Candid Quest with Arpita Ghosh Sarkar- A walk down the Lane!!!

1. First of all, tell us something about yourself... (Family, Background, Education, Location, etc.)

Well I am a homemaker, a mother of a four years old, MBA, from Jabalpur M.P.  I did my schooling from Christ Church Girls’. Worked with Citigroup, HSBC and have traveled to various places in central India.

2. When and how did you start writing?

It just happened... a story struck my mind and I put the same in words...

3. What inspired you to write a book?

Someone around me...

4. Tell us something about your book(s) A walk down the Lane- it’s a matured love story... a story that all young adults can relate to, it is written in a very simple language and Shuvika, the central character can be the girl next door...

5. How do you feel after getting published?

It feels great... I never thought I could pen down around 32000 words so... I m happy.

6. Do you have a specific writing style?

That’s a big question.... yes I have a simple writing style...

7. How did you come up with the title, tagline, cover design etc?

Title was on my mind right from the start... tagline was suggested by my publishers... and I did the cover design myself...

8. Which part of your book was the most difficult to pen down?

When Shuvika leaves the resort... I was not sure about the end at all

9. Any other challenge that you faced while you wrote?

Yes... at times I was carried away emotionally... I did not know how to go about the proceedings... because things were emotional.

10. Does the story relates to you or somebody you know?

Yes... it’s a close friend...

11. Which are your favorite books and writers?

There’s a long list... classics like Gone with the wind, the Notebook are some of them... and amongst writers I am a Shivani fan... in Hindi... and for English I prefer contemporary writers...

12. Which writer do you think influenced you the most?

No one in particular...

13. Do you see writing as a fulltime career?

I am not very sure of that... but for me it is a full time dedication...

14. Learning/experience while writing your book that you would like to share...

Yes... I got to learn a lot... the person... first person narration is easier...

15. Your advice for aspiring and emerging writers?

Just write... whatever you feel the world should know...

16. Any message for your readers.

Communicate... that’s the best way to express yourself...

17. Your  forthcoming book(s)

I am working on two... and they are both love stories...

18. You can be reached at...?

arpitaghoshsarkar@gmail.com  

Author Interview - Sudeep Nagarkar

1. First of all, tell us something about yourself... (Family, Background, Education, Location, etc.)

I am 23 years old, an Electronics Engineer by profession from Mumbai University. I live in Mumbai since childhood and can't think of leaving this city in future too. My dad is an engineer while Mom is working in a Government office. I am basically fond of Indian music and love watching offbeat movies. 

2. When and how did you start writing?

I am a writer by chance and not by choice. It was my close friend, who inspired me to pen down my own story. I learnt many things in my journey of writing. It was 2 years back that I seriously started writing and using Microsoft word :D

3. What inspired you to write a book?

My love. It is said that first novel is always a personal experience. Same is the case with me. Due to genuine reasons we are not together and I want this book to reach her through readers. It also inspired me to portray what true love is and its importance in our busy life.

4. Tell us something about your book(s)

"Few things left unsaid" is based on my personal experiences during my college days and engineering life. This book holds a special place in my life not because it's my baby, but it has all the memories of my relationship and my feelings for my love. It is journey of two hearts who beat for each other and due to some reasons they separate. My novel reveals the painful side of true love along with the exciting one. It tells us reality of relationships after honeymoon period is over. I have tried to give a message that true love remains forever in your heart.

5. How do you feel after getting published?

It feels great. I never thought of writing a book, getting it published and reaching flipkart's bestseller column indeed makes it special. I still believe and tell my readers too that popularity has not brought any change in my day to day life. I still hang out with my friends and still wait for my love.

6. Do you have a specific writing style?

I am no one to comment on this. I think my readers can tell that better. Still, if I have to answer this question, I will say yes. I love to end the chapters in a special way and love to add feelings in it.

7. How did you come up with the title, tagline, cover design etc?

I wanted a simple title which can connect easily with the readers and it did so. Srishti Publications helped a lot in coming up with the title and tagline. Coverpage and title both actually are created in a way which goes according to the theme of the story.

8. Which part of your book was the most difficult to pen down?

Tough to answer this question. If I look back, then I think to pen down the incident where Riya leaves Aditya (Protagonist) was the most difficult part. I actually cried while writing it as I recollected the hard times that I faced few years back when it happened in my life. Writing those incidents were extremely tough and emotional part of the book. I wanted to quit but my friends supported me.

9. Any other challenge that you faced while you wrote?

The main motive was to reach my love. I constantly kept thinking whether she will read it or not. That was a challenge and only motivation for me. I hope someday she reads it.

10. Does the story relates to you or somebody you know?

As the blurb says, It is my true story. The book is dedicated to my love Riya and I want this book to be in hands of everyone so that it can reach Riya's hands some day. True love can create miracles.

11. Which are your favorite books and writers?

There are many. In Indian authors, it's Ravinder Singh and Durjoy. I am addicted to Shidney sheldon books. Even twilight series. But PS I love you is close to my heart.

12. Which writer do you think influenced you the most?

Ravinder Singh and Durjoy datta.

13. Do you see writing as a fulltime career?

Too early to say, I am just 1 book old. :D

14. Learning/experience while writing your book that you would like to share...

When I started writing, I was in depression and writing a book helped me a lot. When I was almost half way through, I deleted the file from my laptop and tore the printed pages too due to frustration and depression. I was dicey whether I will get back my love or not. For whom I am doing these things? But as I said, my friends supported me and kept my motivation alive, and the result is in front of everyone. Within 5 months more than 60,000 copies have been sold all over.

15. Your advice for aspiring and emerging writers?

Be yourself and think out of the box. Patience and hard work should go hand in hand. Best of luck for all the emerging writers.

16. Any message for your readers.

They are the one whom I love the most. They understand me and my feelings, still I want to appeal to everyone that do order "Few things left unsaid" from flipkart, or from any bookstores and spread the love. I hope this book reaches my love and that will be  success for me. There is need to make our youth understand that true love exists and one night stands and bitching has not taken over it. Many novels spread wrong messages. 

17. Your  forthcoming book(s)

My second book will be coming in first half of 2012. Tentative month is May. Hope my readers and fans of FTLU will love my second work too. 

18. You can be reached at...?

Facebook or mail me at sudeepnagarkar@gmail.com. You can even connect with the fan page of my novel. 

http://www.facebook.com/fewthingsleftunsaid

As Long As I Love You .. I will let you hurt me by Nikhil Mahajan !!!

                           3 hours of incessant reading and I finished this 176 pages book “As long as I love you.. I will let you hurt me” by Nikhil Mahajan. This is the second book by the author and the growth in Nikhil Mahajan can be seen. He used to write his personal diary. One day a friend of his read it and recommended him to convert it into a book. With no aim of being a writer, he became one and his own love story got the form in his first book. People complained about its spelling mistake and grammatical errors. Nikhil Mahajan gave a valid point saying that I am no writer and I don't know how to write. I just wanted to express a story and I did. But, I expected his second book to resolve those issues which were present in his first book. But unfortunately, the second book contains too many grammatical mistakes. You feel irritated while reading the story. It's not only the fault of Nikhil Mahajan but also of the publishers who aren't checking out the manuscript before going out for the printing session. Publishers should see that the book is error-free because it pisses off the reader as no one wants to suffer these errors in a book when he spends his 100 bucks on it.


                    Coming to the story, the protagonist of the book- Manav is in love with Meha. He follows her and finally succeeds in winning her. As soon as he gets her, he realizes that he just like Meha but he loves Diva. He dumps Meha for Diva and finally manages to win over Diva. His friend Karan keeps helping him throughout his love stories. Diva's boyfriend KAbir comes into the scene and Diva dumps Manav. Now, Manav gets into a mysterious friendship with his teacher and have physical fun with her. His crush-Gauri knows everything whatever he had with Meha and Diva and also with the teacher. But he proposes her too. Just when he proposes her, Diva comes back into scene. Now, read the book for knowing where did Manav stopped and whom did he selected as his last girlfriend. :-)


                   Nikhil Mahajan has used an easy language to write this novel. He has tried to make this book more funnier than his last one and somewhat he has managed to do so. The poems written periodically in the book are very nice. You can use some of them to impress your partner. :-) The quotes written by Nikhil Mahajan are meant to make you laugh and he succeeds in making you smile in some of them. Story is not very unique and you don't expect the same love stories every time you pick up a book. This book, as promised by the author, is a confusing love story. Yes, it is but the problem is, the readers gets more confused than the story. Nikhil Mahajan is not a writer who is working on this from his childhood as a passion but he has grown last year itself and I personally think that we should give him time to improve. It's not right to expect very much from him. But still, he has improved 10 times better than the time when he came out with his first book. This book si fine for the people who are going to pick up a book for the first time as they will find it easy to read. 

Dream's Sake by Jyoti Arora!!!

             So, I have finally finished reading Jyoti Arora's Dream Sake. First let me share the story of the book as per it's synopsis:




He can be as good as he wants to be and I'll be as bad as I need to be! We'll see where it all ends up,??? says Aashi.


She believes she has a right to fight for her dreams. She believes a little bit of selfishness is necessary to survive in this world. Abhi, however, has not learnt that lesson. And he can't accept the fulfilment of his hopes when they seem to rise from the ruins of Aashi's dreams.


His sister Priyam and friend Sid are made from much the same mould. And in the path of their love too lies a dream ?..... the dream of a dead and betrayed mother.


Feelings rise, and are suppressed. Past grips the present and threatens the future. Memories refuse to wane their shadows from the heart. Hope and despair fight a battle. Guilt rises up and resent the forgiveness. Revenge weaves a web. Friendship is tested. And love demands a sacrifice. A tumultuous battle wages on...


What lies at the end of this battle?




           Coming to the review, Jyoti Arora has defined each and every character so articulately that you don't feel it's a fiction at all. At one point of a time, you start feeling that the story is true and you want the book to end as soon as possible so that you can know what happened with all the characters in the end. Book is based in Delhi and hence you may feel that the book will have all those elements of a city but Jyoti Arora has defined the story as a world of only those 5 characters. It has no connection with any thing else. The whole book concentrates only on the story of the characters. She has perfectly shown a hatred of a son for his father who he thinks is the criminal of his mother's death. She has perfectly shown the trauma of the orphan brother and sister. She has shown the heart of a father who loves his child a lot but remains sad because he don't want to talk to him because of misunderstandings. She has perfectly shown the romantic triangle between the character. The one who is receiving the love is all fine while the one who is bearing his/her love go to somebody else is feeling depressed throughout.




            The story of Dream's Sake is too slow and Jyoti Arora could have made it little short. The story flows very slowly in the beginning while it gains speed in the midst of it but you start feeling annoyed till then. The climax part is too fast and you get a sense of fiction while reading it. Because, the whole book remains so real that you start pretending story as a real incident but in the climax, you get the feel of story-being-scripted. Jyoti Arora has used a very distinct and unique style of writing. She has used beautiful words throughout the book. If someone wants to improve his language and vocabulary, they should pick up this book and read it with full dedication. Else, I would like to give a salute and standing ovation to Jyoti Arora because this girl is suffering with Thalassemia which makes a patient visit hospital every week for dialysis. This made her leave schooling after her seventh class. But she kept reading and the dream of writing motivated her to keep going. Today, she has her book in her hand. What more will you expect from such a girl. Let's pray for her that she turns into National Bestseller very soon. 

Not Totally Unbelievable by Vibhuti Bhandarkar !!!

            
Book Name: Not Totally Unbelievable


Author: Vibhuti Bhandarkar- Vibhuti Bhandarkar was born and brought up in Mumbai, India. A graphic designer and copywriter by profession, Vibhuti is a passionate and prolific writer. She discovered blogging in 2006 and found it to be a fantastic tool for honing her creative writing skills. A doting mother to an extremely naughty two-year old son, Vibhuti has not let go off her pen and keeps her MoJo intact. Numerous accolades and awards from fellow bloggers and writers from around the world, has strengthened Vibhuti-s belief in her pen. -Not Totally Unbelievable- will be her first published collection of fiction short stories book for young adults. She is currently working on a novella.


           Book is a collection 10 stories. Every character is different and unique. All the stories have different outlook. The locations and backgrounds on which the stories are based are different from one another. I would compliment Vibhuti Bhandarkar for this. But, not even a single story touched my heart. She is a blogger and she started her journey through this but I have seen many bloggers posting much better stories than this one. And, I also feel that the cost of the book is extremely high in comparison to its quality and content. For 10 short stories, who pays 95 rs? Publishing house should see this. I don't have anything more to speak on this. Totally Disappointed. Sorry.

The Great Indian Love Story by Ira Trivedi !!!

           
About Author: 

          Ira Trivedi is the author of the best-selling novels “The Great Indian Love Story” (Penguin 2009) and “What Would You Do To Save the World?”(Penguin 2006.)  Her latest book “There is No Love on Wall Street” (Penguin 2011) was released at the Jaipur Literature Festival by Pulitzer Prize winning author Junot Diaz. Her books have been translated into several regional languages and met by critical and public acclaim.
Ira’s wrote her first book when she was 19 years old. Since then, she has gone to create a name for herself in the writing world and she talks extensively at top schools and colleges across the county, including IIM and NIT on topics ranging from becoming a writer, to pursuing non-traditional careers. She has been interviewed by and written for all of India’s major publications including Times of India, Hindustan Times, India Today,  Hindu, DNA, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, etc. She regularly makes television appearances and is invited to speak on various panels and forums.

Ira is also a yoga teacher and teaches at Sivananda yoga centers across the country. Ira truly believes in the Sivananda motto of transforming our lives by serving others and  aims to spread that message through her various talks and discussions.

She holds a MBA from Columbia Business School  where she won the prestigious Feldberg fellowship and a BA in Economics from Wellesley College, USA.


The story of THE GREAT INDIAN LOVE STORY:


           The Great Indian Love story talks about lavish parties, coke mafia, sexed-up dolls and raunchy extra marital affairs. It also talks about how youngsters fall prey to the glittering web and lose themselves in the world of drugs and sex and finally lose their lives.
           The story starts with Riya, who fails to find a job in US after finishing studies and left with no choice returns to Delhi, her hometown. This is where her life takes a turn, Riya gets introduced to a bubbly girl Serena, who becomes her closest ally in town and through her, Riya sees the plush side of Delhi and it's people. From here Serena and her story takes over, which helps Riya to realise her aim in life.
            It is also the story of Parmeet, Serena’s mother, who looks for passion outside her marriage with disastrous consequences, and S.P. Sharma, Parmeet’s husband, who is driven to violence by her infidelity. Ira Trivedi weaves together sex, revenge, glitz, friendship and a chilling murder to create a potent cocktail in this gripping novel on the perfidious nature of love and power.


My Review:


              The reason of picking The Great Indian Love Story was the charming face of Ira Trivedi. Yes, I'm that kind of an idiot. Then, I cam to know that she has participated in Miss India. Now, I don't know how did she lost it but if I would have judged, she would have had that crown on her head. :-) But, after reading this book, I am happy to meet one of those rare girls who are a combination of Brain and Beauty. First, I would like to talk about the publishers- Penguin Books. Penguin Books has given the best outlook to the book with perfect cover page and perfect fonts and paper quality. You get a good feel while reading a book of good quality. Now coming to the Ira Trivedi's work, the book is written with a nice flow of story. The language is perfect. You get to learn some good words too. But it's not a book which will compel you to sit with a dictionary. You will enjoy reading as every sentence is structured so perfectly that you turn out to be a fan of Ira. The book ends up in 188 pages and every page has a life into it. Generally, a book is written with a short fiction extended upto 200 pages but this book has so much variety into it. It has many elements and many stories into the story of the protagonist- Serena. 


            Coming to the story, book starts with Riya narrating how she leaves USA because of financial problems and comes to Delhi. But suddenly in the next chapter you find that Serena is narrating her piece. After reading Serena's part, you start liking her more than Riya. The meeting part of Riya and Serene is very funny. I liked it. :-) Then the story moves ahead and Serena's mother, father and step-father comes into the scene. When you read the first chapter narrated by Serena's mother- Parmeet, you start hating her but as soon as you read the second narration of her, you start liking her. The sexual stuff between Serena and Abdullah is described perfectly that you can imagine Serena's emotions. The excitement level of the book moots by 1 from 146th page.The pregnancy part makes you sweat. Then, the abortion part almost killed me. Ira has given a very nice description of the girls who has to abort their babies just because of the rejection of boys who are the culprit of it. I started hating the character of Salman after reading this part. The climax of the book is so unpredictable. And the good part of The Great Indian Love Story is that the whole story is unpredictable and you don't know where's its going. :-)


             I didn't found any kind of drawback in the book except one. The character of Riya is not used much and it disappoints the reader because Ira started the book with her but made her a supporting character of the story. Else, I didn't found any loose part in the book. Everything is perfectly embedded in a story. This is how things happen in cities like Delhi and Mumbai. Even I have seen some. I will rate this book- 3.3 out of 5. You can definitely read it once. And I would say- Do try it. And yes, rating is given on the basis of book and no point is given to the Ira's beauty. :-)

Plz.. Kiss me or Kill me by Mihir Raj !!!

              I started reading this book and my right eye got swollen. I kept cursing my eyes because I wanted to finish this story as soon as possible because I started loving its characters. But the sore eyes remained for next 3 days and finally, when I woke up today morning, I saw that it was fine. I washed my eyes immediately and sat down to read the book and finished it just now. The name of the book is "Plz.. Kiss me or Kill me". The author of the book is young and handsome- Mihir Raj. 


            Let me give an introduction of the writer- Mihir was born on 19th May in Dumka, now in Jharkhand. His childhood became blessed after arrival of his younger brother Sameer in his life and family. Basically from Bihar, Mihir has done his schooling from Delhi. Naughty in childhood, shy and introvert during school days and finally extrovert and a bit reserved in college. Blessed enough to be a medico; a dream of his childhood. A medico who developed a great passion for writing by the virtue of an introspective phase in his life when he realized this innate quality. Medicine is his profession but writing is the other side of his persona. He is a star blogger at Jagran Junction and one of the winners of ‘BlogStar’ contest that was concluded recently by Dainik Jagran newspaper. His blogs are widely viewed and rated. Apart from medicine and writing, Mihir loves singing and acting. He dreams to build hospitals in far flung areas where health facilities still do not exist and where the mortality rate is alarming simply because people do not get even basic health care.


              Coming to the story- The protagonist Raj takes an admission in the medical college of his dreams. He finds that a boy is being ragged by the seniors. He goes and helps him and later comes to know that this Rajput boy- Robin is his roommate. Raj and Rahul are already friends because Raj stays at Rahul's house until he gets an accommodation in the hostel. So, these three boys turns into very close buddies. Shivani is Rahul's childhood friend and she loves him a lot. She becomes good friends with Robin and Raj and finally this friendship is turned into relationship of Brothers and Sister. Both, Robin and Raj asks Rahul to agree to the proposal of Shivani and be in relationship with her but he keeps ignoring the matter saying that he is not a perfect match for her. The day, Robin and Raj comes to know about the fact of Rahul, they get a shock but they agree to accept him as their sister's partner. Now, Raj falls in love with a senior- Charu. But, when he comes to know that Charu is also a muse of Robin, the love story goes on a year break. Then, an interesting character named- Ankita enters the story as the teacher. Before seeing Ankita as a teacher in college, Robin sees her in Lajpat Nagar and fells in love there. Seeing her as teacher is a shock to him as well as to his friends. Now, the three complicated love stories starts progressing. The bond of friendship keeps getting stronger with this race of love. Ab sab main hi bataun? Go and get the book. 


              Coming to the Review: Book starts with a very good scene of Ragging of freshers by their seniors. It's scary. The character of Robin is interesting and I like his possession of being a Rajput. The personality of the protagonist Raj is shown quite Desi initially. Thoda Masaley ki jarurat thi starting se hi. Rahul's character is shown as a suspicious character throughout the book and it's a good take. The revelation of making love with a boy of one of the male character is shown as a shock factor in the story while I ROFLed at it. I enjoyed that part. But the acceptance of other two friends after knowing it is emotional and touchy. I liked that part. The character of Ankita is the most interesting part of the book. The climax could have been beautiful but still, its fine. Book is written in a simple language. It is easy for a new reader who has just started picking up the books. 


              There are some drawbacks in the book too. Mihir is a Writer-by-chance but still book could have been proof-read and then sent for a print. There are lots of grammatical mistakes, punctuation mistakes and few spelling mistakes too. Even publisher should have seen this. The climax is very fast and Mihir should have elaborated those incidents too. The use of "Muslim Organization" is not a right thing to do while writing a book which is going to be read by masses. A religion can't be pointed out in such a way. Else, book is fine and the first half of the book is amazing while everything related to the character of Ankita is awesome. You can go for it. And my suggestion to Mihir Raj would be- Read more books of your genre buddy and try to be different from other contemporary writers in your next book. :-)