'Criti....que not Criti....cize'

Leave Me by Gayle Forman My rating: 4 of 5 stars Life’s about swimming through an ocean of troubles, to reach the shore that soothes. Author: Gayle Forman Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pages: 340 Price: Rs 550 You may also find the review here . ‘So this was how it was. People entered your life. Some would stay. Some would not. Some would drift but would return to you.’ Marriages are those events that get ingrained into one’s mind from the time one is growing up. Girls grow up dreaming about their “happily ever after” while boys about their “princesses”. Even though the dynamics of the same is changing – with girls claiming to be their own superheroes and girls and guys preferring to travel the world rather than settling down with a family of their own – to some “marriage” still means what has often been popularized by popular media: A silhouette of a man and woman walking towards the sunset, holding hands. Troubles before marriage abound and often movi...

One Indian Girl by Chetan Bhagat My rating: 3 of 5 stars So the moment I picked up the book for reading (after beating competition from the receptionist at the workplace as well as a colleague) and reviewing it, I wondered, for the hundredth time, why the euphoria? Why the adrenaline rush in trains among teenagers when they spoke about the book, irrespective of their views about the author being either totally positive or lashing at him for his contribution to bad literature if I may add ‘literature’ at all. I read it while commuting to and fro my workplace, via the Mumbai Local. It was surprising to find posters of One Indian Girl on a local train. No kidding. In fact, I even attempted to click a picture of it but the train moved and Bhagat blurred away. Mumbai, a cosmopolitan city, thrives because of the variety of people and cultures co-existing here. And yet, Chetan manages to reserve a place for himself so prominently, on the local trains, mind you! Alright, loos...