Checklist:

• Grew up watching Disney movies?
• Love reading romantic novels?
• More caffeine in your blood than red blood cells?
• Looking at a stiletto hurts your eyes?
• Workaholic?
• Party pooper?
• Couldn't care less about makeup?
• Work in a creative world?
• Think you are going to meet your Mr. Right in some romantic yet unconventional place like an elevator, or in the form of a stranger who walks up to you with an umbrella on a rainy night and offers to drop you home?

 Being a total sucker for romance at heart (although I make a successful effort of not showing it), this book ripped me into pieces like an old yellowed square of paper and threw them into the air. It really hurt. And while no, none of her lovers die out of cancer or some other terminal disease that he succumbed to, after she found her soul twin in him, this book is going to make you cry your eyes out. Over the fact that you will never get your Mister Right ever. Well, Dia, the lady who sat on one side of those 50 cups of coffee still remains positive, although she shoulders a thoroughly battered and broken self esteem, she vows to never give up. But I can not say the same.

Although she mention that she enters the market at the age thirty-five, which clearly means that you are only left with the pervs, the ones who shun marriage, the divorcees married surprisingly just for 3 months, the losers, the mamma's boys and the homosexuals. Basically when you reach a sabzi mandi at 12pm, you will obviously just get the rotten leaves. So either you can starve, or eat the leaves. Choice is yours. But Dia, clearly doesn't want to settle just for leaves, even if it requires further scouring.

50 Cups of Coffee, is a fun read regarding the encounters the protagonist of the book Dia, goes through to meet her perfect man. Although she doesn't end up finding her man, because this is inspired from real life and isn't entirely fiction. Her ordeals with the different men, make for a fun, routine breaking read.

PS: All the romantic novels are a sham. This is the real deal. Period.

Off late there has been a rise in the making of short films. Right now shorts are hot! They are a rage in YouTube. Regional languages are making scratches in this arena, and I feel proud to say that directors and production houses in Bengal are making an effort to gain prominence over here.

After a hectic week, I needed to unwind reading something which wasn't too serious,melancholic, mind numbingly dumb or added to the already soaring adrenaline levels of mine. So after a thorough scanning of the shelves at Starmark, I found this book.

When I read the synopsis, I realised this is the one. Something about the cover, I cannot put a finger on it, maybe the balance of it all, made me feel good about it.

Being a Bengali myself I could immediately relate to the summary and was eager to see what was between the covers.

A surprise was in tow as well 'cause when I opened the book I found the autograph of the author herself !!

Off to a good start then.

I devoured Creme Brulee in a day. I am choosing the word devoured because this book cannot be read in any other way. It goes on talking about food and the way it spins the story, you cannot possibly do anything else.

We have a lot of Bengali authors and some of them have written books on this breed but none have described it the way Ramona Sen has. She has given it the touch of reality and it is so easy to connect with what she has said, because this is what we see and do all the time. Others have always focused on different factors and been very obtuse about the true characteristic of us Bengalis. Agreed that we are lazy and afternoon siestas are a must or else we will end up having a throbbing temple by six in the evening and are, as some like to call us, pseudo-intellectuals at times. But there is more to us than that. And that is exactly what Ramona Sen has shown. She couldn't have described us any better.

The dialogues, the people, their nature, the locations, the emotions, everything about this book is an actual reflection of our families, of our lives. Bengalis are probably the most anglicised of the entire lot and are popularly known to snigger at others after they have flawlessly learned the tongue of the West.
Even if you aren't a Bengali by blood, being a Calcuttan will be enough to make you enjoy this read. Familiar names are strewn throughout the book and they definitely strike a chord with all Cal peeps, Bongs especially.
Food is an integral part of this book. So read it while munching on something or else you are bound to have hunger pangs.
The emotions have been dealt with very delicately and those who ponder on love matters should give this a read, as it deals with the common worries, such as how to face your ex, how to move on and how to profess your love. It talks about love, but not in a suffocating manner. It doesn't asphyxiate your brain with pointless eulogies on love and dejected poems from jilted wooers.
She hasn't belittled the Bongs, has very efficiently pointed out the flaws and fallacies and definitely has not overdone the good in us. She has shown the roshogolla like sweetness in us. :)

Most importantly she has brought forth an imperative aspect of the B-breed and that is liberality with an equilibrium.

The current trend, that we can see, rather sadly I must say, is of behaving in the extreme. There are some of us who wish to shed the tag of our culture and take after others and then there is another section who are downright orthodox and put their feet down when it comes to acceptance.
The former being more in number is alarming, as it is increasingly making our culture turn into a rarity and the latter are just making us visible enough to be sneered at.

But Creme Brulee brilliantly shows how to to have a broad outlook AND love our roots as well.
It continues to show the creativity Bong Brains have nurtured over generations.

It shows us how a Young and Kapoor can love a Mookerjee.
It shows us how we can love our unbeatable nolen gurer payesh and enjoy their creme brulee too.

If only people took to the best of both worlds.

Title : Creme Brulee

Author : Ramona Sen

SOC Rating : 5/5

Genre : Romance/Fiction

Publisher : Rupa

Publishing Year : 2016

Anuja Chauhan is a gift from god.

 Apart from being a talented copy writer in the most reputed ad agency JWT(she is the one behind those quirky ads screaming 'Oye Bubbly Bubbly Oye', 'Yeh Dil Mange More' and many more), she has dished out 4 TOTALLY AWESOME novels.

She is 'mostly' considered to be a chick-lit author but she isn't one actually. Her style of writing may appear so to some but if you observe carefully then it is not. She doesn't write the quintessential stories of how-a-boy-falls-in-love-with-a-girl-and-their-love-has-to-cross-several-illogical-barriers-like-villains-and-diseases-and-evil-societies-and-blah-blah. You know how these stories pan out coz they have been done to death.
I had read a blog where in an interview a journo told her that she is the female Chetan Bhagat. She obviously came pat with a witty reply, but to an AC fan this 'female Chetan Bhagat' tag is blasphemous!! With all due respect to Chetan Bhagat, Anuja Chauhan is nothing like him.
                                                             
                                                                        Why?
                                               Because of her style and sense of writing.

The fact that Anuja Chauhan has an incredibly keen eye for observation is monstrously evident in what she writes.
Every situation she mentions, the emotions revolving around those situations, the thoughts running in people's minds, the consequences that follow, the comparisons she brings up can be related to so much !!

Yes she does have deliciously handsome tall boys with toffee-coloured toned torsos and sinewy limbs,intense eyes and disarming smiles who are very serious about their work and have genuine feelings for their lady love, play the 'hero'(Do I hear some girls sighing already?).


Her 'heroine's' are also beautiful,vibrant,intelligent,'very well endowed' and sexy in an innocent way.
Unlike the generic chick-lit stories where the 'heroine' is shown to be a damsel in distress EVERY damn time waiting to be rescued from the mess she is in by her knight in shining armour, Anuja Chauhan gives all her women a BBA(Brain, Backbone and an Aim in life).
Of course they do steal glances at their hot-shot's hot bod (if ever on display) and their knee's do wobble when they are greeted with a flash of that dazzling smile but they hold their ground firm and focus on their duties without having their pheromones and oestrogen levels play havoc with their mind.

She does have a love story in every story but in her story love isn't the only thing she talks about. Her stories are woven around serious issues, which she obviously narrates in her own humorous and witty way. And that is exactly where she unfolds her magic. So far she is the only one to have written about the hypocrisies of our society in various aspects unabashedly, sprinkled it generously with her wit, humour and sarcasm without offending anyone.

She uses a sharp,sophisticated and desi way of writing her tales which gives her books the perfect balance of being taken seriously-but-not-too-seriously. She thoroughly believes in entertaining both the soft heart and intellectual mind of the audience. And once you read her novels you will be crooning 'Yeh dil mange mooooreeeeee' for sure.

Here is a gist of  the books she has written so far:


THE ZOYA FACTOR

Title : The Zoya Factor Author : Anuja Chauhan SOC Rating : 5/5 Genre : Fiction/Drama/Romance Publisher : Harper Collins Re Published By : Westland Publishing Year : 2008 #Pages : 511

This book happens to be the first of Anuja Chauhan's books.

Zoya Singh Solanki has been plucked from the ad film set and thrown into the circus called Cricket. She detests the game, but incidentally she happens to be born right at the moment when India won their World Cup back in 1983.
As she is an employee from an ad agency she has to deal with a lot of behind-the-scenes work and it is an absolute pain to do so with the Indian team Captain being anything but helpful. Nikhil Khoda, the brooding hot skipper, believes that his team needs to remain focused on the World Cup and not go about endorsing brands and smiling prettily for photo shoots. But Zoya needs to get the photos clicked or else the plethora of items that need to be manufactured in a weeks time with the Indian team's pictures plastered on them cannot happen. And if she can't do it within the dead line she will have to kiss her job good bye. However the Indian team boys, full of raw talent and nerves, believe that if Zoya has breakfast with the team then they will win. And that is where the tension starts.

Here she shows how India is obsessed with this game where you have to hit a round little object with a stump of willow and how India is a staunch believer of superstition. Not only that,coming from an ad agency herself, Anuja Chauhan provides a peek-a-boo into the ad world and shows us what goes on before we see the World Cup commercials.

Grab the book from Amazon!
 

Or watch it in Netflix here !

BATTLE FOR BITTORA

We have all heard of the term 'dirty politics'. But do we know how the wheel of politics runs and how the dirt soils politics?

Forced by her politician grandmother, Sarojini Pande has to leave her cool job of drawing cartoon germs for Harpic in Bombay and fight for her native land Bittoragarh. Obligingly she does stand from her grandmother's party but things take a turn when her old crush stands from the opposition and politics unfurls its nasty side. But Anuja Chauhan makes it a point to give the nasty game a sweet and happy end.

Since her mother-in-law is a politician herself, Anuja Chauhan knows the real deal and provides a brutally honest description of the campaigning process obviously in her own humorous,witty,sarcastic style.

Title : Battle for Bittora

Author : Anuja Chauhan

SOC Rating : 4.5/5

Genre: Fiction

Publisher : Harper Collins

Publishing Year : 2009

#Pages : 426

Read it now!

THOSE PRICEY THAKUR GIRLS

Title : Those Pricey Thakur Girls Author : Anuja Chauhan SOC Rating : 5/5 Genre : Fiction/Drama/Romance Publisher : Harper Collins Publishing Year : 2013 #Pages : 400

                                  
Now Anuja Chauhan moves onto family matters.

The story is about Debjani and Dylan and how media has to bear the brunt of politics,ruthless people and at times even mutilate the truth or hide it totally.
Debjani hails from a large Thakur family, the second youngest daughter out of Laxmi Narayan's five daughters(Anjini, Binodini, Chandralekha, Debjani and Eshwari) and works as a news reader in the country's most famous channel. And Dylan,who is a handsome,truth-digging journalist, criticises her work.
But when the two meet, they fight, they fall in love but due to a misunderstanding it all falls apart only to be rejoined by Anuja Chauhan's masterful story telling.

This book also focuses greatly on the other family members and gives them so much life that you imagine these people actually exist and you become emotionally involved.


Grab the book from Amazon right now!

THE HOUSE THAT BJ BUILT

  This is a sequel to Those Pricey Thakur Girls.

Here we find a vibrant, young, fiery Bonita Singh a.k.a Bonu who runs a successful apparel business by replicating clothes worn by celebrities and Samar Vir Singh, a successful director making movies which make sense.

Samar is Bonu's step cousin and she has nursed a huge crush on him ever since childhood. Bonu had been orphaned at a young age and after all her mausi's had settled on different parts of the world and her grandmother had gone off to the heavens she became alone living in a large house with her old grandfather.
But things take a turn when her grandfather goes to join his wife up in the heavens making Samar vow that he is going to sell their house and divide the money equally between his five daughters. Bonita who shares a deep bond with the house intends to seek the revenge her late mother had always wanted.
Bonu puts her foot down but her four mausi's and Samar are adamant on getting the house sold. Trouble amongst the family members and love between Bonu and Samar begins to brew. And to add to the mountain of stress their uncle Ashok Narayan comes up with a new plan.

But the troubled waters are calmed and all ends happily for the Thakur clan.

Title : The House that BJ Built
Author : Anuja Chauhan
SOC Rating : 5/5
Genre : Fiction/Drama/Romance
Publisher : Westland
Publishing Year : 2015
#Pages : 410