The (In)eligible Bachelors

First of all, thanks Harish and the BlogAdda team for sending me this book to review as part of their varied initiatives. It's a fab idea, methinks. Spread the hobby and cheer, and get reviews in return. What wouldn't I do to get a full-time job of enjoying the finer things in life - eating out at swanky joints, traveling to exotic locales, reading millions of books, AND being paid for my opinion!! Swooooon...

Ahem. Pardon my flight of fantasy.

The (In)eligible Bachelors by Ruchita Misra (RM, for the sake of brevity) is (fortunately and may I add, surprisingly) fairly good book. It's not outstanding, it's certainly not a drag, and possibly the best way to describe it would be genuine and interesting. No pretensions, and absolutely no claims to being revolutionary - the book is a quick and engaging read.

The author profile caught my interest, quite a ticking brain this pretty damsel's got; she’s an MBA and triple gold medallist from IIFT Delhi. Neat, eh? The thank you note, too, was very endearing. RM’s got an flair for writing, and thankfully better than average English. I’ve made no bones about how I immensely resent any and every IIT/IIM student giving vent to their non-existent writing skills. This book, for a change, has a range of vocabulary and few typos that can be pardoned. Whether this compliments the writer or the editors, is their call. To me, it's a pleasant observation.

What's the novel about? As the title suggests, the story revolves around a Kasturi Shukla (revolting name, if you ask me; no reason why I should think so apart from freedom of thought and expression) and various situations that come her way when she takes up a job while her mum is hell bent on getting her hitched.

If you think this spells meeting innumerable potential grooms in typical Bollywood style, falling in love with the proverbial jerk, goof-ups at work and outside, living through perpetual stress and distress - you're not mistaken. This is exactly what the plot is all about.

What particularly stood out were the honest emotions, genuine thoughts and real people. You can relate to exactly what the folks are thinking and feeling as various situations arise and ebb. I laughed out loud quite a few times, and I can’t recall having done that in ages. So, good going there!

Parts of the novel reminded me of Bridget Jones’ Diary, especially where the protagonist Kasturi writes about her fears of being found dead at home with a dog. The structure, too, is similar – it’s a diary that spans various days over 8 months in 2009 (often even hours and minutes, especially those that are highly amusing and relate-able).

RM takes us through the conventional settings with ease and humor, and presents an action-packed masaledar concoction that is replete with accidents, goof-ups, and relationships that predictably break and blossom.

Some scenes that stayed with me much after I’d turned the last page…

(Skip this if you don’t appreciate spoilers!)

- A typical girl’s dilemma over wanting what she doesn’t want, and feeling undervalued even in circumstances where she’s better off being misjudged…

- “Women don’t admit their age. Men don’t act theirs.”

- How Kasturi ridicules the name and behaviour of the suitors that she is forced by her mum to meet “for marriage purposes”… Her choice of terms is fantastically insane!

I still don’t understand why recent books and movies have to have the proverbial gays – is it like a lucky charm or something or are we just ensuring that we grab every opportunity to appear forward and accepting? Yet, I shall pardon that, as RM hasn’t dwelt much on that aspect.

Overall, a commendable effort, for a first book. I expect a lot more from this lady and will be watching out for her next, which I'm sure will be infinitely better. The magic number this time round - I'd say 7 on 10.

Time to hit the shelf... Mistress by Anita Nair's next !!!

Cheerio!
Princess