After all the hype about this book (supposed to have sold a 5 million copies - pre-booking, including mine ;) ), it wasn't disappointing, at the same time did not probably live upto the title or expectations!

Whats good?

The story is good... The story of Gopal, a 26-year old, the youngest Director of an engineering college who'd have stopped studies at 12th after two failed attempts at getting a decent score for admissions into IITs or NITs. His father, poor and ill, wants to see his son become an engineer and pours in all the money he has(and also borrows from a politician at a high rate of interest) for that purpose. Gopal, bitten by the love bug, apparently loses control over his life when he learns that Aarti, his childhood crush, had chosen his friend Raghav over him. Like all bad things happen at the same time, he ends up in a bad company where he gets addicted to alcohol and smoking habits and wastes all his time and money over it. His lack of concentration on his studies turns him into a "failure". His father passes away on knowing his son couldn't make it to the top colleges, leaving Gopal

1. a piece of land he had fought keeping for several years (a kind of sentiment farmers generally have) and

2. responsibility of clearing a huge amount of loan from a MLA, which his father would've borrowed to get Gopal trained to crack JEE/AIEEE

When the MLA learns about the land Gopal possesses, he has an idea of turning it into an engineering college. He also succeeds to do so, following all illegal means to get the required grants and permissions from several concerned authorities and makes Gopal the director of the college.

Raghav on the other hand, manages to clear JEE with flying colors but gets admitted to a local college and his primary interest and passion is journalism. He starts off writing for college magazine and eventually ends up in a job of an editor in a local popular newspaper. As part of his job, he tries to uncover the MLA's involvement in various scams (would have interviewed Gopal too, who had by then, become a pretty pal of the MLA) and makes a great story that sells like hot chocolate. The MLA is enraged and uses his powers to take away Raghav's job. For Gopal it seems Raghav is setting up his beloved MLA due to a personal grudge on him and Jealousy (that Gopal, inspite of being a college drop out is now ten fold richer than Raghav, who was supposed to be earning good having cracked JEE) and takes things personally. On losing his job, Raghav starts off his own newsletter called "Revolution 2020" that exposes the MLA's frauds and scams that finally lands him up in the jail.

While Raghav is busy with his new project, Aarti feels abandoned and ignored and she begins to feel Gopal would have been a right choice for her and they get together. Gopal, after winning over his childhood crush feels the greatest sense of achievement ever and waits to crack the news to Raghav. When he visits Raghav's office to do so, what he notices there, changes his premonitions about Raghav completely. Though initially, Gopal is portrayed to be a little low rated, towards the end, his gentleness unfolds and the story takes a new turn...

Whats lacking?

8/10 for this one!

The first not-so-good and boring book of Sophie. Very average and not as humorous as her other books.

The lead character is Liza, who'd have lost memory of her past 3 years after an accident and how she tries to "re-learn" those 3 years of life again. Those three years of life would've transformed her into a new and very different person unknown to herself. If some of the life's memorable moments' - marriage, achieving a position of a top boss in a certain dept and other cherishable moments were part of those 3 years which she doesn't remember a thing about, she had, at the same time, grown into being tough, and a boss-from-hell kind, because of which her friends would've broken ties with her. . . Eventually, she discovers that she isn't really the character she had been in the past three years and tries to set things right.

5/10 for this one.

This being the last of Sophie's stand-alone novels, I rank them in the following order:

1. Twenties Girl (Read twice already! )

2. Can you keep a secret?

3. The undomestic Goddess

4. Remember Me?

I did something wrong... yes it was a mistake.. I'm such a lame girl... I mean, not that I had any idea that a post of mine would offend someone because that someone was one of the characters, (may be a main character) in my 'little' "fictitious story", well, not totally fictitious, but not totally a scene to scene match either! hmmmm... may be I can say a tiny bit of facts picked up from here and there to fill in the story to add a light humor to it... Of course some found it far too humorous than it really was, but isn't it all about the perspectives? Well, my "intention" was not definitely to put down or offend that person for sure....

Anyway let me stop defending myself... What I did was wrong and thats it. Had that person been a close friend or even a friend of mine, not that he/she is not, but sometimes friends also do show off temper, like when they are pissed off at work etc... their perspectives will change. May be this is such a case, or may be not...

Ok, it was wrong of me to have written about someone and made an offending story out of it. (I wouldn't have written it, had I really known that first of all, that person had been following my blog and secondly took an offense about it) For someone who is kind and helpful, I don't think what I did was right! Very very sorry about it, if you are reading this one too! I swear, it wasn't intentional... I just get a little whacky and crazy at times! I think I know how it feels. Really sorry!

I'd prefer having a row with a person than having to carry the guilt of hurting him/her!

Feeling better now! I get a "being cleansed of guilt" feeling... :)

PS: Isn't it amazing to know how 'right' people read your 'right' posts at the 'right' time?

No, it wasnt her fault at all... Anyone sane can easily see it, conclude it. Do you think religiously following rules is a sin? By far and large, it cannot be. If it is, then rules must be changed. Obviously stopping a car by the side of the road to answer an emergency call isn't a mistake. Well, whether emergency or not, answering a call is not wrong, not while not driving. That extra pain that she took to actually find a spot on the road side (adjoining footpath) where she could stop for a few minutes and take a call is definitely definitely not a mistake.

It was pouring heavily and the wipers of the front glass were active to the maximum. The high beam headlights couldn't go unnoticeable. 20 feet in front from where she had parked the car, there was another car parked. Obviously the other car would fall into a pit if it moved ahead. It had to come a little behind and move onto the road from the footpath. Well, the driver drove in reverse, but wait... noooo.. it wasn't "little"... ohh what the heck...he covered the entire 20ft ... and what a speed! As if he drove a Ferrari! And finally... a big thudd!!! When it was a few inches away she had even honked continuously and even tried to gear the engine back to life and move the car backward... But it was too late... He had smashed his car into hers. Bloody lunatic!

Now, is it her fault??

Anyone who wants to take a reverse wouldn't drive blindly just because they couldn't hear or see anything due to heavy downpour, would they??? And he says - "Why had you parked so near to my car that it "touched" as soon as I shifted my gear?" She was enraged and said - "WHAT THE HECK!!! How could a mere "touch" cause such a huge damage? Haven't you studied F=ma in your school??"

How the hell could it be her fault??

He finally gave his number and claimed to come down the next day and pay the damage charges. He said he was put up near a temple (a popular one)...

PS: Well... forget it... I am into tears again... Bloody rogue he finally escaped! :( This happened a month ago! Oh God (in the temple where this rogue is put up near), I want to offer you some pooja by breaking 10 coconuts. But, please make sure his car(KA04 MJ 1439) is parked near there, while I do it!