Book Review ##bookphotography

HALF GIRLFRIEND (HINDI) Once upon a time, there was a Bihari boy called Madhav. He fell in love with a girl from Delhi called Riya. Madhav didn't speak English well. Riya did. Madhav wanted a relationship. Riya didn't. Riya just wanted friendship. Madhav didn't. Riya suggested a compromise. She agreed to be his half girlfriend.

Love marriages around the world are simple: Boy loves girl. Girl loves boy. They get married. In India, there are a few more steps: Boy loves Girl. Girl loves Boy. Girl's family has to love boy. Boy's family has to love girl. Girl's Family has to love Boy's Family. Boy's family has to love girl's family. Girl and Boy still love each other. They get married.

Six friends work nights at a call center in India, providing technical support for a major U.S. appliance corporation. Skilled in patience–and accent management–they help American consumers keep their lives running. Yet behind the headsets, everybody’s heart is on the line.

The book starts with a disclaimer, “This is not a book to teach you how to get into IIT or even how to live in college. In fact, it describes how screwed up things can get if you don’t think straight.”

My Black Shirt’ is an extract from the forthcoming novel The Unexpected Gift, from bestselling author Ajay K Pandey. In this compelling, insightful chapter, Abhay finally gets a chance to live out his dream of acting in a film. He has always wanted to be called a ‘hero’. What happens when he sees the reality of the acting world? And what does he take from the experience?

A year after the horrifying death of his fiancé Kashika, Kanav Raghuwanshi finds himself in therapy struggling to move on. Anahita, his therapist cum confidante, tries her best to help him, but when Kanav starts to see unmistakable signs of Kashika’s reappearance all over the city, coupled with an unoccupied neighbouring flat that is the source of all things mysterious, Kanav enters a battle between his imagination and reality.

When Ravin first said ‘I love you . . .’ he meant it forever. The world has known this through Ravin’s bestselling novel, I Too Had a Love Story. But did Ravin’s story really end on the last page of that book?

After a breakup, job loss, and a loss in self-confidence, a 25-year old girl meets a stranger on the train that might help her regain control of her life. But there is more to the stranger than what appears on the surface.

Nivri does not enjoy flying alone—she hates it but gets on a plane from New York to India to surprise her family for Diwali. What she never expected were the surprises life would throw her in the short time she is in India. Starting with spending an adventurous thirty-six hours with a complete stranger who soon turns unforgettable. Like her favorite song she couldn’t stop humming, she cannot stop thinking about him. Arranged Love is a short and sweet story about how life gives Nivri love as her surprise. It ends with a sweet happily ever after.