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