Life & Promises by Pulkit Gupta & Ila Garg: A Review

‘Life & Promises’ by Pulkit Gupta and Ila Garg, is a story of Rachit, an IITian turned CA aspirant. I like the name, not because it’s different but it is the best name possible for this story.

The back cover says – “Story Of An IITian Turned CA Aspirant”
THIS NOVEL TRAVELS ACROSS THE REALMS OF HIS LIFE AND UNFOLDS HIS JOURNEY OF BEING A CA ASPIRANT FROM AN IITIAN, AND ALSO REFLECTS ON THE SNAGS IT BRINGS TO HIS RELATIONSHIPS.
Rachit, a young, ambitious boy, hailing from a small town of Western UP, has big dreams. Destiny takes a turn when he attempts to commit suicide and lands up in a hospital bed. There, he bumps into khushi, a chubby girl with a carefree attitude. She insists Rachit to uncover the pages of his life and tell her – what compelled him to take such a drastic step. Rachit starts to narrate his story, seeing no other option. He tells her that her dreamt to be an IITian and even achieved it. Things went well for some days, till that fateful day when Rachit was diagnosed with severe health issues. After a while, already heartbroken, Rachit takes a tough decision. He drops his IIT dream and follows the CA path. In this process, he overlooks Radhika, a gorgeous Bengali Girl, his batch mate as well as his girlfriend. What will happen to the love story of Rachit and Radhika? Will Rachit become a successful professional, and if yes, then at what cost? Does Khushi has a story of her own?

The cover of the book looks eye-grabbing. A girl living her life to the fullest, having a boy by her side with birds chirping all over says everything about the content of the book. The reader immediately can feel attached to the cover.

The story starts with Rachit (the male protagonist) finding himself in the bed of a hospital. From the very beginning the writing style gets me engrossed in the book. The story unfolds around the struggle of Rachit to get into IIT, how he bumped into Radhika (the female Protagonist), and his wonderful days at IIT and the reason behind his decision to drop IIT and take up CA.The plot is different and fresh, though I liked the second half of the story more.

The twist in the end was unexpected and left me in awe.  As a debutant writer Pulkit Gupta and Ila Garg did a commendable job. The scenes were well written but a few scenes could’ve been expressed in a far better way. A few scenes couldn’t keep the reader interested. The poems however (a few to be precise) were a bit drawback for the book.

The book, written in a narrative style is something every reader can look forward to though a few parts were a bit immature and stretched but the end was the cherry on the cake. Looking forward to read some more from the talented writer duo, it is a 3 on 5 for me.

Trisha by Swagnikaa Roy: A Review

“Trisha” by debutante author Swagnikaa Roy, a story of a woman, her ups and downs, and her life will finally help us in getting an inaugural review for our blog. Trisha answers all the questions related to the what, who, how and when of woman’s life.

On the back cover- Life is a journey and no matter how beautiful the destination is; what counts at the end is the memory of that long journey one has traversed. A vital part of this journey is decided by those people who allow us to metamorphose into a person we become. Trisha is the story of a young girl who loved to live her life on her own terms and conditions. She was ambitious and goal oriented girl but away from the emotion called love until destiny finally brings love to her doorstep. Love strikes each human being but what do we call those who fall for two people at the same time? A two-timer, cheater, fake? This is probably that what you can call Arnab whom Trisha met under some bizarre circumstances and fell for instantly. Trisha risks her all just to be married to the love of her life, but her life is reduced to a sham when instead of a proposal her beau hands over a card to her- his wedding invitation. With a self-effacing self, she questions why her destiny is so twisted. Neither is she a keep nor a wife, neither is she satisfied, nor she is angry. She feels her life dangling in between all extremities. Will Trisha emerge victorious after life punched her in the face? Is this the end of the road or just a new beginning? Unfold the pages of Trisha’s life and experiences on her journey as she moves from the realm of fantasy love, betrayal and deception.

The story starts with Trisha’s parents fixing a guy for her marriage and the dilemma she goes through throughout the process. The feelings of a girl when her would be in-laws come to see her and treat her as an object. According to me, the Introduction of the characters, at every point of the book catches the reader’s interest at every point of the book.  The ups and downs of Trisha (the main protagonist’s) life have been very well portrayed by the author.

Any girl who has suffered a lot owing to her love is very much relatable to the character the author wants to portray making the book very eye grabbing. Narrative style statements are something that are very much in trend right now and the writer has done full justice to the novel by writing it in the style.

The writing style, as compared to a debutante work was very simple but I felt that it was a bit immature at some points of the story. The scenes were well written but a few scenes could’ve been expressed in a far better way. A few scenes couldn’t keep the reader interested.

Any reader hailing from Kolkata can very well relate to the places and situations written or rather described in the book. I must compliment the writer for visualising the characters so well.

 The story having a perfect flow was disturbed a few times due to some far stretched scenes. The end was unexpected which I am sure will leave every reader with a smile. Wishing the author luck for many new ventures to come, I would rate it a 3 out of 5.

PS- This, being the first review of Timid Fingers professionally, pardon us for any mistakes throughout the review. J