"Rainy Days" By Samarth Prakash---Book Review

Title: Rainy Days

Author: Samarth Prakash

Publication House: Good Times Books Pvt Ltd

Price: Rs 125/-

Genre: Fiction

About the author: Samarth Prakash works with the engineering team at Amazon.com.He is passionate about writing. Be it ardently melodramatic to vividly romantic and quietly philosophical, his nature is reflected in the way he writes.
To read more of work, you can read hiim at his blog space "Misty Reflections"

"Every journey begins with a chase.We chase success. We chase happiness.But what happens when this chase is suddenly interrupted by a long wait? Will love endure that wait?" ...goes the book blurb which first allured me towards this book.
Being an old school romantic, I have always associated love with long waits, heartfelt poetry, a deep sense of realisation kicking in every now and then...and last but not the least, rain!!!

Samarth Prakash has amalgamated all these quintessential elements in his debutant novel---'Rainy Days'.
The story is a first-person account by Raghav, a smart, charming, young entrepreneur with an intact set of values and honest ideals, co-founder of RS3 (a website founded by Raghav and his friends Shantanu, Sandeep and Sachin which centres on the main stories they publish and feedback from the general public who can narrate their own stories in turn-ranging from corruption issues to political scandals to personal injustice-with their only motto being to support and reveal the truth) whose life takes a dramatic course when he falls head over heels in love.
Introducing Megha, an average girl from a middle class Maharashtrian family who leaves the reader confused and pondering if she is really in love or just in an equal state of confusion (as the readers).

The story progresses in flashback mode as Raghav tells us about their first chance meeting, their first date, the long drive to their favorite spot and finally Megha's abrupt departure from his life with the promise that she would meet him again after five years and still be in love (with him, of course).Having no means to contact her, a heartbroken and shattered Raghav takes up to doing what all smart charming wannabe entrepreneur with an intact value system and honest ideals would do...(no, not alcohol, you bonehead!!).He immerses himself in work and takes RS3 to new heights.
Unfortunately, life has not been that kind to Megha and when they meet as promised after five long years, Raghav is in for a shock.
The story then takes us through a series of twists.A murder case, an acquittal, hopes of a reunion and more importantly the one factor that sums up our entire life---the choices we make.

There are decisions to be taken...
Love over ideals?
Love over truth?
Love over friendship?
Love over life?

"Rainy Days" makes one ponder about these choices.
There are times when you feel the story getting too dramatic, but then again, who said life and love isn't?

So as Marilyn French said and i quote---

"Well, love is insanity. The ancient Greeks knew that. It is the taking over of a rational and lucid mind by delusion and self-destruction. You lose yourself, you have no power over yourself, you can't even think straight."

and so...
Megha's superstitions are justified...
her confusion is justified...
her impulsiveness is justified...
Raghav's risk is justified...
his passion (at the cost of seeming a tad bit selfish at times) is justified...
his approval to the fabrication is justified...

and just like that, love always seems to justify so many things which otherwise would seem unjustifiable.
However on reading how the story concluded, I was a tad bit disappointed.I guess the twists and turns of events had built up too much anticipation and expectations.
Megha's character is a little sidelined despite of being a protagonist and that left me wondering what reaction it would have evoked in the reader, had the story been told in third person and not by Raghav.Even the end has a tinge of bitter maturity, which kinda leads the reader into feeling that Raghav is the victim and yet a martyr.

However the memories of a lost love are always rekindled by the rains and with every monsoon, the bitterness (at least some, if not all) gets washed away.

To conclude, "Rainy Days" by Samarth Prakash is a refreshing read.The language is simple and the story has a easy flow.Written in first person, one can more easily relate to Raghav.The book is interspersed with random inferences and realisations, moments of introspective questions and reflective musings which help progress the story in an interesting manner, making us stop, smile and think about what relevance it has in our lives.
For a debut novel, 'Rainy Days' is an interesting piece of fiction with promising 'motion picture' potential.

Personal Rating: 3 out of 5