Book Review: "We will meet again" by Tarang Sinha

It has been a long… very long time since I enjoyed reading any romance. Thanks to “We will meet again” for breaking the monotony of my reading habit. I am profusely thankful to the author “Tarang Sinha” for this wonderful reading experience. As I am here to express my views on the book, I wonder whether I would be able to justify what the book deserves.

Writing a romance is never that easy. And if I include my personal shortcoming of being a disaster at writing an out and out romance, reviewing a romance book becomes equally arduous for me. But, all thanks to ‘We will meet again’, I am here to shatter this belief of mine.

About the Author:

Tarang Sinha is a writer, avid reader and an active Blogger. Her works have been published in magazines like Good Housekeeping India, Child India, Woman’s Era and Alive, and a bestselling anthology “Uff Ye Emotions 2”. A Science Graduate, she holds a Diploma in Creative Writing in English from IGNOU. Originally from Bihar, she lives in New Delhi with her family.

Though it seems hard to believe given her writing prowess, ‘We will meet again’, is her first novel.

Storyline and Plot Structure:

‘We will meet again’ has a very clear storyline and intriguing plot-structure. It is a mature love-story of two mature people Paridhi and Abhigyan. They meet, they fight, they fall in love and then, they face the consequences. In this journey, they introspect and re-discover their real selves.

I always believe that romance fiction comes in strict story frames and despite all of the respective writer’s effort all romance storylines share many things common. The writer’s real talent is showcased in the plot-structure to make it different.

Tarang Sinha is undoubtedly a wonderful writer. In the common story frame of romance, she has woven a riveting plot decorated with wonderful events and scenes. The plot is full of thrills and its eventful structure instills curiosity in the readers. There are lots of twists and turns which make it more interesting. I believe that romance-fictions come with predictable climax. But as they say, it is not the destination but the journey which makes it beautiful. ‘We will meet again’ is one such story. All thanks to the wonderful plot.

Tarang has included a detailed Hindu Marriage Ceremony incident as a sub-plot. It came as a surprise to me. I have a read a number of coming of age romances where the characters not only loathe the Hindu Marriage Ceremonies but also disgust the elderly women [referred as Aunties) who are always enthusiastic to find their prospective life-partners. I never understood the logic behind this sophisticated show-off. Of course, we have some ridiculous customs but tradition has its own beauty unless you are mature enough to understand and enjoy it. And getting married or not is entirely a personal choice. There are ways to avoid nosy relatives but there is no humour in insulting someone who is just pro-active regarding your marriage. Tarang really deserves appreciation for breaking this stereotype and ‘wrting’ out of the box. The sub-plot contains beautiful descriptions of the customs and how they bring the family together. It adds beauty to the novel.

Narration and Dialogues:

Tarang has used first person present tense narration. It is not very common among Indian popular fiction. This type of narration at times proves to be hard to connect with readers. But Tarang has managed it beautifully. It gives the feeling of living the story with the book. Narration is very gripping and fluent. The reveries and general descriptions have been written beautifully and they do not seem boring.

Dialogues are connecting and just. The casual conversations do not seem imposed. Tarang has not used Hindi words frequently. The conversation of the protagonists attracts and the exchange of dialogues between them comes as natural. Not at a single scene, I felt it improvised.

Characterization:

“We will meet again”, has a number of feel good things. But ‘characterization’ is certainly icing on the cake. Let’s get onto it in detail:

PARIDHI – Paridhi is the female protagonist of the novel. She is beautiful, mature, intelligent, self-esteemed and lovable. She represents a middle class Indian girl in true sense. [Chetan Bhagat, you listening?]. She is stubborn yet sweet. And she is confident and egoist. Few of her traits are –

Time Management and studious nature – Paridhi is meticulous in studies and knows the value of time. In the beginning of the book, she is working on her assignment which she succeeds in completing way before the given time.

Presence of mind – Paridhi has amazing presence of mind. She never loses her wits. Even the most critical of the situations manages only to falter her for a moment. She takes hold of everything quite efficiently.

Loving sister and daughter – Paridhi is a loving sister and a doting daughter. She is elder to her sister and her affection is at times filial towards her. She takes good care of her father after her mother’s demise.

Paridhi is certainly a remarkable character created by Tarang.

ABHIGYAN – Abhigyan is the male protagonist of “We will meet again”. He is, in every term, a heart-stealer. Charming, dynamic, dashing, commanding and yes, wealthy, what more could you ask for. Tarang has portrayed him right out of the fantasy of a girl. Abhigyan has almost everything a girl would want in her life-partner and that includes his anger also. It would be injustice if the shades of his personality aren’t discussed –

Commanding Nature – Abhigyan doesn’t take ‘no’ as an answer. There are several instances in the book where his commanding nature rules and he gets everything done as per his will.

Taking control of the situation – A medical emergency and a mischief in wedding are two of such situations where Abhigyan comes forward to straight everything out and control the situation. He manages everything and everyone efficiently and doesn’t let anything slip out of his hand.

Self-dependent, self-confident and a dedicated Businessman – Some hardships of his life make Abhigyan self-dependent which he develops as efficiency rather than engulfing himself in depression. He is very confident and takes every decision of life himself. He doesn’t rely on anybody. He manages his business and personal life very well.

Loving husband – Abhigyan is a loving husband, more importantly he is a husband who is very patient towards his wife’s coldness. He takes good care of her in spite of her ignorance. It is quite surprising that a man who has so much ego manages to handle his wife’s taunts. One can only imagine the abundance of love required to do that!

Evidently, Abhigyan and Paridhi remind of Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth. I have added Tarang on my favorite authors’ list and I am so glad that I wouldn’t be missing Jane Austen that much.

Other characters like Yashodhara Bua, Mini, Reet etc. are justified in their frame. I would like to specifically mention Pammy Aunty. Congrats to Tarang for recreating a nosy neighbor and giving her such a lovely and adorable appearance. Of course, you can create humour without insult. Ask Tarang for it!

Treatment of Love and Romance:

“We will meet again” is all about love and romance. Tarang creates new horizons of relationships and recreates that magical aura. It is journey through a woman’s heart how she discovers love and accepts her feelings. Normally all love stories end with marriage. But the best thing about this book is a phase of relationship and a new shade of love starts with marriage. However, I was bit disappointed about the book being one sided in love. We do not get to know the feelings of Abhigyan and his approach towards love. That is impossible in a first person book. That is why I believe that it would have been more beautiful had the story been written in third person.

“WE WILL MEET AGAIN” is a wonderful read. It is refreshing and amazing, a must read for everyone who loves to have a romance section in their bookshelf.