messages to the people (like me heheheJ) who sleeps late.

Unexpected but guessable suspense gets revealing in chapter 25. Heart of Bullets ends with the totally unexpected climax which is truly sensitive. I have told you so much about the story and now don't expect me to reveal the climax also, to know whether it is happy or tragic, you have to read the book.

Oneliners from the book:

"Money is like a fire. If used correctly, it can make food but if in wrong hands, it may burn the house."
"There is nothing more painful than living a lonely life without being a culprit for it."
"Love doesn't always mean togetherness, it also means sacrificing something for the one you love."
"Perhaps, true happiness lies in happiness of the one we love, that's the truest form of love people talk about all the time."

DRAWBACKS:

1.Typing and Grammatical Errors: There are so many typing errors like Apran (Arpan) on page 45 and 48, wired (weird) on page 70, punchure (puncture) on page 116, feeing (feeling) on page 225, taking (talking) on page 240, laud (loud) on page 253 and so many… I don't deserve to find grammatical errors as my own English is not too good but there are so many grammatical errors in the novel Heart of Bullets.
2.I felt narration confusing a bit because of a combination of present and past tense. In my opinion, it would be better if the story would have been told by Arpan in a past tense.
3.Some words have fainted.
4.Reference to Facebook: Reference to Facebook use by Shradha at an age of 22 (in 2002) is irrelevant because the social networking website facebook was launched 2 years later than 2002 on 4th Feb 2004.
5.The story is stretched: The story of Heart of Bullets is quite stretched but the last fight of Arpan in the climax is in brief.

REVIEWER'S FEEDBACK:



Heart Of Bullets is the fantastic novel by Nikhil Kushwaha. I liked the way author narrates the story, quotations, and one-liners touch to readers' heart and relates to own life. Heart of Bullets make you think on social issues and thrill you, the story brings tears in eyes with Goosebumps!! I have mucked almost every page of the book as my favourite. I would have liked more if the story would have been narrated within 250 pages. The weakness of the book is so many typing errors and grammatical mistakes of the book but I am sure that Author Nikhil Kushwaha and publisher will take care of this in next editions of the book. I would recommend this book to my readers because the story, theme, poems, quotes, and one-liners are much more apart from the mistakes.

MY RATING: The story of Heart of Bullets deserves at least 4 stars but I am cutting 0.2 stars for grammatical and typing errors. So I would give 3.8 out of 5 Stars to Heart of Bullets by Nikhil Kushwaha.

Blurb: ‘The only way to get close to those glittering stars in heaven is, to look at a soldier with stars on his shoulders'
Every time, they're around, the thing that we see is the bravery awards, medals, the pride, but what we can't see is their heart that lies inside the iron chest, some untold stories, sacrifices, and the hardship they've been through. Every soldier has a story that is unique and extra ordinary.

A tale of brotherhood & heroism, a tale of love & betrayal, ‘Heart of Bullets', is about two best friends, Arpan & Sam, and the untold story of their friendship, untold story of their love, Shradha, but what happens when Sam gets hit by the enemy – across the border?

What will Arpan do to save his friend? Will love prevail over friendship of lifetime?

There is a decision to be made, is the life without love, and friends, better than dying to save the one we love the most?

About Nikhil Kushwaha:


Founder of Perx Studio, a complete photography solution, and a professional photographer himself, Nikhil Kushwaha has already touched hearts of many through his previous works, ‘Six Teen Mistakes' published in 2014 and ‘The Waning Moon' published in 2015.

Born and raised in beautiful city Ranchi, he graduated in 2013 as an Electrical & Electronics Engineer from NIST, Odisha and after working for some time, he left his job to change his dreams into reality.

Heart Of Bullets' heart

Title: HEART OF BULLETS

Author: NIKHIL KUSHWAHA

Publishers: PETALS PUBLISHERS & DISTRIBUTORS

Copyright © NIKHIL KUSHWAHA

First Edition: December 2015

ISBN (13): 978-93-85440-12-0

ISBN (10): 93-85440-12-8

Language: English

Printing: Paperback (Printed in India)

Designs & Branding: JIMMYERIC FILMS & MEDIA (Facebook)

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 296 (Excluding cover)

MRP: Rs. 195

Reviewer: RAJESH D. HAJARE (RDH)

Rating: 3.8/5

Disclaimer:

This is my personal opinion about Heart of Bullets and your views may be vary.
Reviewer has used quotes and one-liners in this review with the permission of the author.
Reviewer of this book works as the Gondia district president at Akhil Bhartiya Marathi Sahitya Parishad

Previous Review: Without You (Rating: 4.25/5, Visitors:6630 , 4 Comments)

Related review: To The Last Bullet ( 5 Comments)

Also Read: Karna's Alter Ego (Rating: 4.5/5, Visitors:24720 , 4 Comments)

Reviews Coming Soon: #IAm16ICanRape by Kirtida Gautam

Now Reading: Her Resurrection by Soumyadeep Koley

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Review: Heart of Bullets

Heart of Bullets by Nikhil Kushwaha
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Review: Without You

Without You by Preethi Venugopala
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Review: You Are the Best Wife

You Are the Best Wife by Ajay K. Pandey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5 of 5 Stars to YOU ARE THE BEST WIFE: A True Love story by Ajay K Pandey

You are the Best Wife by Ajay K Pandey is the second book I have read which is published by Srishti Publishers & Distributors. This book has a unique quality about its weight. Though the book contains 240 pages it is a very light weighted book. Before writing my review, I must admit that I would have been regretted all my life if I would not read this book. Actually, I didn't want to review this book!! No! Don't take my statement in a negative way. But you read it right! Yes! Because this book did not only touch to my heart but made me cry like a baby while reading this true love story. It took me, at least, four days to disconnect the story and forget characters of the book. And I didn't want to recollect those memories because I just wanted to avoid tears in my eyes once again. But this is also a fact that I can't miss this pleasure to review and analyze this true love story.

Detailed Analysis of You are the Best Wife: a true love story by Ajay K Pandey

BOOK COVER: The book cover of You are the Best Wife is designed in three parts. The couple is designed in the first part holding each other's hand. There is a line of heart beats. Book title You are the Best Wife and tagline a true love story is printed in the middle part of the cover. You are the Best Wife is the perfect title for the plot and story. Tagline ‘a true love story' has two meanings- one is the indication about novel's realistic theme and second what the true love is!! In the third part, nib can be seen near some sentences written in watermark above the author's name AJAY K PANDEY. Overall Wasim Helal has designed a perfect cover according to the genre and plot of the novel.

Theme: You are the Best Wife is a fiction novel which covers various themes like friendship, love, romance, social awareness and the mixture of comedy and tragedy.

Locations: The story of Ajay and Bhavna runs through different locations like Fortis Hospital Noida, IERT (Institute of Engineering and Rural Technology, Allahabad), Rihand Nagar, Allahapur, Prayag Railway Station, Pune railway station, IIMM Pune, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Raipur, Noida and Okhla (Delhi)

Language and Writing Style: The novel is written in very simple English. Author Ajay K Pandey uses narrative style to write the story. He narrates the story as a first person. Some flashback scenes and incidents from past are narrated as a diary. Each Hindi sentence used in the book is followed by English meaning.

CHARACTERS: There are 7 major, and around 25 minor characters including a nonliving character (i.e. Ajay's bicycle Dreamliner.)

1. Ajay K Pandey (Sonu): Ajay is the central character in the novel. You are the Best Wife is author Ajay K Pandey's own true love story. He is a protagonist in the story. Yes! This is the character of author Ajay K Pandey himself. Readers hear the story from Ajay's memories.
2. Bhavna: Bhavna is also a protagonist in this love story. Her character motivates readers. I can say that her character is my favourite one. Her husband and author Ajay K Pandey portrays Bhavna's character as the best wife.
3. Sri S. N. Pandey Ji: Author portrays Pandey Ji as Ajay's father.
4. Gaurav Singh: Author portrays Gaurav's character as his roommate in IERT hostel.
5. Mr. Pradhan: Author portrays Mr. Pradhan as the father of Bhavna. He comes from an educated background and works as the bank manager in a nationalized bank.
6. Mrs. Pradhan: Author portrays Mrs. Pradhan as the mother of Bhavna. She also comes from an educated background who is a housewife.
7. Harsh Tomar: Author portrays Harsh's character as the true friend. His character is an example of how a true friend should be!!

There are some minor characters like Ragini (Ajay' crush in school), Warden (in IERT hostel), Arvind Chaubey, Dipendra Singh, Tushar and Neha (Ajay's friends from IERT), Akansha Singh, Beena Mishra and Parul Tripathi (Bhavna's friends from IERT), Niharika, Somya and Kavita (girlfriend and wife of Gaurav, Dipendra and Arvind respectively), Professor Bisht, Mr. Baloo Pandey (from IERT), Vaibhav and Vishnu (Ajay's friends from IIMM, Pune), Sachin and Ashish (Ajay's friends from office), Jaipal Singh (Ajay's boss), Reema (Bhavna's boss), Pooja (Bhavna's elder sister) and Mr. Nanhu (Pooja's son).

PLOT: You are the Best Wife contains 39 chapters along with a prologue. Book starts with the scene in the hospital where Ajay's beloved wife is admitted. First chapter's title ‘Ragging is a Criminal Offence' itself conveys a message. The chapter is full of humour on author's parents' concern. The author does not spare even himself to make a fun. The author provides a horrible fact of ragging. He describes how ragging is prohibited only on papers. The first chapter recollects the memories of one's college days. Readers read about Ajay's first interaction with Bhavna in the second chapter. The author writes about ‘Freshers' Party Preparation' in the third chapter. The fourth chapter is about ‘Pioneer Computers and My (Ajay's) Dreamliner Cycle'. The fifth chapter ‘The Most Romantic Hour of My Life' is one of my favourite chapters because of flawless love scenes included in it. Sixth chapter "It's easy to make friends, but difficult to keep them" is a quotation in itself. Bhavna's birthday commemorated me the birthday of my someone close. Author informs about valentine week & post valentine week in the seventh lesson ‘How do I propose?' In the next chapter, Ajay confesses those magical words to the Bhavna. On the ‘Breakup Day' (21st February) Bhavna defines Ajay what the true love is!!! The author writes about his ‘Welcome to the crazy world of love' and ‘Struggle for placements' in next two chapters. He comments on girls' and women's beauty products in the chapter ‘Hyderabad to Pune'. A comparison between Shahrukh Khan, Kajol, Ajay Devgan and a connection between Bhavna (as Kajol) and Ajay K Pandey (as Ajay Devgan) is outstanding! Author comments on arrange marriage and love marriage in ‘Winning half the battle'. The author describes the true reason (fear of society) behind parents' protest against love marriage of children. Few scenes from the book will make you cry and one among those is the scene where Bhavna makes a list for Ajay in his ‘Delhi to Raipur' visit, it will burst you with laughter. The author criticizes a discrimination based upon cast and supports humanity but at the same time, he remarks about the need for society for a human being in his father's words- "Caste and religion is are important because we live in a world where you are alone if you do not belong to one. I understand the world is changing and I wish that one day we could think beyond this man-made discrimination of caste and religion. Until then, we have to deal with the society. We are social animals; perhaps more animal than social." Ajay's unfortunate and struggle commemorates Vasu's unfortunate fate and struggle in life from the novel ‘ Karna's Alter Ego' by Surendra Nath. The author refers the research of Mental health report by WHO. The author connects ‘Brahman ka ladka (Ajay) aur kayasth ki ladki (Bhavna) with the story of TV serial ‘Ye Pyaar Na Hoga Kam' in the chapter ‘My quilt and my guilt'. Author comments on Indian rail and conveys the social message to not commit suicide. ‘My happiest video clip' inspires us to collect memories. ‘The quality of life is what matters' inspires us to enjoy the every moment of life because "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. Life is a journey; we all are born and will die someday. Some celebrate their silver jubilees, some celebrate golden ones and some may score a century, but life cannot be evaluated on the basis of the number of years spent alive. The quality of life is what matters, not the quantity."

A bittersweet conversation between husband and wife make us laugh with fun but touches to heart at the same time. Twenty-sixth chapter ‘A loving daughter and a would-be-father' ends with a surprising fictitious ending.

The author gives facts and some information about dengue, septicaemia septicemia / sepsis in the twenty-seventh chapter. ‘Bhavna's sleepless nights' and ‘Fight for your husband' will make you cry if you are not a stone-hearted reader; I am writing this cause I cried while reading this. A conversation between Ajay and Harsh in ‘The world is beautiful' touches to the heart. "A true friend sees the first tear, catches the second and stops the third." Harsh's character stands an example of a true friend and true friendship. In chapter thirty-two ‘The biggest truth of life', the author gives a glance of government reputed hospital like AIIMS. In the second last chapter, the author appeals to do ‘The right thing for the right reason' through any possible way of donation to the charity. The author tells what the true happiness is in his quotation "I found that true happiness in life lies in helping others."

Author's acknowledgment on behalf of Bhavna seems like a tribute to her by the author.

My favourite QUOTES from the book:

"There are two kinds of personalities. There are those who have everything and still complain as if they have nothing. And there are those who lose everything and act like life has given them everything. Sometimes both these personalities exist in the same soul. Kill the first one, I love the second." – Bhavna

1. "Parents always understand us, sometime even more we understand ourselves."
2. "If someone says that you are intelligent, it means you are dumb."
3. "Love makes a person a secular."
4. "If a person never cries, it doesn't mean he is not emotional man. It could be that he is a strong man."
5. "Don't hold back your ears. The more you cry, the lighter you will feel. You'll be less burdened with grief and pain. When we restrict ourselves and don't cry, we actually build up internal pressure. And when the tears fall, the pressure is released."
6. "When you don't have your beloved with you, every festival becomes meaningless."
7. "Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. Forgive God and show that sometimes humans are even superior to Him. Forgive others, not because they deserve forgiveness but because you deserve peace."

DRAWBACKS:

1. Typing and Printing Errors: Yes! Names of some locations, characters and words are misspelled there. Some words are repeated. There are some grammatical errors. As a narrator of dialogue from DDLJ, "Ja, jee le apni zindagi," the author refers Anupam Kher instead of Amrish Puri as Simran's (Kajol) father on page 101. Italic fonts are not used properly.

I understand author's emotions while writing the book but no author or no character is allowed to use the language or wish to kill PMO or a selective post or person to express anger. It had to be written as upper authority.

Poor Page Quality: I don't know whether I received pirated copy from Amazon.in or what but the book I have received has very poor pages quality. Some words faint there. If its original copy then Srishti Publishers should use better pages. MRP Rs. 175/- is ok for the book but it becomes expensive while considering the cheaper quality of pages.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ajay K Pandey grew up in the modest NTPC township of Rihand Nagar with big dreams. He studied Engineering in Electronics at the IERT (Allahabad) and MBA at IIMM (Pune) before taking up a job in corporate firm. He is currently working with Cognizant, Pune. He grew up with a dream of becoming a teacher, but destiny landed him in the IT field.

Travelling, trekking and reading novels are his hobbies. Travelling to different places has taught him about different cultures and people, and makes him wonder how despite all the differences, there is a bond that unites them. Trekking always inspires him to deal with challenges like a sport. Reading is perhaps what makes him feel alive.

You are the Best Wife is his debut book based on his life events and lessons.

Apart from writing, he wants to follow his role model Mother Teresa and make some contribution to the society. He aspires to start a charitable trust that would support aged people and educate special children.

REVIEWER'S COMMENTS:

“You are the Best Wife’ is totally pure love story with no mixing of fictitious elements. This is a perfect material with the tadka of friendship, love, romance, comedy, action and tragedy for any film director to make a blockbuster. The novel makes you laugh and cry at the same time. Each page in the book keeps you connected with the story, even a single line of 240 pages does not feel you boring so this is the perfect page turner!! I wish IF the one were able to read this story for whom the author has written this book. I don't claim I am the best reader or the best reviewer, but I can say that ‘You are the Best Wife' is the best love story I have ever read because this book did not only touched to my heart but made me laugh and cry like a baby while reading this true love story. It took me, at least, four days to disconnect the story and forget characters of the book.

I would not only recommend but urge to all engineering students, engineers, true lovers, husbands and wives, and every reader who like romance; go and must read this novel ‘You are the Best Wife' by Ajay K Pandey; because you will find the story related somewhere to your own life. The story makes you remember all bittersweet memories we have spent in college days. But heart patients, be aware! Though this isn't a thriller, this book can make your exit from the earth!! HeheheJ!! In short ‘You are the Best Wife' is the perfect gift to gift our loved ones!!

MY RATING:

I know, there are few drawbacks in the book which could and should be avoided and those are not ignorable; but I am also aware that Ajay K Pandey sir is not a regular author and is his debut novel. I don't mean that drawbacks are allowed in debut authors' novels. But I can understand in what conditions author would have written this story. If I would rate the book considering drawbacks and literary terms I would give 4 out of 5 stars. But I won't rate the book considering literary aspects because I respect author's emotions behind penning this story, and for me story matters more than drawbacks in such novels which deserve one extra star, so I am giving 5 out of 5 stars to ‘You are the Best Wife' by Ajay K Pandey sir.

ABOUT BOOK:

Title: You are the Best Wife: A True Love Story
Tagline: a true love story

Author: AJAY K PANDEY

Publisher: Jayantakumar Bose

Published by: SRISHTI PUBLISHERS & DISTRIBUTORS

The first edition in 2015

Copyright: ©Ajay K Pandey, 2015

Cover Design by Wasim Helal

Language: English

Format: Paperback

Genre: Fiction

ISBN 978-93-82665-54-0

Pages: 250 (including cover)

Price: Rs. 175/- (incl. all taxes)

Reviewer: RAJESH D. HAJARE (RDH)

My Rating: 5/5 (Excellent)

BLURB:

Ajay believes in living for himself; Bhavna teaches him to live for others. Ajay is a planner for life; Bhavna makes him live in every moment.

You are the Best Wife is a story of two people with contradictory ideologies who fall in love. It changes them for good. It changes the way they look at the world and the way the world looks at them. Until destiny reveals its plans.

This is a truly inspiring story of the author and his struggle with life after his beloved wife left him halfway through their journey. But her last words, ‘you are the best husband' gave him the strength to live on and fulfill his promise of love.

Told with frankness and doses of humor, this heartwarming tale of a boy and a girl who never gave up on their love in the face of adversities, ends on a bittersweet and poignant note as Ajay comes to terms with the biggest lesson life has to offer.

The story is based on Ajay K Pandey and Bhavna's life-journey, and their love story that has been immortalized in the pages of this book.

All proceeds from this book will be donated through Bhavna Charitable Trust (an initiative by her parents.)

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