A Knotty Affair
By Dhaval Birajdar Jinadatt
Review By Ila Garg
A Knotty Affair, a novel by Dhaval Birajdar Jinadatt, is published by Leadstart Publishing Private Limited. The cover at first glance fails to appeal to general readers. However, if you look deeper, it symbolises an affair of sky and sea—the two extremes. The light blue of sky merging in the deep blue of the sea; indeed a thought provoking concept!
Dhaval Birajdar completed his master’s in mechanical engineering and is currently working as Assistant Professor in a reputed college in Mumbai. He has already published a novel named 366 Days and this is his second work.
The blurb reads as, “A Knotty Affair is a story about a thirty-year-old software engineer, Viraj Sargaokar.
Born into a middle class family that lives in the suburbs, he joins a south Bombay college, where he encounters a culture divide between him and his rich classmates, who ridicule him in various ways, making his college life a hell.
With a father that is a disciplinarian and a professor in the same college, Viraj’s only consolation is his mother. His mother thinks the world of her son and stands by him through all his struggles.
Viraj is fascinated by a classmate Ruhi, a beautiful good-natured girl, who be-friends him and treats him well, unlike the rest of his classmates.
Life changes drastically for Viraj, when his honest professor father is accused of bribery and arrested.
Will Viraj be able to prove his father’s innocence?
Will Viraj survive the rigours of college life and overcome his shortcomings?”
First of all, A Knotty Affair is not just an affair between a boy and a girl. So no jumping on conclusions guys! The story revolves around Viraj, who has a major stammering problem that is becoming a hurdle in his daily life affairs. After detailing this problem, the author has woven the various situation sin his life and the relationships that shape up his life, help him overcome his problem and bring about a change eventually.
The author has sketched all the character beautifully, nowhere will the readers feel them to be exaggerated. Viraj and Ruhi come out so well. They are not stagnant; during the course of the book, they grow and develop. Thus, different stages of Viraj’s life are served before the readers in this platter called A Knotty Affair.
The language is simple and easy to comprehend. Nowhere will a reader feel any disconnect. It took me a couple of hours to complete the book. I found it quite engaging. Although the editing part was a major put off. I felt, the court case scenes should have been researched well.
Further, this 228-page book is a light read. How Viraj meets Ruhi, how various things influence the course of his life, how he overcomes his problem of stammering are some of the many reasons why you will keep turning the pages to find out what happens in A Knotty Affair.
The book is highly recommended if you are looking for something different and yet romantic. Though my advice to the author is—don’t just write, focus on editing too!
Ratings: 3/5
P.S. - I got the book from Cyclops Literary Services in exchange of an honest review.
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