Book Review: The Crossover Year by Bhargavi Balachandran

Introduction

· ISBN – 9788180460883

· Genre: Fiction

· Publishers: Alchemy Publishers

· Price: Rs. 150/-

"Meet Sri Anuprabha, aka Anu, a twenty-nine year-old banker who is terrified of entering her thirties. She dreams of quitting her job at the bank, sporting yoga pants and traipsing around the world. Her world turns upside down when things go awry and she is faced with the prospect of spending her days watching Tamil serials. She comes up with a five-point plan for reclaiming her life back before she hits the big 30.

But things are never as simple as drawing up a flowchart in real life, are they? Especially with a ghastly recession rearing its ugly head. Anu bumbles through the corridors of domesticity and travels on a fun-filled roller coaster ride in a bid to discover her passion in life. Along the way, she meets new people, experiences crazy things and learns some hard lessons in marriage, friendship, parenting and life."

Behind The book

Source: Google Images

About the author

I had the privilege of interacting with the author and interviewing her, you can read the full interview HERE

Me thinks

Off late I have been getting some very heavy books for review and reading. Owing to my health I didn’t want to take any such undue pressure and was looking for something really light and breezy when I came across this book. The author had approached me after reading my blog to read this and the blurb was definitely an eye grabber for sure.

What I loved the most about this chicklit if I had to tell in one word then it would be it’s simplicity in terms of the narrative ; which left a lot of ease for the reader to do nothing else but just enjoy the story as the character Anu goes through her own share of ups and downs in life.

Completely relatable and I could really find myself nodding to many of those things there as Anu was observing LIFE just the way we do at times and wonder if LIFE is seriously making us go through all this!

An out and out highly recommended read, for all beautiful women out there who need a good laugh at their own lives and also feel good that they are not alone in this never ending battle called LIFE.

Foodie Verdict

This book is like flavoured popcorn - utterly delicious!

Source: Google Images

Movie Review: If by Tathagata Ghosh – A Tender Portrait of Love, Loss, and Possibility

If , a 26-minute short film by acclaimed Bengali filmmaker Tathagata Ghosh, is a sensitive, evocative piece of storytelling that lingers long after the credits roll. Set against the everyday rhythm of life in Kolkata, the film delicately unpacks the story of a lesbian couple torn apart by the weight of societal expectations and dares to imagine a different future, one where a mother's love might just change everything. What struck me first was the film’s raw, grounded realism. The characters feel like people we know, middle-class families navigating a complex world with quiet resilience. The world of If is filled with silences, glances, and stills, rather than heavy dialogue. Ghosh masterfully uses these moments to speak volumes, allowing viewers to sit with discomfort, interpret the unspoken, and feel deeply.

Book Review: The Story of Eve: Selected Poems by Zehra Nigah

Few voices in Urdu poetry have carried the weight of history, resistance, and deep personal introspection quite like Zehra Nigah. One of the first women to break into the traditionally male-dominated world of Urdu poetry, Nigah’s work stands as a testament to the power of words to illuminate, question, and challenge. The Story of Eve: Selected Poems, translated by Rakshanda Jalil, brings together some of her most powerful nazms and ghazals, showcasing both her literary elegance and her unflinching gaze at the human condition, particularly through the lens of gender, social injustice, and political turmoil.

The Urban Gaze : Reimagining the Village in Contemporary Indian Cinema

Indian cinema has long been fascinated with the village. From the earthy, socialist realism of Do Bigha Zamin (1953) to the melodramatic lament of Mother India (1957), the village once stood as both heartland and hinterland — a space of moral clarity, rustic struggle, and often unyielding fate. But as the urban middle class began to dominate cinematic production and consumption, the depiction of the village increasingly came to reflect an urban gaze, that is, a perspective shaped by distance, nostalgia, condescension, or even outright fantasy. In recent years, this urban gaze has taken on new shades, evident in the way mainstream and indie filmmakers alike have re-engaged with rural India. While some have tried to explore the village as a site of resistance, authenticity, or even horror, others continue to reproduce sanitized or exaggerated versions of village life that serve urban sensibilities more than rural realities.

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