A girl Like me - By swati Kaushal

As and when you start reading the book you realise its not "girlish"  even if it is by a woman author. Infact it beautifully and seamlessly reflects each and every persons thoughts - A girl's , a boy's , suppressed , open , closed  thoughts and also thoughts of a career oriented mom or a wife who lost trust in his husband - so on so forth. Its all about perspectives , feelings and thoughts.

I loved this book so much that I was relishing few "paragraphs" by re reading the lines - for instance the one where Anisha- The protagonist wants to hug Keds as he remembers her favorite strawberry flavor. That is what any one feels like doing when some one whom you like doesn't forget your favorite flavor even after he has a girl friend and passionate make outs! This is called "Friend-ship" and liking each other irrespective of changes in each one's lives !! Some times when a person gets a partner / girl friend they get sweeped out of the world in to some dream land and forget all old relations but people like Keds make you feel good about making friends even if they are annoying at times! Keeping aside Keds and Anisha..the way Gurgaon is described attracted me more towards the book as I am staying here post my wedding .Hence the book is much more realistic to me . When the condos , DPSor silver oaks or the roshini apts  or the mehrauli highway are mentioned all the localities just danced infront of my eyes !I could sit in veranda and feel the characters walking around me as I live in the same locality! :)

Story-line

Anisha's father is expired and it has been 3 years she lived with out him but obviously the lacuna doesnt go off and she loses interests in so many things. They shift to Gurgaon from Minnesota and its quite a culture shock to her and she cannot mingle with the crowd easily and gets more and more lonely when she realises Keds has a girl friend and her busy Mom -Mrs. Rai has no time for her other than the little mid night chat they have eating apples and cheese and sipping diet coke.

She makes a friend Rani in the same apartment whom she rescues from her pervert uncle and jumps in joy when Rani starts living with them but in later days she hates the "perfect" Rani, her holier than thou image. This is some thing which happens to any girl when she enters the insecure zone and loses priority! The story unfolds in to many episodes, how she becomes short tempered whenever she faces Rani , how she doesnt like JD much the one who wants to enter in to next stage of relation with MRS. Rai who is a work partner, how she consoles Keds but later on gets rude even with him.

The way her heart skips when ever she sees Karan is also so beautifully described. She meets all odds to just meet and spend time with him, all the while with a fact paced heart beat and too many fighting thoughts.

The rest of the story tells us if the decisions she made are good for her or not , how human emotions overpower most of the times , how she finally goes to her Dadi's house to find solace but gets sad seeing the plight of her grand mom and how every nook and corner of the house reminds her of her dad! Its almost tearful when she is swinging in the garden and remembering only the smiling face of her dad and nothing else. She tries hard to fade that memory but it just doesnt go!

This story is a simple flow of emotions which are natural in every ones day to day life ! Jealousy , love , hatred , to be wanted ,  not to be wanted and so on so forth !
Go grab the book offline or on flipkart and travel with Anisha which will remind you episodes from your own life! Am sure any girl / boy , man/ woman can connect to this book!

Amazing one by Swati Kaushal and waiting for many more from her .

My Rating : 4.5/ 5
 Good day :)