Vivek and I by Mayur Patel !!!

               580th BLOG POST -->>

         Now-a-days, if you plan to enter a bookstore or to browse Flipkart/Infibeam to pick up at least 2-3 Fiction novels by Indians, you will be disappointed to see that almost every synopsis/blurb of the book has a common word in them "Love" or "Romance". No one is trying to come out of that comfort zone and write something else. No, it is not that I or majority of readers aren't romantic or we hate the process of love but we don't want to read the same thing that we are experiencing in our own life or seeing it happening with our best friend. We want to read some thing that has some thing new to explore, even if it is of the same genre. And this time, I was surprised to read the debut novel by a Diploma degree holder in Civil Engineering, CAD specialist, an architect- Mayur Patel who resides in Valsad, Gujarat with his family. The name of the book is- "Vivek and I".

             Yes, the book's name may sound weird as I found it to be after seeing its cover page. But, as the name suggests, this is not a normal love story between a Girl and a Boy, but it is about the liking of the protagonist- Kaushik for his student- Vivek. He finds him too attractive and he wants to get him as his partner any how. He is still recuperating with the break up that he had with his ex-boyfriend- Krishna who was bisexual. Vivek sees Kaushik as a very good teacher, friend, well wisher, respectable personality and philosopher. This keeps Kaushik away from opining his heart to Vivek and tell him about his sexual approach and how much he loves him. And with this dilemma in Kaushik's mind about his love for Vivek-who is straight gives birth to this book- "Vivek and I".

             The author has fine English, awesome in parts. He has embedded few new words that will help reader to get acquainted with those words. The way he has defined nature is unique and descriptive. You will fall in love with it. The way he has narrated the dilemma in a Gay's mind is commendable. Moreover, he also states about the physical braveness that a gay has for other good looking boys. He has stated it neatly that being gay is not only about being physical, but in some cases, it is also about love with the same gender. The insertion of too many characters in the book does not cause a confusion, and I credit Mayur Patel extremely for this, because whenever a book consists of too many characters, you tend to get confused but he has done it so accurately that you remember each and every name with their role in the book. The scenes of Kaushik with Desai's and Gavit's is so sweet and palpable. The love that Vidya has for Kaushik makes a reader like Vidya over the protagonist- Kaushik. :-) The scene when a girl's parents come to know about her being a lesbian is so real. The emotions that Kaushik has for Vivek is being handled appropriately. While, Mayur Patel has tried to state in this book that the character turned gay because of a child sex abuse scenario that happened with him, I have doubt if this is the only reason for men being gays. 

           Coming to the major drawbacks of the book- If you divide this book into 3 equal parts, I would say that the 2nd part is dragged too much. The book is of 378 pages, but if the author would have cut it shorter by 100 pages, it would have been fine. The story gets repetitive for number of times. The flashback to Kaushik-Krishna's love story makes you hate the attempt of the author. After first 150 pages, you feel like leaving the book in the middle because of the slow pace of story. The book has less conversation, that is good, but it also has useless description of some scenes/elements that wasn't required at all. Describing the same thing in the same manner after every 10 pages does not interests a reader. I was disappointed with the book in the middle of it but the last 100 pages of this book is a gem. And I would recommend you to read this book only for the last 100 Pages and for the topic that Mayur Patel has chosen for his debut novel. I give this book 3/5 over all. To the last 100 Pages, I give it 3.75/5. 

                Thanks.

 ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU

Idolizing A Beggar Also Develops You As A Good Human Being !!!

               579th BLOG POST -->>

        When my friends see me writing blogs and crafting stories almost every moment, they ask me from where do I get these inspiration from. Generally, my reply is very genuine. I say,"It interests me so I do it without putting much effort into it. I love forming stories/sharing my views, so I do." Then, as many of them know that I got inspired by Amitabh Bachchan's Blog to start this one and Chetan Bhagat's success story to get motivated to do something extra-ordinary even if I'm not an intellectual person, they ask me how should they chose their idol so that they can feel better in life and they can follow their ethics to grow up. And this is not just the problem for few of my friends but this is the problem for many youngsters now-a-days. They aren't in touch with newspapers and other general knowledge books. What they do almost every time is Facebook Updates and Comments. So, they never come to know who real achievers are and whom to follow to become as potential as them. 

         While selecting an idol, I don't think that the person should be a celebrity. I keep talking to various people- My friends in real life, Uncle/aunties, Twitter friends and Facebook friends about the topics that I feel like blogging after some days. First I gather the answers to all the FAQs that my heart/brain keeps asking me incessantly. When I feel that I got all the answers that I was in stipulation of, I write a blog on it. So, once again, when I was thinking about this breed of people who are facing problem in choosing their idol, I talked to those who had their idols chosen. :-) So, I got various facts which even I didn't know. 

             One uncle said that he was about to get jobless. He was so depressed that he was not willing to face his family and hence he thought of resigning without telling to anyone and shift to the village and do the agriculture-based job which his father was already engaged in. But one day, according to the daily regimen, when the Milkman came to his home, he asked for water. This uncle asked him to sit on the sofa till then as the milkman looked restless. Then, both of them started chit-chatting. And the milk-man told him all the problems that he was facing in life and this uncle started feeling his problems minuscule in front of his. He decided at that particular moment that he will never approach the idea of leaving the things behind and running away from the problems. He started concentrating on his job and in few days, he built a very good image in everyone's perspective about him in organization. Since then, he talked with his milkman related to his problems and he says that "His Milk-man is his idol" because the way he handles life is the best way to do and he gets inspired by him. Now, what can be a better WOW FACTOR than this? 

              Some sees their father as their idol. Some sees their mother. Some sees Steve Jobs while some sees a Beggar who never stops begging even when he is being humiliated and scolded for number of times. Through beggar, many people learn the art of eliminating Ego and Arrogance, and learn to be approachable in any conditions even to one who is trying to ignore you from a very long time. :-) And hence, it is not necessary to chose only the most successful personalities such as Amitabh B, Sachin T, Steve J, Mark J, Bill G etc as your idol. It can be anyone. Anyone whom you feel can change your life in a better way. And the one who brings a revolution in your life and your approach towards life could be considered as an Idol and followed. Like, for me, my mother is my biggest Idol because of the amount of hard work she puts in excelling in each and every field that is possible for a woman to explore. I don't have that attitude. Hence, I follow my mother's approach towards life and try to handle every field once, at least. :-) 

                So, chose your idol if you feel that you aren't getting a good idea to progress and lead your life by considering that the particular person has the kind of approach you need in your life. Try it!!! Currently, I am insisting my heart to take upon Nirmal Baba as my current Idol so that I can learn how to become Crorepati by suggesting people what they are already doing in their life. :-)

           Thanks.

           ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU ,even I can be your Idol. :-)

Ye Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai !!!

              578th BLOG POST -->>

           As my college has ended 3 days ago, my mother keeps talking about three primary topics with me: 1. What about your choices for MCA college? 2. What about your novel that you have to write? 3. What about your Graduation friends? First two questions are fine but the third one has lots of question marks whenever she asks about it. She is surprised that I haven't met anyone since the college has ended and neither have I shown any excitement about meeting them in vacation. She wants me to be as social as possible but she gets worried when she sees my inclination towards books/blog/newspaper more than relationships. Her saying is that she still remember those friends from her school/college but its her unluckiness that she is in Mumbai while all of them are still in North India because of which she can just dream about them. And she also adds to this that I am very lucky to have all my friends in the same city and even those who are far away can be met in 3-4 hours. But, I have a different perspective to this. 

              In my 11th std, I was sent to hostel. On the very first day, I met three boys who were allotted the room before me. After 2 months, 2 more boys came as our room partners. I started getting involved with them more than the first three boys. Then, in the second last month when I was in Pune, a cousin of a roommate(one of the first three boys who were allotted the room before me) came to stay with us for a week in our room as he had some training in Pune. I started talking to him and my relation started strengthening with him more than his brother who was staying with me right from the first day when I entered the hostel. I didn't had mobile then but I asked him for his phone number and noted it down below to the numbers of other roommates in my personal diary. After 2 years of leaving Pune, I shifted to Nashik where both these brothers lived. I was very happy that I will get a chance to meet. But not with both of them, only with Rehan Bhai who lived with us for 1 week. I had no curiosity to meet with the one with whom I shared the room for months. And with Rehan Bhai, I met for 6-7 times in a year while with his brother, I met for just once in Nashik.

              So, relationship for me is not about the length for which it has been but about the strength it has shown in the least period of time when you were with that person. Some college friends with whom I have shared the roof for some 2.5 years in Graduation are more closer to me than the ones with whom I have passed my whole childhood of 10 years. And even in this- 3 years Graduation, there are many classmates who just remain an ex-classmate for me now. I haven't promoted them into the category of "Friends". It happens in the cases of those children too who are sent away for studies, either at grandparent's place or to boarding school. After coming out of such places, when they go back to their parent's residence, they feel awkward living with them, they find their grandparents/caretakers more emotionally closer than parents. So, its not about the "tag" your relationship gets by default, its about the kind of emotional connect you have with person. 

               Sometimes, you pass most of your time with a beautiful person of an opposite sex but you never fall for them, but suddenly someone who entered in your life just some weeks ago wins all your attention and you start loving him/her without doubts and conditions. It happens because you start feeling a kind of commonness with the person. And as commonalities define the Personalities, you tend to incline towards those who talks what you want to listen. And hence, while chatting with those you know for years doesn't excite you while some you know for few weeks become your favorite partner to hang-out with. Some does not have good secret-sharing relationship with their brother/sister but they have it with their cousin who not even resides in the same state. :-) A person sees for a certain qualities in another person, if he finds it in him/her, he starts liking the person in the first meeting itself or let the other person die for him, he'll never respect the relationship with him till the end. :-) So, its not right to predict someone's relationship with someone by guessing the number of days they have been together for because the length of relationship does not define its quality but the amount of emotional connect between them does. So, Old is Not Gold every time. :-) And it happens with me mostly that I become closer to people in 2-3 meetings itself if I like them else I never consider them as a close friend even after the person does all kinds of favour to me. :-) Does this happen with you too?

      Enough.

     Thanks.

     ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU