Book– Kashmir 90
Author– Vineet Mishra
Previous Works– Vinu, I am getting married
Author contact– https://m.facebook.com/VineetMishra80/?tsid

Publishers-Frog Books ( Leadstartcorp)

Number of pages- 215 ( Including Author’s intro and Acknowledgement)

Blurb–
The story Kashmir 90 starts in 2011 and travels back in time accidentally over an animated conversation between two friends, Vineet and Shiv. The heart-wrenching and the most unfortunate events of 1989-1990 in Kashmir caused the ripples which gave rise to this roller coaster tale that destiny wrote for Shiv.

Shiv Pandit, a proud Kashmiri young boy of the valley and a darling of his local community, who has the world on his feet after getting admission in College of Srinagar, starts his journey of becoming a man from a boy along numerous other youngsters from all across the country. During the hostel life meets new roommates and develops a great bond with them through few hilarious and funny events. He also develops a soft corner toward a girl name Maya from Kerala. The college life was like a dream for him.
In the background, the extremist fringe was spreading the lethal hate in the air Kashmir. The hate bomb when exploded and shook the soul of Kashmir, the causality was the Kashmiri Pandit community.
The college was also closed down and the students who had gone for a winter break could never return to college!
Shiv loses his roots, his college, his cradle and his love. He finds himself at junction of unknown crossroads of life.
This new path of destiny takes him to different parts of the country to rediscover faith in humanity, friendship and love. In turn, it brings along new relationships, disappointments, fun, thrill and adventures.
But the changing politics of the country, Ram Janmabhoomi movement and Bombay riots create surge in his life and cause a chain reaction that brings him to a point where once again he finds himself in a situation where he could lose it all!

Will he again accept the fate and drift along or fight for his treasure of life?

Review-
Vineet, a guy facing a mid-life crisis does some catching up with his old friend Shiv Pandit. While chatting in a bar, Shiv utters some things that makes Vineet cautious about his life and later on he thinks that the key to stop his marriage from falling apart , lies in the words of Shiv.
He arranges another meeting with him to discuss things and Shiv narrates his story.
The story of a Kashmiri boy who leaves the warmth of his house to reside in the hostel room of a prestigious college in the valley.
He makes friends and falls in love but destiny shatters his dreams of a happy love story by chasing the Kashmiri Pandits out of the valley.
The communal hate brings about some major losses in Shiv’s life changing his life from that of a normal engineering student to the one who has been broken and stood up again.
Just when he had found a reason to live again, the communal distress stirs up his life pushing him to the verge of losing everything again.
Will he be able to beat the distress and save himself and the ones around him from sorrow?
Will Vineet ever get over his mid-life criss to be with his family again or Shiv’s story would not help his plight?
Read Kashmir 90 to find out.
The book ends with a lesson for the reader to appreciate the little things in life for without them we would be incomplete.

The plot was different and the change of names will keep the reader hooked to the end to find out what exactly happened to Shiv.
The book was fast paced for it had to cover quite a number of events.
I loved the cover, though I still not know who the woman in the left is.

Ratings- 2 out of 5 stars

The way of narration was different but can be improved to quite an extent.
I could find many editing errors in the book and it surely spoiled the fun.

The events of Kashmir 1990 might fail to have any impact on the reader for neither they were described with details not well written.

The book has been mediocrely written and the kind of writing does not do justice with the plot.
I suggest the author to choose re-editing of the book for it will have better acceptance after a better editing.

Reviewed by– Banaja Prakashini

Quotes–
*  Looks seize to matter after a certain age.

* We all live in grey. There is nothing right or wrong. It just exists.