The colourful paperbacks in this store @ the Bangalore airport attracted me so much that I walked in
tapping my fingers over the fresh and new stack of books, creatively selected
fonts, wonderfully designed covers, dash of colors splashed within 5 × 7⅜ inches.
So very attractive! Picked my pleasure for the next few days, it’s called..."Nikhil
and Riya” by Ira Trivedi.
For some reason the synopsis pulled me in and I was almost
impatient to start this book, I might have actually started reading even before
paying at the cash counter. And boy, I have been literally flying like a light
feather through this book since then because it talks so much about young love,
teenage madness, and crazy school days. Ira writes passionately about that
phase of life when nothing really matters…when you are such an insignificant part
of this big world, it doesn’t matter which political party is leading the
country, where is terrorism taking us, are women taking self-defence seriously
yet …the phase of life that I left behind years ago. But it only takes an
author like Ira Trivedi to hold your hand and subtlety pull you back in time without
you even knowing. I have been giggling unknowingly to myself while reading this
when the tele at home is on, the kid is running around and husband is talking
to a friend on the phone. In the midst of all this, I am in a world of Riya and
Nikhil’s residency school envisioned through Ira’s eyes. I kind of know how Riya’s
house looks, in my head their classroom resembles mine and her running track is
like the one I used to run on the NTU campus. I wonder how mysteriously our brains
work; some imaginations are led by the author and others are deeply connected
to your own past.
The way this Nikhil has fallen for Riya is adorable and
fallen over what…a girl in her school uniform and a lightly tied ponytail
uttering words, ‘Prem ma’am?’. Is there anything exotic about asking permission to enter the classroom? Not really
but it’s the age and that feeling of having only a few things to worry about, even
the slightest of the cute things grab your attention. Nikhil, brightest student
in the class, a nerd wearing spectacles, would do anything for a glance of Riya
because he can’t stand not seeing her every day and this girl, one carefree practical
headstrong soul, least interested in Mathematics, whose life is all about her
passion for running and breaking her own records. She doesn’t say much but whatever
little she has said in the book does have a much bigger meaning, like ‘You
don't fall in love, Specs, you only rise’ or ‘this day isn’t going to last
forever Specs” and more. By the way, Specs (as in spectacles) is her name for
the nerd Nikhil.
It’s an extremely light read, for many a little too common
or ordinary probably. However, the essence of this book lies in the time leap
it will take you through and play some older chords in your head. Don’t worry too
much about the simple linguistic nature and a predictable plot of this book. A novel
doesn’t always need a big twist as long as the author manages to cut through
the stranger’s wall and make a place in the reader’s heart.
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