Someone Like You

When Deb, an author and publisher, survives the bomb blasts at Chandni Chowk, he knows his life is nothing short of a miracle. But even as he recovers, his feet take him to where the blasts took place. From the burnt remains, he discovers a diary. It seems to belong to a dead man who was deeply in love with a girl. As he reads the heartbreaking narrative, he knows this story must never be left incomplete. Thus begins Deb’s journey with his girlfriend, Avantika, and his best friend, Shrey, to hand over the diary to the man’s beloved.

Lavanya Gogoi is from the scenic hills of Shillong, while Rajveer Saini belongs to the shahi city of Patiala. Worlds apart from one another, the two land up next to each other on a flight from Mumbai to Chandigarh. It's love at first flight, at least for one of them. For the other...well, it's going to take more than a plane ride! And when love does finally happen, there are more obstacles to overcome. Rajveer has to stand up against his own if he and Lavanya are to be together.

Ajay believes in living for himself; Bhavna teaches him to live for others. Ajay is a planner for life; Bhavna makes him live in every moment. You are the Best Wife is a story of two people with contradictory ideologies who fall in love. It changes them for good. It changes the way they look at the world and the way the world looks at them. Until destiny reveals its plans.

When 26-year-old Ayan is sent to live with his grumpy old grandfather Gopal Shanker in a tiny village in Kerala, he is understandably devastated. What can a sleepy, idyllic village without even internet connectivity offer a young man?

Life would have been easier had it been possible for us to plan falling in love; more importantly, avoid falling in love.... "Love is not for you," she told herself. Inside, just like any girl, she desired to be loved. She had accepted her life the way it was, till one day love showed up unannounced, uninvited! That’s the thing with love. It doesn’t take permission. It’s in its very nature to gatecrash into our lives.

Justice Laxmi Narayan Thakur and his wife, Mamta, spend their days watching anxiously over their five beautiful (but troublesome) alphabetically named daughters. Anjini, married but an incorrigible flirt; Binodini, very worried about her children's hissa in the family property; Chandrakanta, who eloped with a foreigner on the eve of her wedding; Eshwari, who is just a little too popular at Modern School, Barakhamba Road; and the judge's favourite (though fathers shouldn t have favourites): the quietly fiery Debjani.

The book is a complete package defining love, friendship, betrayal, and hatred that exists between the main characters of the story, Dhurv and Aranya. The story revolves around them. Both hate each other and could cross any limit to hurt each other, but still they cannot stay away from each other. The mad yet passionate attraction between the two describes modern-day relationships that most people can relate to. This book teaches the listeners that love can be found in mediocre things in life, and it doesn’t need to be all flashy and showy all the time.

Raghu likes to show that there is nothing remarkable about his life - loving, middle-class parents, an elder brother he looks up to and plans to study in an IIT. And that’s how he wants things to seem - normal. Deep down, however, the guilt of letting his closest friend drown in the school’s swimming pool gnaws at him. And even as he punishes himself by hiding from the world and shying away from love and friendship, he feels drawn to the fascinating Brahmi - a girl quite like him, yet so different. No matter how hard Raghu tries, he begins to care....

Ajay has lost his wife and is deep in depression. No amount of medication or therapy seems to help him as he struggles with his grief. He has only one wish - he wants to immortalize his wife. Then, he meets Anisha, who is shocked at Ajay’s hatred towards God. How can a person hate God? Where would that hatred lead him? Anisha is ready to judge Ajay harshly, when a simple, caring and guileless gesture changes her perception of him. So begins the journey of two people who are poles apart. A journey which will change their outlook towards life.

She’s a small town girl who takes admission in Delhi University (DU). An idealist, studies are her first priority. He’s a Delhi guy, seriously into youth politics in the DU. He fights to make his way. Student union elections are his first priority. A scandal on campus brings them together; they begin to walk the same path and, somewhere along, fall in love.... But their fight against evil comes at a heavy price, which becomes the ultimate test of their lives.

Ankita has fought a mental disorder, been through hell and survived two suicide attempts. Now in Mumbai, surrounded by her loving and supportive parents, everything seems idyllic. She is not on medication. She is in a college she loves, studying her dream subject: creative writing. She has made friends with the bubbly Parul and the glamourous Janki. At last leading a ‘normal life’, she immerses herself in every bit of it - the classes, her friends, her course and all the carefree fun of college. Underneath the surface, however, there is trouble brewing.

Ankita Sharma has the world at her feet. She is young, good-looking and smart and has tonnes of friends and boys swooning over her. College life is what every youngster dreams of, and she also manages to get into a premier management school for her MBA. Six months later she is a patient in a mental health hospital. How did Ankita get here? What were the events that led to this? Will she ever get back her life again? Life has cruelly and coldly snatched that which meant the most to her, and she must now fight to get it all back.

Some of the best relationships that exist in this world are nameless ones. They crouch behind those sanctioned by society: the legitimate ones, the ones that you can define because they are approved, allowed, understood and normal. In this finely crafted short story, Preeti Shenoy examines one of these ‘nameless relationships’, peeling back the layers of complexities that underlie marriage, love, desire - and the many grey zones that lie between two people.

Not all love stories are meant to have a perfect ending. I Too Had a Love Story is one such saga. It is the tender and heartfelt tale of Ravin and Khushi - two people who found each other on a matrimonial site and fell in love...until life put their love to the ultimate test.  

In Revolution Twenty20, Chetan Bhagat explores the lives of three close friends from Varanasi, set against the backdrop of India's corrupt political system. Gopal and Raghav are the best of friends. Although they hail from completely different family backgrounds, they share a common passion for success and realizing their dreams in life. Gopal's family has been caught up in a never-ending property dispute, and he aspires to come out of the mess and amass a lot of wealth, Raghav, on the other hand, desires to bring about a revolution in the system and do something significant for society.