581st BLOG POST -->>
Every time I have a Srishti Publisher's book in my hand, I have a different kind of expectation with it because the first time when I picked an unknown Indian fiction writer- it was from Srishti publication. And the 10 writers whom I picked after him was again from Srishti. So, I started loving the general thoughts that these writers from Srishti wrote. And once again, I picked up this book from the same publication- "And then it rained" which also has a tagline- "coz life ain't always a fairytale". This is the debut novel of a student of last year MBBS in D.Y. Patil college, Navi Mumbai (Yes, the same city I live in :-)), basically from Nagpur, a national gold medalist in swimming and a great fan of SRK- Mr. Gaurav Dashputra. I have been in touch with this guy even before he selected his publisher, so I have a kind of attachment with this book which got developed in front of me. And as I gave some free advise to Gaurav Dashputra every time I met him online, I got my name reserved in the Acknowledgement section. :-) Thanks Mr. Author for it. And, as I have been the most lucky reviewer to review many good books for the first time on Internet, I am getting a chance to review even this too because no one has reviewed it still. :-)
Coming to the story, AND THEN IT RAINED is about Aman who is very jolly by nature, helpful, friendly, flirty, emotional, sarcastic, humor-filled, ambitious and possessed almost every quality that a girl sees in her ideal boyfriend and a boy sees in his ideal best friend. This helped him achieve friends like Krish and Madhur as he landed in Mumbai for his further studies. He just lost a girl friend in his home town- Nagpur which made him little depressed. But the entry of Riya in his life gives him one more chance to be a passionate lover. But life wasn't a positive story for him. He had to bear the consequences of few wrong decisions that made him lose almost all the close people he had around him. He submerged himself into loneliness and alcohol. But, was that the end of the story? No. Because, the traits that he had in him were not ordinary. So, to know what happens with this guy after taking wrong decisions which made him lose all the emotional connected people, go and get the novel. :-)
Coming to my review, Gaurav Dashputra has made it sure that he makes no mistake in his debut. He hadn't done any foolishness while selecting the cities where his story is to be based because he picked up Nagpur and Navi Mumbai where he lives. He has used his own style of narration by including lot of scenarios in just 209 pages of the book. He has kept the narration fast so that a reader don't get bored on any single page. This is the best part of AND THEN IT RAINED. He has expressed his love and excitement for the city of Mumbai and its monsoon appropriately. The continuous humor statements in the book keeps you interested. Every relation is described properly so that, when the story takes a twist, you can feel the pain of the protagonist while he isolated himself from each of them. This book is not a love story. It is about how a young boy takes wrong decisions while handling lot of relationships(interconnected with each other) at the same time. This book has an emotional touch in it.
The best part of this book in the first 100 pages is the date with Riya. The scene where the trip to Goa is being planned makes me laugh out loud. The description of expression of each of the three friends is enormous during the Goa trip deciding scene. The part when Aman runs between the movie just to get rid from Preeti's proposal in the theater is another funny scene of this book. The moment Aman tells about his first result of Medical to his father, and the way his father expresses happiness makes you emotional. And, all those parts of loneliness and the way Aman punished himself is something for which you will remember AND THEN IT RAINED always. The climax of the book is perfect and yes, it's unpredictable.
Coming to the drawbacks, there aren't much. The major drawback that I managed to find out is the way story ran quicker sometimes when you wanted to know more about the current situation of the main character and other supporting characters of the story. Else, using the real entities' name like of D. Y. Patil college and then associating it with bribery to get the question paper out can make some readers feel that the college is associated with such acts of corruption. So, in a Fiction, one has to concentrate on these little things to avoid the controversies. But in all, AND THEN IT RAINED is a good experience as I didn't feel any part of the book unwanted or dragged. I give it 3.25/5. This book is worth reading as it ends with a moral which is very rare to see in today's fictions. :-) Go, GET IT.
Thanks.
ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU
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