Memoirs of Mr. Perfect : Story by Shagun Kesar in Crush 2 published by Authors' Ink Publications

REVIEW

When the age of adolescence is overwhelmed by sex hormones, either in a male or in a female, they are supposed to be attracted towards their opposites. And that is so natural that we all had had an experience of this during our teenage while in school. Yet, not all of us are capable to describe our crush in the form of a story. And I would like to congratulate Shagun Kesar for penning a story which the reader will find relating to one and all.

Merits:
The feelings of a shy and introvert teenage girl which she endures for a senior student of her college have been put forward in an unabated flow.

Lines I liked:
"She was my treasure box in which I could endure all my secrets knowing that they will remain safe."

Demerits:

However the flow of the story is smooth, long paragraphs and lack of dialogues kill the enjoyment of reading. Enough work is required on maintaining the narration-conversation-balance. Moreover, the story is so simple without nil twists and turns that the reader develops an apathy towards the end.

Anyways, some stories are really so simple!

The tag line of the story suggests some flaw in the boy, the title suggests that he's flawless. Both are antagonizing to each other. And even after reading the story a couple of times I failed to spot the flaw in the boy. Perhaps the flaw was in the girl as I could understand from the tagline which has become quite ambiguous while trying to write a catchy one. I, with due apology, would like to suggest the writer to refrain from making such ambiguous headings.
The story is all about the memoirs of the girl, in the first person, not of the boy. It needs to be corrected as at present it is confusing.

Ratings : 2.5/5
Shagun Kesar is quite a young writer and expecting a flawless write-up from her will not be justified. Moreover, nobody is perfect either. She has great potential and has to go a long way.
Best of luck!

Rajeev Pundir

REVIEW OF MY NOVEL - SONG OF A FLYING SPARROW- IN HINDUSTAN TIMES HT-CITY DATED 27/02/2016

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Way Beyond Just Memories: Story by Bhumika Khatri in Crush 2 Published by Authors' Ink Publications

REVIEW:

When she opened her accounts text book, a paper contained in between the pages fell from it. She lifted it with trembling hands and unfolded with mighty heart--pounding and scared! What would have happened before and after that, read the painful story Beyond Just Memories by Bhumika Khatri in Crush 2.

Merits:
The story explores the dark side of human inter-personal relations right from teenage. It tells us that sometimes what we see and form an opinion about a person may be wrong. The person seeming to be happy-go-lucky on face-value may actually be a victim of his bad circumstances at home and quite sad within. Hence we should take utmost care in understanding others. The writer has been successful in portraying the theme of the story.

Lines I liked:

"You are the most beautiful thing that has happened to me, and I am blessed to have known you and be loved by you."

Demerits:
Yes it's true that teenage is the most sensitive and vulnerable to extreme steps like committing suicide, yet it's never been an easy option for anyone to take such a hard decision like embracing death so early that too when Ritik had found his love as depicted in the above lines. It seems that the writer wanted to glorify the darkest aspect of life that too at a stage when one doesn't have enough experience of life. We as a writer have some responsibility towards our society and should refrain from highlighting such extreme emotions which may influence other young ones to imitate the same; courtesy the fickleness of their mind, until and unless it's not only hundred percent but two hundred percent justified and required by the story. I'm afraid, here in this story it was not justified.

Since the date and time of the story is not mentioned, the readers may find the reference of Orkut obsolete.

Sorry for my adverse comments.

Ratings: 2/5

Bhumika, you're the second one I have found proclaiming a vagabond for oneself. First one is me. I liked it. You're doing a course of journalism and some how seemed to be influenced by the sensationalism of this profession. Please don't mix the two and as I've found, you have a great potential as a writer, I suggest you to write your heart, not your mind.
Without malice, I've given my honest review and I wish you all the best as a story-teller.

Rajeev Pundir 

Star Crossed : Story by Akash Rumade in Crush 2 Published by Authors' Ink Publication

REVIEW:

Sometimes when somebody wants to correct us, we take it otherwise. But after years are gone, when we realize that the person was right in correcting our wrongdoings, selflessly, we repent and develop a respect and liking for her/him. This is an excellent story you must read to know more written by Akash Rumade.

Merits: The story is successfully told in present and the past in flashbacks. The mistakes made by the boy, Karan, his brazenness, the girl's rebukes and her bold steps to correct him, all have been narrated in the author's unique style. You'll love it.

Lines I liked:

"Yet again, he lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling like some artist mulling over a blank canvas."

New words I learnt: Solipsistic, Maquillage

Demerits: The subject of this story is different from the theme of the book and people having a penchant for romantic love stories, crush, hard and soft feelings and emotions etc.will find it dry and may turn the pages.

Ratings: 3.5/5
Akash, I congratulate you  to put down such a hard-hitting fable fabulously comprising repentance and introspection by the protagonist in your unique style. Keep it up!
I wish you all the best and would love to read more from your desk.

Rajeev Pundir

Resonance Of Love: Story by Pooja Khurana in Crush 2 published by Authors' Ink Publications

REVIEW:

This story is about the innocent love of a girl for a boy who's not as perfect as we find in other stories. The girl develops soft feelings for that boy when he's admitted to her school in her class. And the story compels you to read further to know the future of this childhood crush.

Merits:
People are known to fall for the most beautiful, deserving, successful, intelligent and extra-ordinary human beings. That's natural. But here's a story, straight from the innocence of childhood, so different and so pure at heart that you start loving the writer for writing such a wonderful story where an innocent girl, as young as in seventh grade, develops tender feelings for a boy who's very good at heart but imperfect. Seldom we see such stories. Bold and brave attempt by the writer and I congratulate her for the same.

Lines I liked: "I was on the verge of crying. Ominous clouds have gathered and tears were lurking nearby. I could sense it"

Demerits: The balance of narration and conversation is to be looked upon. Nothing much.
Ratings: 4/5

The brief bio of the writer discloses her to be multi-talented. I wish good luck for her waiting for more from her creative mind.

Rajeev Pundir

Crush= Life-Story by Anuj Singhal in Crush 2 Published by Authors' Ink Publications

REVIEW:

When Hunar Aggarwal falls for the most sought after beauty of his college Amira, his attendance in his class increases to almost never-miss and as a result something interesting happens in his life. To know more how does his crush for Amira affected his life as a whole, read this all-good story by Anuj Singhal which will oblige you to trust in your love.

Merits:
The story runs in a simple linear fashion like a river flows in winters; slow and steadily. The incidents from initiation of the session to the farewell have been narrated step-by-step laced with the emotions of the boy for his crush gradually changing into more and more intense with the passage of time. Good work. The end of the story surprises the readers making them happy for both the characters.

Lines I liked: "Stories never end, Antara. They continue for life long."

Demerits:
The simplicity of the story. Would have been better to include some other colors, some bitter sweet memories for making it more compelling.
However, we see that certain stories are like that only.

Ratings: 3/5
Anuj is a writer and published a novel already-Was It A Murder?
I look forward for a lot from his creative mind and I wish all the best for his literary endeavor he's capable of.
Rajeev Pundir

School Crush- Story by Chandra Kant Jaisansaria in Crush 2

REVIEW

She entered the class with heavenly smile and dimples on her soft rosy cheeks.
These compelling lines tells the story of a boy, as young as a seventh-class student, who instantly falls for the girl, a new admission in his class. What happens next, read the story School Crush in Crush 2 by C K.

Merits:
The way the story has been narrated is so natural and flows into the pages so silently with intermittent intoxicating humming melody, that the reader is lost into it sheerly, as if it's his/her own story. Actually, such a crush happens with all of us--either agree or disagree and I give full marks to CK for penning it so beautifully, specially the boy's waiting outside her house to have a glimpse of his crush Priya.

Lines caught my heart:
"Her handwriting was something like a masterpiece or you can say her pen was a butterfly which spread the colors in her notebook."
Fantastic!

Demerits:
The title of this story is grammatically confusing. To make it clear, it should have been, "School-time Crush". Nothing more except a few typos.

Ratings: 4/5

The writer has a great potential of becoming a compelling writer. I look forward for more interesting stories from his heart spilling over the pages through his pen.  All the best!

Rajeev Pundir

The Perfect Crush- Story by Shriya Gupta in Crush 2

REVIEW

Sometimes life puts before you hard choices. When a girl, infatuated with a person is asked to shoot photographs of his marriage, she finds herself in a quandary. Whether she accepts this task or not, explore the story, a different one, The Perfect Crush by Shriya Gupta.

Merits: Shriya has tried to narrate the story keeping the present and the past side-by-side. And to some extent she has become successful in bringing out her internal conflict and her feelings for the person getting married with another girl. It was a really difficult job to portray the character of a girl who'd a crush on a person visiting her home off and on, that too quite senior to her in age--a difference of ten years. I agree with the plot because boys and girls are seen to fall for those who visit their homes often, irrespective of their age. Congratulations to Shriya for penning such a bold story.

Lines I liked: "A crush is one who paints your life colorful; even if his own life is black and white."

Demerits: It was certain that the girl had some tender feelings for the person in question. And certainly she would  have been experiencing a pain in her heart while filming his marriage with another girl. Would have intensified the story had those feelings been shown in some or the other way.

Ratings: 3/5

Overall a very good effort of writing a off the track story. Shriya, keep it up and give us more wonderful stories to read.

Wish you all the best.

Rajeev Pundir

Revelation: A story by Apurva Joshi & Arya Dikhole in Crush 2

REVIEW

Two people having crush on each other happen to meet at an alumni get together after long gap of twenty years. What transpires between them? How they react when they see eye-to-eye? To know, read the story; Revelation in Crush 2 published by Author's Ink Publication, Rohtak.

Merits: The story moves in a smooth way describing Eshaah and Aman remembering their school days' nostalgic moments. The hesitation on both sides had kept them apart during their teenage, which is as natural as today and has been narrated in the same natural way.

Lines I liked: "When someone is in your heart, they're never truly gone."

Demerits: Sentence formation is a bit repulsive and there's a tremendous scope for improvement. The sequence of conversation has faltered like : even after listening that she lives in Silvasa with her kids, he asks her whether she's married. Most of the narration is in past tense but at some places it changes into present tense at page number 75 with reference to: 'I say' at two places. The writers should have adopted one style; either past or present.

The efforts taken by my young fellow authors are praiseworthy. Certainly, they will improve as the time will pass and I look forward more stories from their pen. Best wishes for both of you.

Ratings: 3/5

Rajeev pundir

Heal Me With Your Love; Story by Surbhi Sareen in Crush 2

REVIEW

This story is a different one and I liked it because of that. Aria loves Jensen. Due to some reason, Jensen leaves her. And one day she is scolded by her aunt for her misdemeanor towards Jensen. That scolding brings a sudden change in her instantly. Why did Jensen leave her, why she was scolded and what change was invoked into her, to know read a little off the track story by Surbhi in Crush 2.

Merits:

The first merit comes with its being different as the reader finds a fresh stroke of breathe, as fresh as a refreshing breeze after a long spell of raining. The narration in flashback flows smoothly unfolding the pain and trauma of the protagonist. There is a saying: When going gets tough, tough gets going. This story  proves it; albeit in a different reference to--tough.  This is the second point of merit. Sometimes a tough or rude behavior adopted towards us by our near and dear ones also changes our life suddenly for betterment. Good observation by the writer! Well done!

New words I learnt; Pluviophile. Namby-pamby

Lines I liked: "The moment he entered my room, I hugged him tightly and cried loudly burying my head in his chest."

Demerits:
Not much except a few typos and the insertion of a long Punjabi poem into the main story which breaks the flow of the reader as well. I think only a few lines expressing strong longing of Jensen for Aria would have sufficed.

Ratings: 4/5

I wish all the best for Surbhi and would like to see her emerging as a wonderful story-teller reserving her name in the filed of Indian English Literature.

Rajeev Pundir

A Rejected Rose : Story by Satyam Mahato "Satluj" in Crush 2

REVIEW

Another story straight from the classroom. Story of a boy, Arjun, an introvert, falling in love of his classmate, Niharika, an extrovert girl. She is tasked as a monitor to mind the class and ends up giving his name along with a few other boys as trouble makers to the teacher. Was it a mistake or was he creating a nuisance in real? To Know, read Crush 2 and turn the page no 58.

Merits:
It always starts like that. Than she/he feels sorry. And this is the beginning of age old longing called crush. About girls, I can't say, but it always happens with boys--developing a crush for someone in the class, changing of this crush into love, nurturing this love in their hearts silently, missing their classes, losing their sleep and hunger, disturbing of their concentration, daydreaming and what not. Hesitation to tell about their feelings to their love interest keeps spoiling their composure and even their exams for sure and the poor boys end up losing the girl most of the time. All this has been beautifully described by the writer in this story- A Rejected Rose. Pity on the boy in the story!

Lines I liked:
This is the pitch of the story, "Love knocks at the door of your heart without any notice and it happens when you least expect it."

Demerits:
The character of the girl Niharika is ambiguous. It's not clarified by the writer that despite Arjun's nice behavior towards her throughout, why did she end up breaking all the contacts with him and even blocking him on Facebook and why did she call him to say a Happy Valentine Day and even invite him to her place to play Holi, that too after a long time? Perhaps, she too was in dilemma and had tender feelings for him, I guess.

Rating : 4.5/5

Satluj, you've great potential to become a good story-teller. Keep it up! I wish a bright future for you.
Looking forward for more from his heart.

Rajeev Pundir

Since, Everything Can't Be Yours! - Story by Manvi Singh in Crush 2

Review

Akshara is always blushed whenever she looks upon a folded paper secretly kept in her cupboard since forty years. Was it a love letter or something else? To find, read this story in Crush 2 by Manvi Singh, I assume the youngest among all the contributory authors to this anthology.

Merits: Manvi Singh has come out with a story which will fill you with nostalgia as your reading progresses. This will remind you the lighter moments of your own life you experience specially at your teenage stage of life.

Lines I liked: "That's how effective his smile was to her, innocent yet tickling every conscious part of her."

Demerits: We can not expect a perfect story by a writer as young as sixteen years old. So despite all the flaws in narration, she deserves kudos. However,a lot of improvement is required in some areas like grammar and sentence formation in general. She must take the help of a senior or an editor before submitting her story in future.
The second drawback of the story is-- it is placed just after A Little Like Love, having the same theme where a mother tells her story to her daughter, ensuing a disinterest in the reader. The editors should've placed it somewhere else in the book and for this Manvi is not responsible.
Another flaw is that this story has been repeated many a times and has become redundant since the release of Hum Apke Hain Kaun and is too common to create an interest in the minds of the readers. Readers want something new!

Ratings: 2/5

It's really difficult for a young girl of sixteen to imagine a story of a woman of fifty plus. I appreciate her efforts and wish all the best for her in future.

Rajeev Pundir

That Rikshaw: Story by Monojit Dutta in Crush 2

REVIEW

In life we all have fond memories of sweet, lemon, sour and spicy experiences which continue to thrill us time and again throughout whole of our existence. Monojit Dutta has brought out such a story which will remind you your own fun loving memories and warm your heart taking back to your school days. Read the story to fulfill yourself with that strange sensation you would have felt sometime in your life.

Merits: The way Monojit has narrated the story in a good flow is excellent. It, I bet, will certainly take your present to your past and will oblige you to smile on remembering your own lighter moments you would have come across in your life some or the other time.

Lines I liked the most: "I don't eat something that is meant for someone else." " How long are you going to pretend of being a nice person?"

Demerits: The story starts with a chance meeting of a boy and a girl for hiring a rickshaw and sharing their tiffins. However the story runs in a linear fashion, it remains confined to the rickshaw and sharing the food only. Therefore, at times the reader feels monotonous. Repetition of any activity makes it redundant and to remove this flaw, the writer would have imagined and included a variety of different interesting lighter moments happening between the boy and the girl.

Ratings: 4/5
Overall, a good job by Monojit and I look forward more interesting stories from his pen. All the best!

Rajeev Pundir

A Little Like Love - Story by Samridhi Garg in Crush 2

REVIEW

The story commences with the observation of a mother Sarika when she spots her daughter Ana in a tad subdued mood. When she tries to know the reason of her lowly comportment, Ana denies anything specific. But a mother is a mother and gets instantly what the matter was. To know further--read a wonderful story written by Samridhi Garg in Crush 2 published by Author's Ink Publication.

Merits:
The conversation between a mother and her daughter has been portrayed beautifully. Each sentence is meticulously crafted and  each paragraph is supplemented by either a simile, a figure of speech or an adjective at appropriate places. Wonderful! The frank, truthful and friendly discussion between the two is an eye opener for conservative parents.

The sentence worth mentioning: "No. I never missed him after I met your dad and I never regretted. Your dad is such a gem. He helped me to move on and taught me how to fall in love again."

Demerits: The above sentence is self explanatory. On one side it shows the truthfulness of a mother's confession before her daughter about her feelings for her first love or crush, her selfishness is also expressed in a straight non-emotional manner for the person she liked once on the other.This could've been presented in another way showing some sympathetic attitude towards her teenage-crush.

Ratings 4.5/5

Wish her all the best for her forthcoming writings which I would like to read definitely.
Well done!

Rajeev Pundir

The Love Letter- story by Ashquanda Iqbal in Crush 2

Review

This is a story of two students Rhea and Rudraksh studying as junior and senior in the same school.
Slowly they develop a liking for each other which changes into crush and later on into love. Rudraksh writes a love letter to her to express his feelings for her. Read the story to know what happens when she reads his love letter.

Merits:

It was  almost a treat to read this story written by a girl Ashquanda Iqbal we hardly find around us as young as studying in class XII. The characters have been developed according to their nature and the story flows with lucidity maintaining the curiosity for the reader.

The line I liked: "And then, when our eyes met, it was the most glorious micro second of my life."

Demerits:
To tell about demerits of a write-up doesn't mean to discourage the writer but improve. Ashquanda is too young to be perfect and has a tremendous capacity to become an accomplished writer. Although she has tried her best, she has to improve a lot. First, the love letter in itself is too long and I think it could have been shortened using more effective emotions and powerful sentences for the same message a lover wants to convey to his beloved. Anything which is expressed in detail more than it's required shows lack of confidence in the lover.
In the very first paragraph, there is a flaw. This flaw pertains to the imagination of the writer's tender age and I hope her to improve with her maturity. The flaw is: twinkling of stars perfectly in a cloudy or sparsely cloudy sky after two hours of heavy rains. These two situations are antagonistic and do not occur altogether. Either you see one or the other.
Then there's is inappropriate use of certain words like- eyes dropped, confronting you and smirked. I suggest her to consult the dictionary before using the words to convey the correct meaning of that particular emotion and action.

Ratings: 2.5/5
I wish all the best for Ashquanda for her literary endeavor as she has a big potential as a writer.

Rajeev Pundir

The Discarded Gift: Story by Divya PS Rawat in Crush 2

Dear Divya,

Read your story...I mean written by you in Crush 2 and I liked it to the core of my heart. It's very emotional and touching for the readers filling them with the process of changing their crush into love, silently. A wonderful read indeed.

The line I liked- "Holding the storm of tears in my eyes, I also accepted her last handshake with my trembling hand."

Merits:

Both the characters has been developed precisely enveloping them into feelings and emotions they have for each other.

Demerits: Although I liked the story, new generation may find it a bit awkward as they don't have that much patience as far as expression of their love is concerned. 

But old is gold. Amazing!

Keep it up! Wish you all the best for your forthcoming writings.

Ratings: 4.5/5

Rajeev Pundir