Sunday, July 17, 2016

Book Review : 2 Peg Ke Baad - Nikita Lalwani

Conversations happen over a cup of coffee, great conversations happen over dinner and the greatest happen after some sort of 60 ml, you know what, mixes with the blood in your body. Some call it an adrenaline rush, some necessity, some addiction and some their life. Yes, I am talking about alcohol aka daaru aka madiraa aka whatever you call it in your mother tongue and code language. Nothing truer than "Everything within limits is good" has ever been said about Alcohol. Though, everyone has their benchmark for limits, but everyone wants to cross that limit. Being a teetotaler, I don't know what exactly alcohol does to you, your brain and body, but I have seen enough people to know what the end result is.

I recently read 2 Peg Ke Baad, a book by author Nikita Lalwani. As you would have already guessed from the title that the book has got something to do with Alcohol, it is a collection of fourteen short stories that took place 2 Peg Ke Baad (after 2 pegs of alcohol were gulped down). The collection of short stories was complied when the author was totally sober and thanks her consciousness before anything else. The stories are from day to day life and yet different because of the setting or may be because of the 2 Peg. Also, the author, Nikita Lalwani, specifies that the book doesn't intend to encourage drinking alcohol, but the stories are here to celebrate the varied emotions that kicks after the 2 Peg.
Book Review : 2 Peg Ke Baad - Nikita Lalwani
Book Review : 2 Peg Ke Baad - Nikita Lalwani
The fourteen stories of the book 2 Peg Ke Baad are titled A Walk With A Call Girl, My Last Painting, What Happens In Banras… Stays For A Lifetime, How We Got Married, Apology! Sex Pays, Papier Blanc (The Blank Paper), When All That Mattered Was A Gun, Drive-In-Sanity, Kicking The Butt, Rosita In The Bar, It’s Not A Love Story, Epilogue, Euphobia and Car No. 88. Aren't the titles interesting? Yes! And so are the stories. Each story is different from the other, as it should be, but the one thing that is common among all the stories is the Alcohol. If you haven't read the book yet, you may think that these stories are all about alcoholism and other things that people do but no, it isn't that. The Alcohol, 2 Peg, just sets the start of the story and then the stories continue on their own without being monotonous about the drinking part.

The blurb of the book 2 Peg Ke Baad is attractive and it did increase my interest levels to read the book. I personally felt that the cover of the book could have been better. Narration of the stories in the book is compelling and will keep you engaged as a reader. All these stories are of varied genres and there is some sort of suspense till the story's end. I liked how these stories were crafted with simplicity and emotions that vary from the zenith of happiness to the nadirs of sorrow. Another thing that I liked is the choice of words and the quirky one-liners, the vocabulary of the author was impressive.

The first and last story in a collection of short stories, according to me, should be the best as they set the expectations. A Walk With A Call Girl and Car No. 88 (inspired by a true story) were the first and the last story and both of them were striking. The stories somehow, also make an attempt to bring the sense of responsibility in the picture. There were a couple of editing and typo errors, which I am sure will be taken care in the next edition. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes reading short stories, fiction and also to someone looking to read something different by an Indian author.

Other Details:
Published by: Srishti Publishers & Distributors
Copyright: Nikita Lalwani
ISBN: 9789382665656
Genre: Fiction
Cover Design: Saurav Das
You can order a copy of the book from Amazon and Flipkart.
7:19:00 PM / by / 2 Comments

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