Tracking Purnima

by Usha Kathir

24-year old Aditi Sridhar is trying hard to establish herself as a newspaper reporter in Bangalore.

In her first major feature article, Aditi, with her never-say-die spirit, resurrects Purnima, the once celebrated singer and actress from the 60s and now a forgotten and missing star. Soon, Aditi is warned off by an unknown caller. Intrigued and defiant, the feisty girl ropes in her friend Reshmi, a photographer, to help her track Purnima. Her detractors become bolder and more violent.

Will Aditi solve the mystery that shrouds Purnima’s disappearance? Will she unravel the dubious identities and missing links as she gets closer to Purnima? Or does something more sinister await Aditi as she risks her own life to find Purnima, dead or alive.

276 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Ramaswamy Raman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good plot slightly slow but a crime reporter getting slowly to solve a case is described very nicely.
Aditi a reporter who starts by writing about a long lost singer comes across many surprises while looking for a particular person named Purnima.
In a perfect story of how a culprit is traced and a case comes out of nothing is worth appreciating.
The writing is simple, yes could have been more crisp and thrilling. The plot comes to the culmination slowly but surely and importantly logically. Even though the reader knows the villains right from the beginning, how Aditi is able to reach and get them is interesting.
Overall a good read, pacy and easy to read

[Sneha Suyal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was different from what I generally read but I liked the writing style and the story was also gripping. 😊

[Bookish Indulgenges with b00k r3vi3ws · Rating 3 out of 5]

Welcome to Aditi Sridhar’s world, who is is trying hard to establish herself as a newspaper reporter in Bangalore. In her first major article she plans to resurrect Purnima, once celebrated singer and actress who seemed to have dropped off under the radar of everyone. But things get really interesting when her seemingly innocent questions disturb a hornet’s nest and she starts getting threatening calls. Things soon get heated, but with the help of a friend, Aditi is determined to crack this case.

First off, I love to see strong and feisty girl characters in a book and Aditi is just that. She is highly spirited and somewhat stubborn, yet she is street smart and relentless in her perusals. She is a perfect reflection of modern women whose career aspirations can rival that of any man. Aditi’s photographer friend, Reshmi, is also a strong character who plays an important role in both her life and in the story. There were handful of other characters who played had their own characteristics and added something to the story with their roles. The plot in itself is quite simple and predictable for most part. There are twists thrown in here and there to stir up the events of the story. Besides the main plot, there were certain sub plots that brought in different elements. For instance, Aditi’s mother and her matchmaking trick added to the drama and sometimes comic relief to the story.

The author’s language and narration style is quite dainty and I particularly enjoyed the extra little description of situations and people that the author has included in her way of storytelling.

Overall, an interesting novel that promises hours of entertaining reading hours.



http://www.b00kr3vi3ws.in/2015/01/Tra...

[Dharshan T · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book offers a perspective of Bangalore through the eyes of it's young,spunky,diminuitive protagonist Aditi,a 24-year old journalist working with a daily newspaper,Deccan Daily. The stories are well-crafted to end with a perfect twist(though because of which the credibility is lost to an extent-the plot lines converge neatly at the end).
Aditi,is a young Tam-Brahm girl from Chennai working in Bangalore with her mother nagging her to get married and her father playing the good-cop,who gets involved with a mysterious disappearance of Purnima,a starlet of yesteryear as she writes an article about the actress. The book is interspersed with references to famous landmarks in Bangalore and small nuggets of information about them. Aditi comes off as a brash yet thoughtful,fiery,spirited and smart young woman with an insatiable curiosity who gets help from her photographer friend,Reshmi-another young woman who is more level-headed and practical,but who still plays along with Aditi's schemes. The girls also take help from Shankar,the journalist in Crime section of the newspaper,who takes a romantic interest in Aditi.
The plot is smart and feminist and involves sensitive topics that are dealt with well enough. The twists in the story though seem a little too coincidental but the author avoids unnecessary drama. The author also hints at a love triangle between Aditi,Shankar and Prasanna-the grandson of Purnima's film-director husband,but she leaves with a cliffhanger ending.
All in all,it was a good,fast-paced read.

[Libin Varkey · Rating 2 out of 5]

very poor :( ,