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.