Arranged Love

Arranged Love

By Parul A Mittal

 

Paperback, 256 pages

Publisher: Penguin Books

Published in: 2012

ISBN: 9780143418825

Blurb: Suhaani is enjoying her independent status in the US and her sexy Indian American boyfriend, when suddenly she loses her job to recession. And she's forced to move back to India where her father has selected a boy for her from his guitar class. 

Suhaani doesn1t know how to tell her Internet-savvy dad and Farmville-addict mother that she's not interested in an arranged match, especially to an IITian. She decides to dislike the guy. 

Except that he's not too thrilled about her either. 
Even when they end up working together, Suhaani decides she will not fall for this guy. 
But before she can turn him down, he rejects her!

A graduate at UMich, Suhani is head over heels in love with her Indian-American boyfriend Jay aka Jayant Guy. A painter at heart, Suhani is all set to make money out of a nude painting of her boyfriend. Looking at this American Adonis and getting the features of his exposed body on the canvass, all the accumulated libido is vanished into the air when Suhani’s father calls her up from India and asks her to check her email only to find the photo of a guy from her father’s guitar classes. A potential suitor for Suhani.

Things aren’t getting better when she even loses her job to recession and is compelled to fly back to India. She calls herself lucky when she finds a job at iTrot. But of course, she doesn’t know the boss is the Potential Suitor- Deepak Goyal.

The Chick-lit by Parul A Mittal is the story of So-Honey, as Jay calls her. Suhani is an average Indian girl like anyone of us. The only child, spoilt by her parents and loves unconditionally, she is one of the bubbliest characters I have come across in any Indian novel.

 Soon after you are through a few pages, you will immediately fall in love with Ms. Mittal’s quirky and witty humour. Though the plot can be very flimsy at times, you will find yourself giggling really very often. Humour used by Ms. Mittal is truly a thing worth Kudos to her. I loved the way she made me giggle.

For the people who loved Heartbreaks and Dreams: Girls @ IIT, Arranged Love is going to be a treat, undoubtedly. You will find the protagonist of Heartbreaks and Dreams, Tanu, treat you after every few pages.

Just like the highly well developed characters, the dialogues are exceptionally amazing. It is as if you are hearing the conversation of two people sitting next to you. Very real and crisp dialogues and sentences respectively were my favourite part of the book.

Another thing about the book that I absolutely loved was the mention of different songs at appropriate occasions. I could almost play them all in my mind.

The thing that irked me a little was that the author has portrayed the characters in a way that give more than necessary importance to physical pleasures. I do not think the girls today, or even in the past would have been that sex crazy as Ms. Mittal shows them to be. No doubt that our protag, Suhani is a virgin until the end, but I don’t think that could justify her or her friends being lewd at several instances.

The author has nicely pulled of Tanu’s story hand in hand with that if Suhani’s. But at places, I hated the mention of Tanu. I wanted to concentrate on the tragic comedies of Suhani’s life, and Tanu’s life barely meant anything to me for I  had not read Girls@IIT. But like I said, for the ones who wanted a sequel to Heartbreaks and Dreams, this one is a must read for them.

The ending became predictable a little before the book finished. But it could certainly have been something better. I personally was expecting an ending I would cherish, but sadly it was given a little less crunch than that it deserved.

Overall, this is a totally gripping read. If you are looking forward to a breezy, quick weekend read Parul Mittal’s Arrannged Love’s got to be at the top of your list.

I am eagerly waiting for her upcoming works.