Love , Peace & Happiness : What More Can You Want ? By Rituraj Verma - Book Review

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To read my interview with the author Rituraj Verma  visit the link  Interview With Debut Author Rituraj Verma 

Book Review :

                        When I grabbed the copy of ‘Love peace and happiness : what more can you want ? ‘ from the courier guy , I was pretty much sure that I was in for a treat . Though the title sounded a bit cliched , i was intrigued nonetheless for i have always looked forward to interesting love stories be it in print or on celluloid  . The  cover page was colourful and at its creative best . I settled down to savour the pages one after the other and found myself effortlessly immersed in the emotional turmoil that was being depicted in print right before my eyes .  

                         The book flags off with an introduction from the author Rituraj Verma , in which he flawlessly predicts the possibility of the reader tending to connect the characters with those from their real life .  Needless to say , in the following pages , I found myself being painted raw in its black ink , which I found thoroughly amusing and  introspective to the core !  The foreword by Smriti Verma follows , which is sure to leave an indelible mark in the reader’s mind as she dwells on the transformation of her husband into the author Rituraj Verma , as the masses know him as . One cant help but notice her excellent hold on words which inturn acts as an affirmation of our belief on how enticing and  path breaking the book per se can be .

                       The book has been sorted as a collection of nine stories dealing with the lives of young people , their niche being the modern India . For a person hailing from a conservative family the scenario might seem a tad bit far fetched, but still he or she would , sans doubt , be treated by the various shades of characters sketched in depth so beautifully. Better yet , for the larger mass of readers who have started incorporating into their daily chores the inevitable changes in lifestyle , this book comes as a seamless extrapolation of their personal lives . With competitive minds vying at breakneck speed to inflate their bank balance at any cost , it’s the personal relationships that suffer the brunt . The author succeeds in projecting this grueling state of present generation to the limelight in a thought provoking manner .  

                      Be it Sneha and Ashish of ‘ A High Like Heaven ‘ who slogs through an unhappy married life or Rakesh of ‘ The Emotional Cripple ‘ who gets torn between his mother’s persuasion to get him married and the vagaries of being committed to the wrong person, the problems seem extracted impeccably from what young readers find the most mind boggling these days . The author deserves every bit of praise for conveying the same across to the readers in such a way that they are able to strike an emotional chord with the problems and thus making the process of reading the book all the more rewarding.  Then we have Swetha who being a Hindu enters boldly into a live in relationship with Hanif , a muslim and shows courage at an even higher level when she takes another tough decision towards the end of the story . The author brings to life a modern day independent woman in the form of Swetha who knows to stand up for herself  eventually , come hell or high water , even when the fact remains that she has been born vulnerable at heart .  A protagonist who touched me to the core was Aparna who had to tread a bed of thorns and sacrifice her personal life for the betterment of her family , they being part of the lower caste . The cascade of events that surface in her life is at its poignant best .

                  The names of the characters kept fleeting between the stories as the author mentions in his introduction , which seemed a bit confusing midway . Little did I know that for the same reason I would be in for a surprise in the wrap up story towards the end . The last story can be rightly put as an amalgamation of all the tantrums that one comes across in the previous ones . And here , the author takes us on an evocative journey into the deepest crevices of our minds with his philosophical brilliance on the concepts of love ,peace and happiness .

                 The author brings to limelight the stark realities of present day lives and the intensity of influence money plays on our daily decisions and thereby instilling in the readers an urge to debate on the pros and cons of the same. An overdose of sex comes to play the villain sometimes ,  but at other times , physical intimacy serves as the bridging strand between  otherwise disconnected minds .  

              Above all the rather unique approach of alternate endings is sure to leave the story lust minds as enthralled as they can be , especially when the author has preferred a sad mellow ending and we end up wishing if there could be a happier way to bring the story to a climax . Though most readers would find this unconventional , the author has made it a point that he offers hyper links at the end of each story such that those who feel  unsatisfied with the way the story ended can very well refer the link online and read the alternate ending . Needless to say , I recommend this book to all readers who are in search of something to let you think , smile and ponder about . Take it with a pinch of salt and you are sure to be rewarded with a soul stirring experience .   

Author : Rituraj Verma
Publication : Leadstart Publication Pvt Ltd

No. of pages : 223
Cover : Paperback
Language : English                                                     Review By

                                                                                    Maliny Mohan

 Those of you who would like to grab a copy of the book do visit this link  Buy-the-book Online  .                                                                
                                                                                     

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