Fast forward to December 1, when I got an email from office mail room saying there was a Flipkart for me and I should come and collect it (that’s what they wrote). While going, I suddenly realized it was the pre-ordered book (I still didn’t remember the name), and then after having scribbled something in the mail register I proceeded to remove the great Flipkart packing.

No, I am not a blurb reader, but those who did read the blurb in the office almost immediately queued themselves up for the copy. And then I had to make them read the absolute first page of the book, which I found interesting.

And then, through my busy schedule (you claim your schedule busy when you work Saturday, of course) I kept turning the pages of the book, which was happening quite fast and the book was over (with this schedule, surprisingly) in just two days.

That was the story of my well spent hundred and five rupees.

Yep. I did like the book. The beginning of the book was funny, and that again means the absolute first page which is Judy Balan’s introduction. After that, the first two acknowledgements made me a bit impatient and I simply moved to the last one, to find what I had expected. And then, the book started.

The Prologue was nice and made me think I was going to read yet another Chetan Bhagat novel. The first page of the first chapter, however, made me a little afraid that I was in for yet another round of the exact same things I had read in Two States. But thankfully, my fears never got realized.

No, not that the story or the way Judy tells the story here are different, but the book, simply is not what Chetan’s book was. It’s not the same two people that were there in that one, and then, the similarities are more the ones which make you laugh, than the ones which make up the real story of the book.

Now before my review goes completely haywire, here are the points that I noticed about the book.

• It’s a page turner. Simple and entertaining.
• In case you had any doubts even after the first one, here I say clearly, It’s funny. At least I found it so.
• Characters of the book are interesting. Though Judy doesn’t describe them specially, their traits come out with the story going on. Liked that.
• A few things (not many, really) are simply impossible to believe to have happened in reality, but they have been added to make things funny and mostly they pass.
• Near the end things go a little too dramatic, but by the time you close the book, things are again mostly sane and real, so you don’t feel cheated, at least.
• Overall, I totally liked the book, though it’s not something I’d read again, hopefully. Yet, I’d like to read the author’s next.

In short, Two Fates is something really good for a first novel and would not disappoint you if you like light reading. That’s all I have to say.

PS (with Spoiler alert): I do not think anyone who went to IIM may not know who O’Henry is. Hope I am right.

But then, this does make a difference. Chetan’s novels are known for their quality of engaging a person, and this one does that well, though it may not be as engaging as, say, Five Point Someone. Probably the main reason for that is this one doesn’t go in the same series as Five Point Someone and 2 States, the two of his better novels, which were both autobiographical in nature.

Like all other novels by Bhagat, this one too has a Prologue which keeps you hooked to the story, though this time you know that prologue is continued at the end of the story and not much before that, putting the entire story in the flashback. Interestingly, this time the prologue does is not as thrilling or even mysterious as some of his previous ones, but very few pages into the prologue and it sounds mature in a way.

As for the book, it is quite fast paced in the beginning, but becomes slightly dragged in the second half, that for a Chetan Bhagat book. But as a normal author of Indian Fiction, I think Chetan still maintains his distinction as he keeps the reader hooked throughout. Things happen a little predictably, but not too much.

One good thing about the book is that CB tries to add some serious stuff, in terms of country and society, but has not gone over the top like he did in 3 Mistakes. In fact, mostly he has been quite realistic in the way his characters deal with things.

In short, Revolutions 2020, the first book by Chetan that does not start with a number, is not really a revolution, but if you like his reading, I think you wouldn’t be much disappointed. He has been better that this before, and then I’m pretty sure, he has been worse than this too, and this would probably lie right in the center somewhere.

By now you must have understood how great a fan of Bond I am. Still, I’ll try to give an unbiased review of the book. But then again, a fan is a fan, so no guarantees attached.

The one hundred and fifty page book has seven stories, out of which, the first, called The Canal, was one of the best. Even the story doesn’t have so much of a ‘story,’ Ruskin is just superbly natural when it comes to depicting his childhood, when he talks about things he did with friends.

The second, a more grave one, and probably all real, as he indicates in the Introduction, is another touching one, and is probably the best story of the book. The story called ‘Over the Wall’ very innocently pictures the approach of children to serious matters, especially when they understand it. What amazes me is how he can express things from childhood, some 65-70 years ago.

The third story, Gracie, is about a person I have read in Ruskin’s stories before as well. But then, the story was a bit different this time, with a little twist. Almost certainly fiction is mixed with facts in the particular story, but with such craft that it’s a delight to read.

At Green’s Hotel, though, was the first story that I didn’t like so much. Ruskin tries a little Crime-detective thing here which is again fiction with facts in the background, but this one didn’t work out so well.

One more detective story, The Skeleton in the Cupboard, is not that great, especially the end of it, but it’s a little differently written. Though, another drawback of the story is that it’s a bit too clearly fictitious, something that doesn’t look very great when facts are there in the background of the story. Still, an okay read.

Late night show is yet another fact-fiction mix by Bond, in which the story develops quite interestingly and except for a slightly too twisted end, the story is kind of nice. In fact, even though I didn’t like the end, Ruskin’s story-telling is perfect here, something I will have to say because the story has almost printed into my mind, even the end of it.

The Tiger in the lounge is a small, and in a way commonplace story, but with a little imaginative twist at the end. Had not expected much from the story so liked it.

Overall, Secrets is a mixed book by Ruskin Bond (mixed from Bond’s standards, mind you) where he has tried a few detective stories as well, these told with the backdrop of his childhood. The first three stories, which have no crime and detective-giri, touched me more. But then, I have never really been a detective story type. If you’re Ruskin Bond lover, buy the book for the first three stories, and you may get the rest in Bonus. And if you are not one, well.. try to be one.

At the same time, poems like ‘Spark-a-change’ show maturity on the author’s thoughts. Some like ‘Vicious Circle’ give a fine picture about the author on how she can bring about a change in the world’s condition. ‘Jalianwala Bagh’ is a very touching poem which has been written from a child’s point of view on that incident.

At the beginning of each poem, there is a sentence or two which explain what the following poem is all about. It’s a welcome move, because without this, some of the poems wouldn’t make sense at all. Also, some poems look like sentences put together about a topic, and once we complete reading about half of the book, the rest becomes very predictable.

But I should admit that the book would make a perfect gift for a school going kid, probably because of the amateurish and kind of innocent, unadulterated view of the world that the book offers.

Soorya, who wished to teach all her life, is an IT professional by chance and an ardent reader by nature. Given a chance, she can spend her entire life reading and writing. She hails from the God’s Own Country but now lives in the IT city Bangalore.

But then, the most interesting parts of the book are where she has been able to find the parts of life of her mother on which she wrote stories, sometimes telling almost exactly what was happening in her life and what all she was going through, through the characters of her stories. In these parts, you not only get to read stories that touched real life, but are also able to relate to her life much closely than in any other way possible.

The book talks less about Shivani, the author, and more about Gaura, the person, but at the same time is very much successful in interweaving the two for you in a manner that you are able to see the connection between the two. And to the author’s credit, even while doing this tough job, she has not made the book heavy or boring at all.

Or maybe Shivani’s life was so interesting that it could not be made boring anyway. That’s something Ira has tried to make us believe. But whatever be the truth, the book IS interesting for sure. If you’re a fan of Shivani’s works and/or want to know more about the life of that person, do read the book.

It’s a perfect sequel! A one in a thousand case where (especially) an Indian author writes a trilogy and the sequel is as thrilling as the first book, if not better. Applause for Amish Tripathi for pulling it off in such a grand manner. May be because we had to wait for a long time that the sequel tasted better. The Immortals of Meluha was the first book by the author, which saw a lot of criticism for amateur writing. Unfortunately Amish follows the same style here which often irritates the reader because it has already caught attention as a mythological book and the reader expects a lot of maturity in the language.

[Spoiler warning]

Shiva, the tribal warrior, along with his whole clan is invited to migrate to Meluha, the land of the immortals where many events unfold including him meeting his wife, princess Sati. The first book ends with the meluhan camp confiscating Swadeep where the rule of the land is completely awry. The second book starts from Swadeep and leads to the land of the Nagas, the Dantak forest. The much loving father of Sati, king Daksha turns out to be the villain at the end and the book ends with another suspense where Shiva finds his long lost comrade in the Naga land sound and safe. There are also appearances of many new characters in the second book.The shock is when Sati finds out that the person who was stalking her and whom she considered her arch enemy was in fact her son.

There is also a character called Anandamayi who seemed like Rakhi Sawant initially but later in the book commands respect. Shiva and Sati have a son too named Karthik.

Amish fails to address many issues which were mentioned for sometime and later forgotten. For example what is the medicine which Sati used on Karthik? Or what about the ritual the Branga people perform?

[Spoiler ends]

But nonetheless we cannot underestimate the control Amish has on the plot. Each time we wonder whether he is going in a tangent, and then it all makes sense after a few chapters. The thrill is maintained in each page of the book starting from the first part. This marks the victory of Tripathi. Whaterver stories we have been hearing about the lord Shiva while growing up have found their place in the books.

We can easily give the book a 4/5 and everyone who has read it would be eagerly waiting for the next because the book is a read-it-in-one-sitting kind.

Soorya, who wished to teach all her life, is an IT professional by chance and an ardent reader by nature. Given a chance, she can spend her entire life reading and writing. She hails from the God’s Own Country but now lives in the IT city Bangalore.

And so, one month back, I ordered the book from Flipkart and started reading it some two days after it arrived.

The book in the beginning was something very interesting. While Rahul’s book had been very well designed, this was not going to be that way. This was a travelogue, and as I read what went like a diary, I could almost see things as they were happening as Satnam gives quite descriptive a picture right from how he entered the Jungle.

As the book progressed, I found a lot of interesting things, about Guerillas, and more than that, about tribals in the area. This included facts like the tribals there did not drink milk and didn’t even eat eggs, or what they understood, chickens waiting to be hatched, and also details about development done by the guerillas with the tribals’ help inside the forests.

Of course, the book talks about the problems tribals and guerillas face there, especially the harrassment of the tribals by the outside world. I knew that things were bad there, but only after reading the book I was able to understand the scarcity of the very basic necessities of life. You might have heard that common sense is not common, but the book told me that in those places, even common salt was not common.

To tell the truth, even after reading such a well researched and designed book as Hello Bastar, I found Jangalnama interesting, except for a few negatives. One, the book starts getting a bit repetitive towards the end as the things author finds there are more or less the same with a few changes, throughout his journey and hence throughout the book. Two, the original book, the one in Punjabi, was written in 2003 and has things seen in 2002, not in the recent times.

But still, the book gives you a good insight into an unknown land and its unknown people, who we hardly acknowledge as our own. So if you’re interested in the topic, go for the book.

And something inside me, probably the curiosity to know the ‘other side’ of the story (add to that my recent obsession with Flipkart), made me order the book instantly. Two days ago I got the book, and Tuesday morning I started reading the book while on the road to office. On the journey back home I read again, and then kept reading through the evening, to 1:45 AM, when I turned the last page of the book.

I think even the story says something about the book. I do not say that it’s a book you can’t put back once started, but if you are interested in the topic and want to know, the book can be easily finished in a reading, that interesting it is.

As for the Author, I would first like to praise him for the research he seems to have done for the project and then for coming out with the book. I cannot decide which of the two needs more guts.

About the book, the first thing I would like to say is that it’s the outcome of some real hard work, and the research done for the book is extensive. The author has not only gone to the areas and interviewed people, but has also got their pictures, and more than that their experiences, which cannot come without a sincere understanding and rapport.

At the same time, Rahul has clearly written about the agendas of the the Maoists, including the ‘Urban Agenda’ that, according to the book, they plan to follow. I am still trying to understand how the Maoists have opened so much of their plans, even though just in shapes of basic ideas, to the Author.

As for the other side of the story, Rahul hasn’t really written a lot. Except for a few small incidents and the ‘big’ incident, the attack in which 75 CRPF personnel were killed, not much is talked about. This may be taken as a negative of the book, but then where state is giving us all the details about the other side of the story anyway, there is not really such a need to write about the state’s side of the story in detail.

Now, I don’t think this is part of the book review anyway, but in case you are interested, a line from the book even expresses my thoughts about the Maoists plans. The last line of the chapter Urban Agenda says, “It may sound like a far cry, but it’s not as far as the government thinks it is.”

To end the review, I have just one thing to say. If you’re interested in the topic, read the book. And if you don’t have any interest in this, develop some. After all, it’s about our own country.

You can buy the book from Flipkart on some good discount HERE.

Among the stories, while some are good, some are not-so-good too. There are short stories and there are long ones too. The first story by Ahmed, Down the Road, is an average one. The story is good and enjoyable as long as it goes but then the end may not be much of an interesting thing for this one. While Ira Trivedi’s rather short Rishi and me is almost opposite and keeps one intrigued about the end. Again, Ahmed writes an intriguing Knockout, a short and simple but very lovely Reason and a short okay one called Welcome to St Gibbs, in the first section ‘Attendance is Compulsory.’ The section also has a touchy Sorroricide showing the ‘other side’ of some people, a likable Smells like Home and two average tales by Naman Saraiya and Sahil Khan, but Ira Trivedi seemed to have an upper hand with her second story The Music Room that is even more touching than her first.

The second section Festivals, Elections, and Placements has a very sweet, innocent and mature The Cafe with No Name and a deep political One and One Eleven among other stories. Ahmed’s Well-Placed tells about the placements on MBA colleges and Setting gives you a picture of filmy as well as real life, and of the difference. No, the story has nothing to do with movies.

Lights Out has Malathi Jaikumar’s well written and interesting The Worm that Turned and a similar looking Dare to Bare, while Chinmayi Bali writes about something very important in a not so subtle manner. Nikhil’s Just a Moment is a nostalgic thing though Rohini Kejriwal’s Learning and Unlearning looks like a heard-many-times story with a little different packaging.

Abhjit Bhaduri’s Strangers in Strange Places gives a good start to Looking Back, and though I found the start a bit confusing the story was likable with the end it had. But the surprise comes as Ahmed’s Time which turns out to be almost beating Abhijit Bhaduri’s start. While the next story, Remember Me looked like a shameless promotion of Ahmed’s novel Another Chance, the next story, An Accidental Start by Kunal Dhabalia turned out to be one of the best stories on the book. I suppose the stories should have ended here as Rohini’s Growing Up looked more like an essay than a story.

Anyway, as far as the two essays at the end are concerned, Sonia Safri’s Fiction on Campus was not so good, and I’d say a bit biased as it has named number of books but not Chetan Bhagat’s Five Point Someone, kind of an impossible thing. The one thing I liked though is that the essay mentions Ruskin Bond and RK Narayan there and names Narayan as the beginner of campus fiction. The other essay, Bollywood on Campus by Aseem Rastogi, though, is a good one even though it starts looking more like a list of movies after some time.

Overall, Down the Road is a mixed bag which has some good stories from some read and heard-of authors, but the best part is, it has some really good stories written by some very new people in the field. I wish luck to them all.

And very frankly, within less than twenty four hours, I had finished the book more than 90 percent, when I had to stop due to some reasons. Of course, the book was running through my mind and of the things I wanted to do was to thank the author Ahmed Faiyaz as well as the person who had asked me to review the book, Aseem.

No, ANOTHER CHANCE is not a classic, nor is it the best book I have read. But somehow the book touched me deep inside, and that is what I truly loved the book for.

Another Chance is a book about relationships. In fact instead of book or novel, I’d like to use the word ‘story.’ It’s the story of a free spirited girl who passes through various ups, downs and downs in her life. And it’s the story of a boy who loves the girl. And the best thing about the book is that the author has been successful in drawing a very real picture of this relationship that exists between the two main characters of the story. If and whatever negatives come in the book, are overcome only by this major success of the story.

The second good thing about the book is the interest it generates in you. Once you have started and got into the book a bit, it just keeps you going. There are hardly any dull parts in the book and story keeps you interested whether it’s going through the effervecent days of college or the sombre moods of a breaking relationship.

As for the negatives, there are a few. I could find printing and grammar errors in the book, and though very few, say not even ten in the entire book, they can break the flow of the book for a second. Another thing that is good but seems a bit uncalled for in some places is the use of Hindi words in the dialog. Also, a sudden increase in the usage of urban dictionary in a few places looks like a try-too-hard by the author.

Also, with all the ups and downs, the timeline is a bit difficult to follow, at least in absolute terms, but a positive thing there is that the relative order of things is simple to follow and you always know what is happening after what and before what, so no problems with the timeline really.

As for the characters, as I said earlier, the main characters of the book, Ruheen and Aditya are really well defined and people can easily identify with them. Even Varun, and some more characters that are part of story from the start are quite true to themselves, but a few characters may not be that well understood and may be slightly confusing, though it doesn’t at any point create any problem for the main story.

Overall, Another Chance is a good novel that talks of problems that most of us face in different shapes and sizes in our lives today, and in its own subtle manner, it also tries to provide you a solution, without preaching at all. Above all, it’s a story we can relate to. If you’re interested in a story about love, relationships, and various realities of life it may have to pass through, read the book. You may like it, or maybe love it too, the way I did.