Like it happened yesterday by Ravinder Singh
This is the third book written by Ravinder Singh of I Too Had A Love Story fame. Though this was a very famous book, the second book Can Love Happen Twice? was equally sore. The third book not a part of the above series is varied in theme. It talks more about childhood days and makes you feel nostalgic.
Ravinder, a Sikh from Punjab who was brought up in Burla talks of his childhood days in Burla, a town in Orissa where his father used to work in a Gurudwara and Ravinder's family stayed in a small house provided to his father in the Gurudwara compound and Ravinder's life completely revolved around Burla, the Gurudwara compound, his tuition and school. He talks of his parents' sacrifices to strive to get good education for their children since it was a privilege they themselves were not equipped with. Rest of the chapters follows his high school days in Sambalpur, his first crush, first movie, new set of friends, school's annual day celebrations, the competition for the board exams and somewhere through his description even the reader feels a sense of nostalgia. Through this book, the author doesn't try to give a moral to ponder over. He is just writing a chronicle of various childhood days so that reader is taken back to his old memories.
Just two words to describe this book: honest and simple. For that alone, I think one should read this book. Somewhere between the chapters and the descriptions we can relate to what Ravinder talks when he takes you through his childhood and teenager days. Each one of us must have felt the same during the first movie in a theatre experience and the excitement of school day participation. While one may be able to relate to first crush on a teacher, some may be able to relate to rat race during board exams while some other reader may relate to the curiosity of reproduction process in human beings that one experiences during growing up days. There is no complex setup or use of ingenious words and it is brazingly simple to read. Something that regular readers may not like as there is nothing creatively great about the book but beginners can definitely start with this book. It is a book of hardly 216 pages one can finish in one sitting.
I'm going with 2 out of 5 starts for this one plainly for its simplicity and honesty. It is a one time read and beginners may like it and others may take it up if they have nothing else to read.
Rating: 2/5(It was ok)
