MellowDrama

I AM M-M-MUMBAI is a romantic novel written by @fishyrishi / Rishi Vohra. This is his third work of fiction. . The book revolves around a Mumbai lad Rudra Talpade who wants to become a Hindi film actor. But this wish remains deep inside his heart as he knows that it is just next to impossible to make it come true. Why? Because Rudra stammers. The story progresses and we meet other characters that make up the book among which are his parents, a sister living in the US and his  friends Shibani and Ankur. We also know that Rudra is working as an Assistant Director for a certain film where only the lead actress is kind to him. Soon Rudra meets Richa at a wedding and falls hard for her. Richa agrees to meet him on a couple of occasions and breaks off her engagement to be able to follow her heart which she has been inspired to do, by Rudra. But soon enough she realises that it was a mistake and dumps Rudra who akin to Devdas spirals down to some bar, gets sloshed, finds himself in a gut

The Chopra Sisters is Rahul Vishnoi's third presentation after Who Burned The Moon? and a collection of shorts called Love Littering the Lanes. I have read the debut book and one of the 4 stories featured in the collection. Then I read this and I can summarise all that I have to write by saying that he is getting better at his craft. But as a had-been editor, I won't be justifying my previous job title if I do not talk about the lacunae. The story outline first. The main cast of the story that Vishnoi presents to us here is quite apparent from the title of the book. This is about two sisters who are actually more or less disasters. Always at each other's throat, the girls are just too much to handle for their father, especiallyafter the mother dies. (Reminds one of the trailers of Patakha, a film about two forever fighting sisters.) Anyway they go their separate ways once the elder one decides that she wants to marry the boy who was chosen by their father to marr

Another book by Keigo Higashio that is simple yet complex in terms of plot development, Salvation of a Saint might have strained my nerves because of its length but was in no way a disappointment. I started the year 2018 with the Devotion of Suspect X by the acclaimed Japanese author and was blown away, and so when nothing seemed to work in terms of my reading in 2019, I went back to him, knowing whatever I might pick I will enjoy it and break the jinx that the year seemed to have started on. As soon as the book begins we know that a murder has been plotted. We are introduced to the killer and the victim in almost a single breath. You might wonder then what remains to be revealed. And this is where Higashino's expertise lies. The HOW- How was the murder committed? He presents you the settings for a perfect crime. No one seems to be able to figure out how was the deed done even if the detective at times might already know who did it. This seemingly impossible thing to figure ou

You know how it is when you open social media and sort of in a moment when you are to being mindful begin to feel sorry for yourself. You get into a rut and keep lamenting about things that could have been. You keep thinking about how good things only seem to be happening to people who take snapshots and frame them for Facebook posts and Instagram feed. Maybe they do it for the Twitter and Tumblr and Snapchat and whatever else there is, what would I know, as I can barely handle those two. So to cut a long story short, lying in the bed till a few minutes ago I was lamenting the lack of holidays and holiday pictures as well parties and party pictures and cursing my luck how I never seem be able to do anything 'fun' and being stuck in this unenviable spot like forever since 1990s. then I began to think of the most momentous thing that has happened to mean the last 1 year and it was like opening the floodgates of memory. I began to realise how giving this whole year had been and

I have just finished reading the 1983 Pulitzer Prize winner and a National Book Award winner, The Color Purple by Alice Walker. As I write this I realise that I was two years old when the book was first published and maybe 4 when the movie based on it released. Women were even then (1982) fighting for things which they are struggling for now (2018) and they seem to be doing just that even during the time the book is set in (1900-1940s roughly) Alice Walker had been on my to-be-read list this year. A list that had made somewhere in the middle of the year about authors new and old, that I wanted to at least taste in this year. (I am mighty proud that I have accomplished quite some) The interesting thing about this book is that I have come very close to reading this book a few times really but never ever got down to even getting started. The a few months ago I downloaded it on to the Kindle. I started and though it wasn't easy to read it- both because, of the difficult subjec

Durga Puja is here. This is that time of the year about which you would not understand anything important unless you are here in Bengal observing the people. Yes, there is Durga Ma's arrival and strict vegetarian code in the kitchens all over but what is more is how the atmosphere of the place changes, the joyful vibe as life looks on at something new that brews up in those 9 days of merry making and mingling. Having said this for Pujos, I think it is probably true for all the other festivals that are celebrated around the world. You will probably agree with me when I say that no one is supposed to be alone on or for a festival. So the primary role of a festival is that of a social activity. Seeing how Durga Puja is celebrated in Kolkata for the past five years I have realised that a subtle purpose behind this particular festival was to treat it as a good time to find a date, a partner or if you are a die-hard romantic, love. Let me give you an idea about how Durga Puja play

Chitrika Bhargava’s  Letters to Me and You  is a collection of poems dealing with the intricacies of love and loss. Though the love poems do make up the larger part of this book, there are a few letters here as well. The poems, like I said deal with love, loss and everything in between, the four letters (more like short notes) are written to different people from different stages in the author’s life (I presume)- an old love, a forever love, to a younger self by an older, wiser self. They send out a strong message in self-love, acceptance and moving on.  Though the themes are nothing new here- love, longing, desperation, hope and discovery of self- I think what Ms Bhargava does achieve with her book is a gradual maturity in her subject as well as its execution as the book progresses. The poems are divided into four sections- Ever mine, Remnants of Yo u, Me and You .  They all take a start from their respective titles, for example, I personally found resonance in some poems f