Sukanya Basu Mallik's Blog, page 2
November 4, 2018
In a conversation with Manish Gaekwad
Hello book lovers, today we have on board the author of Lean days- Manish Gaekwad. A freelance journalist based in Mumbai, he has written for Scroll.in, The Hindu and Midday. Lean Days is his debut novel. So without further ado , let's get started! 
1. One fictional character that resembles you the most?A friend said I am like Sheldon Cooper from the television show The Big Bang Theory – that I am anti-social, stubborn and have a wry sense of humour. All true, except that I haven’t seen the show to corroborate.2. What is your writing motivation? Money, for rent at least, so that I can have a roof to write under on rainy days.3. Who's your favourite author?This year, Sally Rooney. Last year it was Anthony Doerr, before that Sarah Bakewell, Hanya Yanagihara. Keeps changing every year. Perennial favourite at one time was Michael Ondaatje, now in a list of many. 4. Few quickies :Money or fame? Right now, with rising living costs, money of course. Fame can knock later, even posthumously is fine. Money allows you to be free to write, fame makes you delusional and stop writing.Commercial fiction or literary fiction? Literary fiction, despite being well aware that there is no money in it. Blogging or vlogging?Blogging.Interviews or book reviews? Reviews please. Audiobooks or ebooks?Printed books.Paperbacks or hardbacks?Depends – hardback for bookshelf, paperback on the go.5. How long did it take to write the first draft? 6 months.6. How was your experience? Did it differ from your expectations? Magical at first, holding the manuscript of the draft, like it was some messianic message from the gods that needed to be sent out into the world through multiple photocopies. More or less the gist was as I felt, so expectations were met.7. What do you think is the most exciting thing about being a 1st time author? And how much of it went into your book ? Did you tweak it or was it completely a product of your imagination?Debutants are idealistic as I was. 6 months after publication I realize how tough it is to get reviewed because there are so many books being written and so few people who read and review. But I also see how younger people are taking to social media to put out reviews, snippets, and gorgeous photos about titles they like. And so even that helps in the absence of coverage from print media. Lean Days isn’t perfect but I also wanted the narrative to be structure-free and meandering. It could use a little more editing for what editors calls a commercial title. The book borrows a lot from the world around me. Fact and fiction blend and blur and sometimes for the reader to separate the two is what makes reading it worthwhile I guess.8. What do you think is the biggest challenge?Not writing. 9. Who's your favourite debut author so far?Leila Slimani's Lullaby. It is her second novel, but her first to be translated from French. 10. Could you kindly introduce us to Lean days in brief? Lean Days is about an amateur writer setting out on an unplanned journey across the country in search of love, inspiration to write, and stories to record. It can literally lean into the territory of autofiction, where the unnamed narrator of the book sometimes reflects on the experiences of the author writing the book. I traveled across the country for about a year on a solo-trip and took notes throughout in the hope that at the end of the trip I will find a story to tell. Later, when I looked at the diary entries and wondered where the story was, I decided to add fictional elements to give it a novel-length form. 11. A lesson that you've learnt throughout the process of publishing your first book? Yes, never give up. Everyone will reject it if you don’t have a reputation that precedes you. It took six years for my book to be published. Several agents, publishers, and editors kept it in cold storage until an email from the-then commissioning editor Somak Ghoshal (HarperCollins) landed in my inbox one day. This year when Section 377 was struck down it seemed like a good time for the book to make its debut so it all worked out well eventually.12. Your advice to aspiring authors?Read. Repeat. Read.About Manish Gaekwad : Manish Gaekwad is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai. He has written for Scroll.in, The Hindu and Midday. Lean Days is his debut novel. He is currently pursuing a career in film writing and hopes to write Hindi film songs in the future. He blogs occasionally at: https://medium.com/@manishgaekwad and is active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram under his name.
1. One fictional character that resembles you the most?A friend said I am like Sheldon Cooper from the television show The Big Bang Theory – that I am anti-social, stubborn and have a wry sense of humour. All true, except that I haven’t seen the show to corroborate.2. What is your writing motivation? Money, for rent at least, so that I can have a roof to write under on rainy days.3. Who's your favourite author?This year, Sally Rooney. Last year it was Anthony Doerr, before that Sarah Bakewell, Hanya Yanagihara. Keeps changing every year. Perennial favourite at one time was Michael Ondaatje, now in a list of many. 4. Few quickies :Money or fame? Right now, with rising living costs, money of course. Fame can knock later, even posthumously is fine. Money allows you to be free to write, fame makes you delusional and stop writing.Commercial fiction or literary fiction? Literary fiction, despite being well aware that there is no money in it. Blogging or vlogging?Blogging.Interviews or book reviews? Reviews please. Audiobooks or ebooks?Printed books.Paperbacks or hardbacks?Depends – hardback for bookshelf, paperback on the go.5. How long did it take to write the first draft? 6 months.6. How was your experience? Did it differ from your expectations? Magical at first, holding the manuscript of the draft, like it was some messianic message from the gods that needed to be sent out into the world through multiple photocopies. More or less the gist was as I felt, so expectations were met.7. What do you think is the most exciting thing about being a 1st time author? And how much of it went into your book ? Did you tweak it or was it completely a product of your imagination?Debutants are idealistic as I was. 6 months after publication I realize how tough it is to get reviewed because there are so many books being written and so few people who read and review. But I also see how younger people are taking to social media to put out reviews, snippets, and gorgeous photos about titles they like. And so even that helps in the absence of coverage from print media. Lean Days isn’t perfect but I also wanted the narrative to be structure-free and meandering. It could use a little more editing for what editors calls a commercial title. The book borrows a lot from the world around me. Fact and fiction blend and blur and sometimes for the reader to separate the two is what makes reading it worthwhile I guess.8. What do you think is the biggest challenge?Not writing. 9. Who's your favourite debut author so far?Leila Slimani's Lullaby. It is her second novel, but her first to be translated from French. 10. Could you kindly introduce us to Lean days in brief? Lean Days is about an amateur writer setting out on an unplanned journey across the country in search of love, inspiration to write, and stories to record. It can literally lean into the territory of autofiction, where the unnamed narrator of the book sometimes reflects on the experiences of the author writing the book. I traveled across the country for about a year on a solo-trip and took notes throughout in the hope that at the end of the trip I will find a story to tell. Later, when I looked at the diary entries and wondered where the story was, I decided to add fictional elements to give it a novel-length form. 11. A lesson that you've learnt throughout the process of publishing your first book? Yes, never give up. Everyone will reject it if you don’t have a reputation that precedes you. It took six years for my book to be published. Several agents, publishers, and editors kept it in cold storage until an email from the-then commissioning editor Somak Ghoshal (HarperCollins) landed in my inbox one day. This year when Section 377 was struck down it seemed like a good time for the book to make its debut so it all worked out well eventually.12. Your advice to aspiring authors?Read. Repeat. Read.About Manish Gaekwad : Manish Gaekwad is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai. He has written for Scroll.in, The Hindu and Midday. Lean Days is his debut novel. He is currently pursuing a career in film writing and hopes to write Hindi film songs in the future. He blogs occasionally at: https://medium.com/@manishgaekwad and is active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram under his name.
In a conversation with author Vadhan
Hello book lovers, today we have on board, author Vadhan, the author of Agniputr and Kronikles series. A corporate lawyer by profession, his books have no hint of his job. So without further ado, let's get started! 
1. One fictional character that resembles you the most?They’re all my children, the good and the bad. I take pride in each of them. I guess if I really introspect there is a lot more of Raghuram Surya in me than Govind Kiromal if you take my second book, ‘Agniputr’. There is a lot more of Ajathashatru in me than his apprentice, Kris, in my first book ‘Shatru’. But the villain of ‘Shatru’, the demon known as ‘The Disparate’, is also three dimensional. There is a bit of ‘the Disparate’ in me too. 2. What is your writing motivation? I write to entertain. If there are life-lessons to be learnt on the way, good luck in learning them. I don’t believe it is my place in the world to preach to others. I like to entertain by engaging with my reader. To get my audience to take me seriously, I do deep-dive research to get my facts right. The motivation? Let’s see now…it’s an impulse. The impulse builds into a tempest. The tempest must be unleashed. It must be. And that’s my motivation to write. My writing is not structured. I don’t know what’s going to happen next in my story. I am as surprised by it as my readers would be. I have a vague idea of how I want it to end so the events unfolding will unequivocally lead to some form of that ending. Funny part is, each time, I draw a structure in the very beginning about characters (names, behavioural patterns), the story, etc. Once done, I completely ignore the structure and simply write. Most times the book has nothing in common with the structure.3. How and why did you get started with Agniputr? Any special reason behind your genre choice?The book is actually multi-genre. After Shatru, a friend asked me to consider a book where mythology dovetails into futuristic science. The concept really excited me. My challenge was to make it simple. No one wants to read complicated scientific theories and mythological facts. I think I succeeded to a fair degree in culling out a tight action thriller.Agniputr has human caprice as its foundation. The characters make choices on which side of the line they want to be. It has paranormal/ supernatural undertones that is always present at all times throughout the book. Like a dull ache in the pit of the stomach. Constant. I have layered politics, law, philosophy, mythology, fantasy and action onto the basic premise as the situation demanded to keep the pace up and to engage with my readers. 4. Few quickies :Money or fame? Is, ‘both’, a valid answer? It better be because that’s what I want.Commercial fiction or literary fiction? Entertainment fiction. The rest is just labelling. Blogging or vlogging?I am a man of words.Interviews or book reviews? One gets the author out into the open, the other gets his work out into the open. Equally important.Audiobooks or ebooks?My gran used to tell me stories.Paperbacks or hardbacks?Prefer either of them to ebooks!Plotter or panster? Panster or maybe, Planster. Explained why in the question about motivation.5. How long does it take to write the first draft? You've written multiple books now. Did you slow down or speed up your writing process? I’ll break this question into two.A. Out of the six or seven manuscripts I have (two published), the fastest so far is a book that’s going to hit the stands soon. It took me one and a half months to complete the first draft. But it was a feverish rush. I loved what’s come out. Can’t reveal more about the book right now, though.B. I did slow down a little in the writing process because professional commitments keeps me away from writing. What I realised though was that the longer I am away, the better I get qualitatively. Just like in any other artistic inclination, monotony brings in a certain lethargy into the manuscript. Frequent breaks ensure a free flow of ideas and imagination.6. How was your experience? Did it differ from your expectations? My experience as an author is the single most exhilarating thing in my life. I am in nirvana when I write. Time flies. The world of my senses disappears to accommodate a world building in my mind.7. What do you think is the most exciting thing about a book release?It’s the moment of truth. When you’re a nobody in the book scene, a release introduces you to your audience. As you gain prominence, it is a measure to understand how much you’ve engaged your audience. 8. What are the pros and cons of traditional publishing? The pros: A. Someone believes enough in you to take a chance publishing your work. B. The publisher is an equal partner in your work, putting their reputation and money on the line to make a success out of your book. C. It is a validation of your own conviction in yourself. D. A big publishing house tagged to you will help in selling your book.The Cons: A. Except for trade selling (distribution to booksellers) traditional publishers hardly do book marketing in India. (This is applicable to self-publishing as well.) B. It is left to the author to publicise himself and his book. C. In a world where there are at least 100 new authors coming in every month, marketing is a tough ask even if your book is exceptionally good unless you have deep pockets to fund your book marketing.9. Who's your favourite author so far and why?I’ll talk about the authors I read rather than the authors I personally know. Amongst Indian authors, I have read Ashwin Sanghi, Amish, Devdutt Patnaik, Shashi Tharoor and others. I have enjoyed them. Amongst the international writers, the list is never ending. Robert Ludlum, Lee Child, Stephen King, J.R.R.Tolkien, R.R. Martin, Dean Koontz, Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle and that greatest of all writers who writes the most difficult form of writing, a comedy, P.G. Wodehouse. There are a myriad others including Earl Stanley Gardner, Leslie Charteris, Jim Butcher, and many more.10. Could you kindly introduce us to your latest book in brief?My latest published book is Agniputr: When Agni First Spoke. A tantric unleashes a cataclysmic evil into the world through practice of a forbidden ritual. The only way to stop the destruction of the world is through interpreting an incantation from the Black Yajurveda which will help bring in a counter-force. By a twist of circumstances, Raghuram, a lawyer and Sheila, a scientist, come together to interpret the incantation. The only way to interpret it is through using quantum theories. Every step of their path is fraught with danger from Kiromal, an all-powerful politician who intends to control the evil in order to gain control over unimaginable power. As the time for reckoning draws near, will the duo be able to face an evil too powerful for them to handle? Will they be able to ward-off the politician and his deadly cohorts long enough to save the world? Or are they pawns in a game that they haven’t even begun to understand?11. A lesson that you've learnt throughout the process of publishing your book babies? Go for a good publisher with a strong background. It helps in selling your book. 12. Your advice to aspiring authors?Your book is your dream, your life’s work and an author’s life is all about struggle until you get your big break. Once you self-publish and it bombs, it take a lot of time to salvage your work and your confidence. Every rejection is an opportunity to fine tune your work until it is cutting edge. If you are sincere and willing to better yourself as a wordsmith, you will succeed. You will. I can be reached at authorvadhan@gmail.com or on the @authorvadhan handles on Instagram, facebook and twitter.
1. One fictional character that resembles you the most?They’re all my children, the good and the bad. I take pride in each of them. I guess if I really introspect there is a lot more of Raghuram Surya in me than Govind Kiromal if you take my second book, ‘Agniputr’. There is a lot more of Ajathashatru in me than his apprentice, Kris, in my first book ‘Shatru’. But the villain of ‘Shatru’, the demon known as ‘The Disparate’, is also three dimensional. There is a bit of ‘the Disparate’ in me too. 2. What is your writing motivation? I write to entertain. If there are life-lessons to be learnt on the way, good luck in learning them. I don’t believe it is my place in the world to preach to others. I like to entertain by engaging with my reader. To get my audience to take me seriously, I do deep-dive research to get my facts right. The motivation? Let’s see now…it’s an impulse. The impulse builds into a tempest. The tempest must be unleashed. It must be. And that’s my motivation to write. My writing is not structured. I don’t know what’s going to happen next in my story. I am as surprised by it as my readers would be. I have a vague idea of how I want it to end so the events unfolding will unequivocally lead to some form of that ending. Funny part is, each time, I draw a structure in the very beginning about characters (names, behavioural patterns), the story, etc. Once done, I completely ignore the structure and simply write. Most times the book has nothing in common with the structure.3. How and why did you get started with Agniputr? Any special reason behind your genre choice?The book is actually multi-genre. After Shatru, a friend asked me to consider a book where mythology dovetails into futuristic science. The concept really excited me. My challenge was to make it simple. No one wants to read complicated scientific theories and mythological facts. I think I succeeded to a fair degree in culling out a tight action thriller.Agniputr has human caprice as its foundation. The characters make choices on which side of the line they want to be. It has paranormal/ supernatural undertones that is always present at all times throughout the book. Like a dull ache in the pit of the stomach. Constant. I have layered politics, law, philosophy, mythology, fantasy and action onto the basic premise as the situation demanded to keep the pace up and to engage with my readers. 4. Few quickies :Money or fame? Is, ‘both’, a valid answer? It better be because that’s what I want.Commercial fiction or literary fiction? Entertainment fiction. The rest is just labelling. Blogging or vlogging?I am a man of words.Interviews or book reviews? One gets the author out into the open, the other gets his work out into the open. Equally important.Audiobooks or ebooks?My gran used to tell me stories.Paperbacks or hardbacks?Prefer either of them to ebooks!Plotter or panster? Panster or maybe, Planster. Explained why in the question about motivation.5. How long does it take to write the first draft? You've written multiple books now. Did you slow down or speed up your writing process? I’ll break this question into two.A. Out of the six or seven manuscripts I have (two published), the fastest so far is a book that’s going to hit the stands soon. It took me one and a half months to complete the first draft. But it was a feverish rush. I loved what’s come out. Can’t reveal more about the book right now, though.B. I did slow down a little in the writing process because professional commitments keeps me away from writing. What I realised though was that the longer I am away, the better I get qualitatively. Just like in any other artistic inclination, monotony brings in a certain lethargy into the manuscript. Frequent breaks ensure a free flow of ideas and imagination.6. How was your experience? Did it differ from your expectations? My experience as an author is the single most exhilarating thing in my life. I am in nirvana when I write. Time flies. The world of my senses disappears to accommodate a world building in my mind.7. What do you think is the most exciting thing about a book release?It’s the moment of truth. When you’re a nobody in the book scene, a release introduces you to your audience. As you gain prominence, it is a measure to understand how much you’ve engaged your audience. 8. What are the pros and cons of traditional publishing? The pros: A. Someone believes enough in you to take a chance publishing your work. B. The publisher is an equal partner in your work, putting their reputation and money on the line to make a success out of your book. C. It is a validation of your own conviction in yourself. D. A big publishing house tagged to you will help in selling your book.The Cons: A. Except for trade selling (distribution to booksellers) traditional publishers hardly do book marketing in India. (This is applicable to self-publishing as well.) B. It is left to the author to publicise himself and his book. C. In a world where there are at least 100 new authors coming in every month, marketing is a tough ask even if your book is exceptionally good unless you have deep pockets to fund your book marketing.9. Who's your favourite author so far and why?I’ll talk about the authors I read rather than the authors I personally know. Amongst Indian authors, I have read Ashwin Sanghi, Amish, Devdutt Patnaik, Shashi Tharoor and others. I have enjoyed them. Amongst the international writers, the list is never ending. Robert Ludlum, Lee Child, Stephen King, J.R.R.Tolkien, R.R. Martin, Dean Koontz, Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle and that greatest of all writers who writes the most difficult form of writing, a comedy, P.G. Wodehouse. There are a myriad others including Earl Stanley Gardner, Leslie Charteris, Jim Butcher, and many more.10. Could you kindly introduce us to your latest book in brief?My latest published book is Agniputr: When Agni First Spoke. A tantric unleashes a cataclysmic evil into the world through practice of a forbidden ritual. The only way to stop the destruction of the world is through interpreting an incantation from the Black Yajurveda which will help bring in a counter-force. By a twist of circumstances, Raghuram, a lawyer and Sheila, a scientist, come together to interpret the incantation. The only way to interpret it is through using quantum theories. Every step of their path is fraught with danger from Kiromal, an all-powerful politician who intends to control the evil in order to gain control over unimaginable power. As the time for reckoning draws near, will the duo be able to face an evil too powerful for them to handle? Will they be able to ward-off the politician and his deadly cohorts long enough to save the world? Or are they pawns in a game that they haven’t even begun to understand?11. A lesson that you've learnt throughout the process of publishing your book babies? Go for a good publisher with a strong background. It helps in selling your book. 12. Your advice to aspiring authors?Your book is your dream, your life’s work and an author’s life is all about struggle until you get your big break. Once you self-publish and it bombs, it take a lot of time to salvage your work and your confidence. Every rejection is an opportunity to fine tune your work until it is cutting edge. If you are sincere and willing to better yourself as a wordsmith, you will succeed. You will. I can be reached at authorvadhan@gmail.com or on the @authorvadhan handles on Instagram, facebook and twitter.
November 3, 2018
How an iPhone Made Me the Youngest Billionaaireeby K SARAFF-A book review
How an iPhone Made Me the Youngest Billionaaireeby K SARAFF Paperback, 167 pagesPublished November 21st 2015Published by Notion press ISBN9352064984 (ISBN13: 9789352064984)Edition LanguageEnglishAbout the author :A serial entrepreneur, social entrepreneur and an author.K sraff has written books on BBA, he created a mobile application and is also the founder of an NGO. After the above, his debut book "How an iPhone Made Me the Youngest Billionaairee" came into existence.About the book :Destiny conspires with hard-work to create what he deserved. Based on a true story where the author incurs many failures in life but believes that failure comes to those who deserve something bigger. He continuously fails in many entrepreneurial ventures but his attitude towards great sayings keeps him going. Despite not having the best of qualifications, he defies the rule and the common notion that only qualified make it large. Common beliefs of the masses have been challenged at every point.The mention of the business ventures he undertakes while in college and the problems solved by his early philosophical knowledge. Despite being discouraged by the non-entrepreneurial environment, he dares to rise against the wind. ....
Based on a popular belief that if you desire something from the core of your heart the entire universe will conspire to lead you to your dreams. This book tries to instill a positive attitude in its readers however isn't much pragmatic. The writing could've been better but keeping in mind that this one's a nonfiction read chiefly and is more of a book to take lessons from,perhaps we can overlook the authors flaws. His story is definitely inspiring but seems to be fictional at places. His intention is apparently a positive one and thus I applaud him for his attempt at inspiring young entrepreneurs. Good luck to him for the rest of his career.
Based on a popular belief that if you desire something from the core of your heart the entire universe will conspire to lead you to your dreams. This book tries to instill a positive attitude in its readers however isn't much pragmatic. The writing could've been better but keeping in mind that this one's a nonfiction read chiefly and is more of a book to take lessons from,perhaps we can overlook the authors flaws. His story is definitely inspiring but seems to be fictional at places. His intention is apparently a positive one and thus I applaud him for his attempt at inspiring young entrepreneurs. Good luck to him for the rest of his career.
Inkredia - Luwan of Bridaby Sarang Mahajan- a book review
Inkredia - Luwan of Bridaby Sarang Mahajan Paperback, 388 pagesPublished 2017 by Gloryburg Publishing LLP (first published January 1st 2011)About the bookIn Fal Doram, also called as the great empire of Inkredia, a conspiracy begins to unfold. The first step is an easy one – kill a simple, villager named Luwan. When Luwan suddenly faces an enemy straight out of the folklore, he is left dumbfounded by the mystery why they are after him. As he makes a daring run to survive, journeying through the unknown world outside his village, new mysteries emerge, some closely concerning him. Riddled with questions and hunted by legendary assassins, and by the nonhumans made of the darkest element in the nature, Luwan makes a dangerous journey through the incredible empire of Inkredia.About the author :Sarang Mahajan, an avid fan of fantasy/adventure novels is the author of Inkredia, a book appreciated by the audiences across India, USA and UK. The book has caught attention of Indian readers as the first, major authentic fantasy by an Indian writer. Sarang Mahajan also writes Screenplays for TV shows. He is also fond of travel photography and travel writing..................
The torso of the storyline is not something entirely new. Young Luwan turns out to be an extraordinary being but doesn't know so initially. As the novel progresses he is Chased after by monsters while gradually discovering his speciality. In Indian mythology books that are overrated I often found that the descriptions clearly were like Bollywood’s action scenes. That’s not negative but most authors overdo it. Sarang Mahajan however has balanced it perfectly. Pros of being a screen writer maybe but his world building technique is just too good. That being said I didn’t find the plot outstanding. The book was a page turner (because of the great narrative), however I felt like the pace speeded up way too much for me to follow. Had to reread those parts but even that was a pleasure. This is just his debut novel. I wish him luck with the rest of his career.
The torso of the storyline is not something entirely new. Young Luwan turns out to be an extraordinary being but doesn't know so initially. As the novel progresses he is Chased after by monsters while gradually discovering his speciality. In Indian mythology books that are overrated I often found that the descriptions clearly were like Bollywood’s action scenes. That’s not negative but most authors overdo it. Sarang Mahajan however has balanced it perfectly. Pros of being a screen writer maybe but his world building technique is just too good. That being said I didn’t find the plot outstanding. The book was a page turner (because of the great narrative), however I felt like the pace speeded up way too much for me to follow. Had to reread those parts but even that was a pleasure. This is just his debut novel. I wish him luck with the rest of his career.
Love of My Lifeby Rohit Sharma -a book review
Love of My Lifeby Rohit Sharma Paperback, 276 pagesPublished February 2nd 2018 by Brosis Publishers and DistributorsISBN8193450256 (ISBN13: 9788193450253)Edition LanguageEnglish Pain, sometimes, is like Love . . . It grows, until it becomes your Life. Major Virat Singh Rajput was once a fearless Black Cat commando who had saved Mumbai from its venomous perpetrators. His life took a beautiful turn when he got engaged to Pratishtha Sachdev, the girl he had selflessly loved for the last fourteen years. Everything was blissful, until one day Pratishtha mysteriously went missing. Virat, who was hailed as India’s hero, has now become a villain and is facing a certain death penalty. Only one woman can save him. Criminal Defence Lawyer Vaishnavi Pandit has not won her first six cases. She is adamant to win her seventh. But, still, no one knows where Pratishtha is. No one still knows what the motive behind Virat’s crime was. The odds are heavily against Vaishnavi. Let’s unfold together a deeply romantic and nail-biting story about true love, excruciating pain and lurid vengeance – a thrilling story about love and honesty, hatred and deceit.About the author :Rohit Sharma is a fiction/non-fiction writer, motivational speaker and the best-selling author of ‘TeAmo… I Love You’, ’12 HOURS’, and the recently released 'LOVE OF MY LIFE'. His debut romantic-thriller, ‘TeAmo… I Love You’, was released in December 2012 and was an instant hit among the readers. His second book, ’12 HOURS’ - an anthology of 12 short stories, which he co-authored with Mahi Singla, was released in September 2013 and was widely appreciated by the media and the readers of all ages. He then did the Hindi translations of his own books. The Hindi translation of ‘TeAmo… I Love You’ was released in 2014. Born in Amritsar and brought up in Faridabad, Rohit has written some of the most read articles for FilterCopy. Apart from being a Gold-Medalistin Engineering (Honors), getting inducted into the Hall of Fame of his college, Rohit successfully represented his college at various dancing and sketching competitions. ‘Love of My Life’ is his third fiction book, which is a Romantic-Crime-Thriller. He is also working on his first non-fiction book titled ‘How to get into IAS’...............“...we’ll shoot them right in between their eyes. This is INDIA! "An indifferent attempt at romance, Rohit through this book reminds us of many horrific incidents that happened in our country. The topics that the author wrote about are too nerve-racking for a reader not to read through. Rohit has done a good job using his art to throw light on such issues. But at times I felt like the elements of romance and mystery or thriller could gel better together. That way it could hook a reader and would create a page turner effect. I did read it till the end , and I did so because there was always something or the other happening. Either some information, some past memory or a sweet love scene. The characters were nice but could be made more pragmatic. I mean they were perfect which isn’t exactly bad but good characters can have some habits and ugly faces too, good people aren’t always perfect, none of us are. Same with the antagonists , they may have some good points too.Overall it was a good attempt on the author’s part and I’m sure he’s going to create an entirely unique body of work overtime. Though not extraordinarily fresh, the book was a little different from the regular churn off the mill love stories that we read in India these days.
The Trip by Rohit Bandri- a book review
Paperback, 220 pagesPublished September 5th 2016 by The Write PlaceISBN935201703X (ISBN13: 9789352017034)Edition LanguageEnglishAbout the book:As Ravi sets out on a trip to Ratnagiri and Goa with his old friends Akash, Siddharth and Gaurav, he can barely wait for the fun, party and friendship to kickoff. But life has other plans for him. He meets his college crush Prajakata, who despite being married forms a new bond with him. A bond that Ravi had always craved for but never had before. Even as Ravi grapples with the idea of pursuing his lost love despite her marital status he cannot ignore the hand of destiny in this meeting. His own dilemma however, does not blind Ravi from noticing that something is bothering Akash right since the beginning of the trip. Ravi is also surprised to see Gaurav arriving on this trip with a friend Pooja regarding whom he has made no prior mention to anyone. As Ravi tries to demystify the life of his friends and his own, will this trip show them more than just places ? About the author:His mantra in life -“Do what you love, love what you do”. An HR professional who loves to travel, write and dream! “The Trip” is his first published fiction novel. 
‘The Trip’ is a fictional novel written in the first person narrative of Ravi. It’s deals with common topics like friendship, human emotions, love and life overall.The book begins with and ends with(though there’re a few more paragraphs after that ) the following :Trip:1. A journey, especially for pleasure.2. A stumble due to catching one’s foot on something3. A hallucinatory experience by taking a psychedelic drug.4. A device that activates or disconnects a mechanism.5. A light, lively movement of a person’s feet.I like the idea that the protagonist begins his journey by googling the word trip and by the end of his trip he feels like he has experienced all the meanings of the same. However I think that it could be better woven because despite the interesting start this book failed to keep me hooked. The characters too could be developed better, however if someone’s looking for a light book without many complicated plot twists and deep dark characters, this definitely could be a great pick for him/her. The author’s writing style blossomed to its fullest when it came to the descriptions although the dialogues could’ve been more cohesive. The good thing about Rohit is that he doesn’t unnecessarily push in heavy words . He definitely used some interesting ones but he didn’t overdo it. Most debut authors do, but he didn’t .I will not talk much about Prajakata because I do not wish to give out all of the story but I definitely think that her character, or what she does later in the story is much like what happens in bollywood movies and doesn’t appear pragmatic enough. If I’m reading a story I should be able to forget that it is a story and it should completely soak me in. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case this time. Quite predictable, but then this is just the author’s debut. I wish him good luck for the rest of his career.
‘The Trip’ is a fictional novel written in the first person narrative of Ravi. It’s deals with common topics like friendship, human emotions, love and life overall.The book begins with and ends with(though there’re a few more paragraphs after that ) the following :Trip:1. A journey, especially for pleasure.2. A stumble due to catching one’s foot on something3. A hallucinatory experience by taking a psychedelic drug.4. A device that activates or disconnects a mechanism.5. A light, lively movement of a person’s feet.I like the idea that the protagonist begins his journey by googling the word trip and by the end of his trip he feels like he has experienced all the meanings of the same. However I think that it could be better woven because despite the interesting start this book failed to keep me hooked. The characters too could be developed better, however if someone’s looking for a light book without many complicated plot twists and deep dark characters, this definitely could be a great pick for him/her. The author’s writing style blossomed to its fullest when it came to the descriptions although the dialogues could’ve been more cohesive. The good thing about Rohit is that he doesn’t unnecessarily push in heavy words . He definitely used some interesting ones but he didn’t overdo it. Most debut authors do, but he didn’t .I will not talk much about Prajakata because I do not wish to give out all of the story but I definitely think that her character, or what she does later in the story is much like what happens in bollywood movies and doesn’t appear pragmatic enough. If I’m reading a story I should be able to forget that it is a story and it should completely soak me in. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case this time. Quite predictable, but then this is just the author’s debut. I wish him good luck for the rest of his career.
