Title : Life Had Other Plans
Author : Munish Dhawan
The title of the book is somewhat like a saying which people often say to one another or may surmise in their mind what will be held next when things doesn’t works as they want. The title of the book also sings the same and propone that the story holds a concealed change in protagonist’s life. The cover of the book looks enticing and it gives the hint about the three main characters which were mentioned in the blurb. The blurb of the book gives a concise clue about the story.
As the blurb goes : Nik, a college dropout, joins Roy & Grant Communications, a passionately charged advertising agency, with enthusiastic anticipation, only to discover that his life is about to change forever. He bumps into Ratty, the love rat; and Su, the benevolent prude, instinctively perceiving that there’s a cosmic connection between the three!
They become the best of friends. Soon, they are inseparable. 3 more team up with them to form a batty group that lives up to the advertising world’s reputation of being totally demented. But they hardly care. They’re having way too much fun, together!
Just when they hope that their merry little world continues, life reveals a new plan.
Nik commits the cardinal sin of falling in love with one of his best friends. Before he can declare it, he learns that Su is in love too, but not with him! When the bombshell Mallika arrives on the scene, the skirt-chasing love rat finds himself in love too!
What happens next is an entangled saga that unfolds into an incredible chain of events, leaving the reader breathless.
‘Life Had Other Plans’ is part funny, part loony, part tragic tale where nothing goes according to plan. It’s a high drama of love gained and love lost that builds up to a completely unexpected end. But not before the three protagonists – Nik, Ratty and Su are forced to confront their deepest, darkest secrets!
In the beginning of the story, protagonist named Nikhil was triumphant in seizing the job for which he is appearing. The story whirls around his day to day life events and activities, how he managed himself at his workplace to get new friends around him, how he dated his crush and so many other episodes. Soon he befriends with Ratnesh (Ratty) and Supriya(Su or Chandi). The story twirls around the world of advertising holding on a series of events. By the end the whole story and the real love of the protagonist is clearly visible.
When a reader will start reading the prologue of the book his/her mind will be filled with zest to find what is whelm in the whole story. But this feeling will be dragged down after reading the chapters next to next and then to next. The first half of the book was proved to be a bit boring but as the second half starts the book becomes fascinating.
The real dramatization of the story starts when the second half get its ball rolling over the reader’s mind. Reader may be completely latch to the book when the second half starts and till the end he will find himself/herself trapped in the book. The book is written in Hinglish and the dialogues which are written in Hindi are sometimes so real that it may bring a smile to a reader’s face.
The narration of the book is moderate and I found the articulation of the sentences impuissant. If it could be better and more ensnare then reading journey will be captivating. The writing style of the book is moderate and sometimes it may happen that a reader need to re-read a sentence so as to understand its correct meaning as it happened with me.
In the beginning a train of names of the characters are loaded but they are erased later on as story focuses on a few characters which are important to the story. I found a neat characterization in the book and the nicknames of the main characters are simply magnificent. Some parts of the book are stretched too long unnecessarily and may land up reader with the feeling of ho-hum.
All in all a nice read.
Rating : 3.5/4
Reviewer : Megha Biloniya