Book Review: Colourful Notions: The Roadtrippers 1.0 by Mohit Goyal

When I was asked to choose a book for review by Writersmelon I took exactly 22 seconds to lock my heart onto Mohit Goyal’s Colourful Notions: The Roadtrippers 1.0 (No I don’t run on timer but I have a gut clock which keeps ticking). Nothing beats a travel book for a wanderlust soul. And, Colourful Notions does its job of rekindling the travel spirit with pages after pages of open invitation and perfectly tucked in beckoning Bollywoodish-drama. The title of the book definitely does justice to the variegated storyline of three 20-something individuals road tripping across the length and breadth of the conundrum called India.

In the book, the protagonist, Ab decides to undertake a personal journey of seeing and growing up. And he decides India as his battle ground. He decides to make his best friend Sasha and Sasha’s girlfriend Unnati as fellow warriors in the battle that he has wedged with himself. Ab and Sasha diligently plan out 25 pit stops across the perimeter of India to ensure that the essence of India remains intact. And after Ab is successful in pursuing Sasha and Unnati’s parents to make them his side kicks, the three embark on a90 day journey of knowledge, endurance and fulfillment. And what ensues is a riot of sights and emotions nicely wrapped up in a high voltage entertainment package. I will not continue harping on the storyline any further. No spoiler alert.

Mohit Goyal’s style of writing is very lucid and generic in a good way. He has written a book for all to enjoy. You need not be literarily bent to finish his book from cover to cover. The story will appeal to all. Some of us travel and some of us wish to travel but there is none on this planet who despise travel to see new places. And hence this book, I am sure, will appeal not just to a wanderlust soul but anyone with travel on their mind. This book subtly paints a colorful picture of the myriad Indian landscape through the escapades of Ab, Sasha and Unnati which has an indelible impression on the reader’s mind and therein lies the success of Mohit Goyal’s Colourful Notions: The Roadtrippers 1.0. The book has something or the other to take back for everyone.

Like always, no stars or ratings because numbers can never do justice to the painstaking efforts an author takes to create a story. Hence, I would applaud Mohit Goyal for leaving no spice unused to cook up the drooling Indian Butter Chicken.

Book Review: 3.02 by Mainak Dhar

I know I am supposed to write an introduction, discuss about the title, cover and genre of the book in the first paragraph of my book review of Mainak Dhar's 3.02, but somehow I feel it is more appropriate to start with this particularly uncanny incident that took place when I leisurely started reading the book on one fine Saturday night. I had just finished reading the back cover of the book to get a feel of what I was up to when there was an unanticipated power cut. No, power cut isn't an out-of-place phenomenon in India and of course people in India don't find it strange either but when you have an idea of what the book is about you will indeed find power cut scarier than ever.

The fiction opens with a regular modern day scenario where the protagonist, Aadi celebrates professional success in one of the innumerable pubs of Mumbai. Ten pages down, you might still mistake the story as just another modern day telltale with beers and cheers connecting the dots. However, the course of action rapidly takes a turn and for the better, I must say. The suspense element is upped by an unusual power cut (Now I guess you can understand why I mentioned my story of power cut) in Aadi’s housing community. All electronic devices are rendered useless (imagining a day without your phone is so hard, ain't it?), cars break down, the communication system goes for a toss. There is suddenly mayhem and chaos instead of dinner dates and happily-ever-afters. The luxuries of everyday life that people are so accustomed to take for granted are suddenly gone and they are stripped to bare necessities. Within a couple of hours Aadi realizes that the problem is much far stretched than he would have liked it to be. In an attempt to help his aged neighbour with his heart ailment, he finds out that the health care system together with the busy Mumbai streets have come to a standstill. He kind of senses that the power is not going to be restored soon. And sensibly he takes the lead in his housing community to handle the never-faced-before situation with his pragmatic acumen. And he does well by roping in proper resources and fearlessly tackling opposition and consequently handling criticism. A perfect example of leading from the front.

And in no time the book converts into a bollywood masala film where there is dollops of drama, handful of heroism and roomy romance. And you will definitely not regret it if you are an action flick addict. There is a good proportion of realism and better proportion of surrealism in the progress of the story but the flow of the story has a very natural easy-going characteristic which is not disrupted till the last page. And that, I believe will keep you going till the end along with terrorists, Indian army and geeks. OK, no more spoilers. You have to read the book to find out more.

Mainak’s style of writing is lucid and his character sketches are vivid. His eye for painstaking details is admirable. He can take you into his world of creative imagination and make you a part of it. His description of situations are so realistic that you can almost feel everything as if it is happening to you. His story building sensibilities in this particular book reminded me of Chetan Bhagat’s Three Mistakes of My Life. The heroic pursuits of Aadi reminded me of Ishaan (Ish).

I think 3.02 is a great choice for a cosy sunday afternoon when you have enough time to contemplate life beyond your comfort zone. Because, this fiction from Mainak Dhar’s stable can really scare you out of your wits and the couch in which you are comfortably cocooned in can suddenly seem unreal. Beware!

I don’t like rating books because dragging literature to the number scale is crime according to me. I would rather give all my heart to Mainak’s thought behind the story that he nicely puts in between the awesomely designed covers of 3.02.

 

Book Review: Fall Like a Rose Petal

Self-help has never been my genre. I never championed the idea of getting hold of one.  If it is called self-help, why do we really need a book to help us? Why do we really need an author to tell us how to live life? Self-help books are a contradictory concept, I had always thought. Until I chanced upon “Fall Like a Rose Petal”. The subtitle, “A father’s lesson on how to be happy and content while living without money” caught my attention. I have this deep-rooted desire to travel the world without money (Well, obviously because I don’t have enough money to travel the world with it) and I thought AVIS (Viswanathan, the author) could really help me figure out a way. He did. Not the way I wanted him to but nevertheless I learnt my lesson. Like he says, “You will find Beauty in Unexpected Places.”

Well, this is a self-help book with a difference. This is no “guru-speak” like AVIS claims. I didn’t really struggle to reach page 290 (Yeah, the last page but I like numbers more) and hence you can safely conclude this is no Gita. It doesn’t leave you high and dry like your Moral Science classes back in school. This book is an earnest attempt to share the myriad of experiences the author had been through his journey down the lanes of ‘Life’. This book doesn’t tell you what to do in life but rather how to do what you want to do. And AVIS does a good job by keeping every bit of it personal and not preachy. This book is definitely old wine packed in a new bottle. You have heard all that AVIS wants to tell you a thousand times over maybe but the way he tells you makes you want to listen to him. And that’s where he wins the battle.

The book is a series of letters between January, 2007 and October, 2013 that AVIS wrote to his then teenage children Aashirwad and Aanchal about the way his life was unfolding and how he was transforming through the experiences. Through these letters AVIS helps his readers to understand the four-lettered word called ‘life’ and that’s how he makes it easier. Through a personal touch. He attempts to present to his reader a guru who practices what he preaches. And that surely works for him. The only thing I did not like about the book were the silly footnotes (No, it’s not a spoiler alert). I have no idea why those were even included. They weren’t much informative (and completely unnecessary) and they somewhat spoilt the flow.

The book helps you deal with the crisis you exaggeratedly call ‘life’. It helps you to restore faith in the magic that happens to you every day but you so ignorantly overlook. It tries to show you the bigger picture that flutters around you but you never succeed to catch a glance of.  It aims to give you a head-start if you had dug a pit for yourself and you are deep down there. And it wonderfully does all of that without you even realizing it. Isn’t that appealing? A self-help book that isn’t sententious? A self-help book that has a story to tell? And that’s what makes this book stand apart. I started the book with “Money (no money rather) on my mind” but ended with “Laughing my life away”.

Wish you a happy me-time.

Do get the copy of my first novel delivered at your doorstep.....
Do let me know how you liked it....
http://www.infibeam.com/Books/search?q=me+and+that+extra+n

The first press review of my book....

I am so damn excited.... I could not help but share.... Thank you "The Hindu" for giving a push in all the right direction....

http://www.thehindu.com/books/books-authors/girl-next-door/article5045030.ece

My debut novel

Guys
Good news awaiting all of you out there.
My debut novel will be up for sale at the end of this month.
Here I bring you a special pre-release glance at my book.

The cover of my book

I am sure you all gonna like it.

Like the Facebook page (link given below) for this book to keep yourself updated about the release date.

https://www.facebook.com/MATXN

A Review of the book “Keep the Change” by Nirupama Subramanian

Chick lit transmogrifies into my favorite genre when I am really bogged down with a hell lot of work or when the blue bugs bite me hard. And on one such bloody blue (no I am not a cricket fanatic and it isn't bleed blue), almost a self-imposed remorseful day with a whale of a hole in my pocket when I went on a book shopping binge I picked up this delectable looking chick lit by debutante author Nirupama Subramanian beckoningly titled “Keep the Change”. I was absolutely looking forward to a bewitching escape from the gloomy mood I had called upon myself.

I was all geared up for the go with a tub full of strawberry ice-cream and a macro Milky bar.

While I was rotting here in my room, B. Damayanthi, the protagonist was rotting somewhere in Chennai, the reason being slightly more serious in her case. The menacing sound of the impending marriage bell was ringing hard and the greasy-haired, sambar-fed suitors (suckers would be more apt though) weren't making it any easier for the 2 year old poor Damayanthi (her age wasn't doing any good either). But when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. And so did Damayanthi. To save herself from the catastrophe she resorts to finding a voguish job befitting her “consistent track record of achieving academic excellence”. And soon enough she lands herself a sassy banker job and off she flies to Mumbai to put an end to her fight with marriage. And soon began the fight with herself.

The 356 page saga is at times racy and at other times downbeat; a mix of very good, good and not-so-good moments. Some gory details could have been omitted. A 250 page action packed novel could have done some real wonder. However, the ending did some wonder of course. It made up for all the sluggish pages that I could not wait turning. It was one of the high (the highest really) points of the entire story.

The characterizations were vivid. I could almost see Damayanthi and her team of soldiers. The language could not have got any better; a perfect balance of artistry and lucidity.

At one or two occasions the facts got jumbled up; natural when you attempt to write a 356 page epic. Justifiable and forgivable too.

Overall a good read. You really don’t keep anything back when you finish page no 356. But you have no qualms either. B. Damayanthi is forgettable but enjoyable at the same time. I wouldn't suggest you to go for the plunge and neither will I stop you if you eventually decide to take it.