LIFE AND PROMISES BY PULKIT GUPTA AND ILA GARG

ABOUT BOOK

 Story of an IITian Turned CA Aspirant

This novel travels across the realms of his life and unfolds his journey of being a CA aspirant from an IITian, and also reflects on the snags it brings to his relationships.

 

Rachit, a young, ambitious boy, hailing from a small town of Western UP, has big dreams. Destiny takes a turn when he attempts to commit suicide and lands up on a hospital bed.

There he bumps into Khushi, a chubby girl with a carefree attitude. She insists Rachit to uncover the pages of his life and tell her that what compelled him to take such a drastic step.

Rachit starts to narrate his story, seeing no other option. He tells her that he dreamt to be an IITian and even achieved it. Things went well for some days, till that fateful day when Rachit was diagnosed with severe health issues.

After a while, already heartbroken, Rachit takes a tough decision. He drops his IIT dream and follows the CA path. In this very process, he overlooks Radhika, a gorgeous Bengali girl, his batch mate as well as his girlfriend.

What will happen to the love story of Rachit and Radhika? Will Rachit become a successful professional, and if yes then at what cost? Does Khushi has a story of her own?

ABOUT AUTHOR

ILA GARG

She has completed her graduation in English Literature and pursuing Masters in English & Communication Studies at present. She loves writing and has a flair for words. Her debut novel, titled, ‘Life and Promises’ created a lot of hype. Five of her poems were part of a poetry anthology, ‘Minds at Work 2’. She is also a part of several short story anthologies, ‘A Night in Paradise’, ‘Moonlit Matinee’ and ‘You Me ‘N’ Zindagi’. Twitter handle – @ilagarg_smile

  

PULKIT GUPTA

CA, CS and Law student by profession and a writer by passion, Pulkit is someone who believes in living life to fullest. He was part of 2 anthologies- ‘You, me n Zindagi’ & ‘Moonlit Matinee.’ He is the owner of Gargi Publishers. Website- http://www.lifeandpromises.com/

REVIEWS

REVIEW BY MEGHANT PARMAR

Sometimes life puts you in a dilemma and it's all about the choices you make for yourselves. You can't have it all is the saying and it applies to each and every human being present on the face of the earth. Compromises are part and parcel of any person's life. Author Pulkit Gupta & Ila Garg in their latest book "Life and Promises" talk about a journey where choices are indeed very difficult and time is testing you. So does the book live up to its promise? Let's find out.

"Story Of An IITian Turned CA Aspirant"THIS NOVEL TRAVELS ACROSS THE REALMS OF HIS LIFE AND UNFOLDS HIS JOURNEY OF BEING A CA ASPIRANT FROM AN IITIAN, AND ALSO REFLECTS ON THE SNAGS IT BRINGS TO HIS RELATIONSHIPS. Rachit, a young,ambitious boy, hailing from a small town of Western UP, has big dreams. Destiny takes a turn when he attempts to commit suicide and lands up in a hospital bed. There, he bumps into Khushi, a chubby girl with a carefree attitude. She insists Rachit to uncover the pages of his life and tell her what compelled him to take such a drastic step.Rachit starts to narrate his story, seeing no other option. He tells her that he dreamt to be an IITian and even achieved it. Things went well for some days, till that fateful day when Rachit was diagnosed with severe health issues. After a while, already heartbroken, Rachit takes a tough decision. He drops his IIT dream and follows the CA path. In this very process,he overlooks Radhika, a gorgeous Bengali girl, his batch mate as well as his girlfriend.What will happen to the love story of Rachit and Radhika? Will Rachit become a successful professional, and if yes, then at what cost? Does Khushi has a story of her own?

First look at the title and the cover and the the freedom and the happiness of two people and the soothing colors make it all the more exciting. The title itself has a lot of promise and charges up the emotions of the person. The blurb should have been kept short and asks the right set of questions and takes the excitement of the readers to a new high.

The story is of Rachit who fulfills his dream by hardwork and joins IIT-M. But there are obstacles in his path and some serious repercussions of it. Some difficult choices and life takes a new turn for him. The new life and his love Radhika together they create mayhem as well as bring some stability. But will Rachit be able to survive the onslaught? Will he be able to stand to the test of the time? Will Radhika remain at his side when all of this ends? That's what the story is all about.

The free flowing story along with career and love hiccups makes the story very interesting. The narration has been kept simple and the book feels heavy on the mind. The emotions have been set and spread well throughout the book. The poetic verses also add a soothing effect to the story line. The surprises thrown in also create impact and binds the story together. The excitement and the inspiration and the helplessness has been reflected and highlighted in a very serene manner.

The downside of the book are some serious mistakes. One of them with the character name goof up where Khushi has been spelt as Kushi twice. Another one is where the past narration has been narrated into present form which makes it a turn off while reading the story. These mistakes break the tempo and it could have been avoided.

All in all the book has lots to offer and acts as a self help book and guidance for young readers who on an impulse make hasty decisions and end up doing nothing with their lives. The book acts as a medium of communication between the reader and the narrator. Some more polishing in the narration could have made the story line perfect but the book has remarkable strength in it to impact the thought process of the readers when it comes to career and love. 

RATINGS: 3 OUT OF 5

REVIEW BY ABHILASH RUHELA

There is a different feeling while experiencing the work of someone whom you have seen from the moment the person was a "nobody". I have been talking about books from a long time which has made me friends with many Bloggers and I cherish my relations with them. One of my blogger friends, Pulkit Gupta, is associated with me from a long time. I have accepted writing Guest Post only once in my life and that was because he asked me to. Hence the moment he told me to read the PDFs that has chapters of his upcoming novel, I read it in excitement. Then he asked to send a review of it. Later I saw a cover page been released on his Facebook page with my review printed on the cover page. One needs enough courage to publish a non-author's review/comments on the cover page of his debut novel and Pulkit did it for me. Now its time to review his book in description mentioning the drawbacks too. :-)

Coming to the authors, I would say that Pulkit Gupta and Ila Garg have done a good job in writing a book collectively. While reading you won't find differences in the writing style which is effective and interesting. I also appreciate the easy language, little twists and powerful poems in between. Well, for the poems, Rachna Sheth has to be complimented as she has scripted all of them according to the demands of the story. Talking about the publishing quality, I would say that Moments Publishers have given a nice treatment to this book with good quality of cover page, white and fresh pages, nice fonts and wonderful binding. In short, if you will ask me to define this book, I would say if you are traveling a short distance of 2-3 hours by bus or train, carry this book. It would be a delight. :-)

The way story begins is a wonderful way to start a romantic tale. Keeping the book short is another USP of it as the story doesn't have much to speak. When you know that your story is a simple love tale, you shouldn't write it in more than 175-180 pages. It irritates reader. I loved the fact that even when this book was co-written, authors managed to keep the book short and straight without dragging it for 250-275 pages. The whole description of CA and how tough the course is wonderfully done. Even the situation of how he has to leave IIT and join CA is clearly defined. The emotions of father is depicted well. The climax part is an amazing treat to the readers. That's when the story gets life and it goes to an upper level than its normalcy. I will give all the marks to the climax.

Coming to the drawbacks- I didn't like the usage of double question marks (??) instead of one(?). Then there's another disappointment when I found "lol" written during face-to-face conversations within inverted commas. Authors, now can you please tell me who laughs uttering "lol" in real world? Then, there are few grammatical errors but I can ignore them as they are avoidable. Radhika's diary had a better role than her in the story. In all, I would say that it's for the people who have just got into reading love stories and for the age group between 13-20. I will give the book- 2.8/5.

FEW MORE HEARTS WE HAVE WON

“A story with an imaginative narrative style put in simple words, depicting emotions which almost every youngster goes through, is the most appealing thread in this novel. If a book can touch much a heart through its simple language and gripping narrative style, it’s certainly a bestseller. This book is definitely on such a path.” -Preeti Singh (Author of Flirting with Fate)

"Life and Promises is very shocking yet beautiful tale of two people in love. More than a love story, it's about the emotions that the protagonist carries with him in every phase of his life. I had several goose bumps while reading this unnatural story, and I would call this novel a perfect page-turner. Second half is just comparable to any of the Bestsellers of this time." - Abhilash Ruhela (Top blogger and reviewer)

“The story line is sensitive and beautifully conceptualized. This promises to be a novel that will touch the hearts of many whose journeys are across achievements, dreams and despair. I think this is a very commendable effort for a first book. I wish you both, great success. And yes, I will buy a copy from the stands when it is ready.” - Nandita Bose (Author of Tread Softly and The Perfume of Promise)

“Different, Wonderful, Amazing... Loved the end.”-  Dipen Ambalia (Author of In Their Shoes, To B.E. or not To B.E., and LOSER (Life Of a Software Engineer)

“Emotions, dreams and air castles, blames and insecurity, and finally the reality, all in all realms of the youngsters' life are woven together. I think as a debut; this is well written, well etched and well presented. ‘Life and Promises’ is well conceptualized, fresh effort. I would certainly love to read this one in prints!”- Arpita Ghosh Sarkar (Author of A Walk Down The Lane)

“I always believe life is a blank paper; it’s us who are going paint it or tear it. You can’t plan for any situation. I have not come across any such writers who acquire such deep understanding of emotions and life. 'Life and Promises' by Pulkit Gupta and Ila Garg, not only explains about love and relationship, but also taught us about commitments in life. I highly recommend this book to all the generation, to learn about Life, and its Promises… All The Best to Pulkit and Ila, for their future endeavors. Keep Writing Keep Shining.” -Swagnikaa Roy (Author of Trisha)

“It sounds very interesting Pulkit. Actually, I have also written a story of a man going through mental trauma. What a coincidence! All the best for your novel.” -Ashwina Garg (Author of Spicy Bites of Biryani)

“Emotional, gripping, inspirational, addictive, this book has all the elements of a wonderful story.” - Harshita Srivastava (Author of One In A Million)

“Your story has that emotional touch which makes a reader helpless to stay connected to the story. I am extremely touched by the story line. Wish it a huge success.” - Hitakshi Bawa (Author at Syahi)

"Awesome end sir....!!! Beautiful story... There will be no breakups once people understand these lines......

Love is not about being in relationship, but living the relationship"- Ananya

"Ending such story with so much grace could be a headache....But you had decorated the story in a very lovely manner. Perfect ending. I was expecting the story to be full of pain, hue and cry.....emotional stuff ....... but you presented it really logically"- Renu Singh

"Too good.... reading your book seems like watching movie....role of each character can be visualized... full of emotions..You have to give each character alive by their words... I don’t know it’s a real or imaginary story but I must say that, I have learned a lot from this story....Thank u so much......

Best of luck for your future journey......." -Farhat Jahan

"Maine ya kisi ne bhi Khushi ko is tarah imagine ni kiya hoga...

Awesome...

Iss par ek movie banni chahiye for sure..

Great, fantastic, fabulous and amazing"-Neetika Gupta

"It is just awesome...

Unexpected end of the story and trust me it touches the heart...I don’t have any experience about love...But I really appreciate the message of the story...Whatever said by Khushi...

There are many reasons which make u cry...but just find one reason which brings happiness in your life and I believe it’s not as difficult as we think..." -Harshika Agrawal

"A perfect story with a perfect ending and a wonderful message.......No words to describe it.

Simply Awesome"- Vinita

"Pulkit, I am touched and overwhelmed by the finesse with which you have written this story. It is very captivating and etched with elegance and aura. I read it at one go and it enthralled me, it is a marvelous piece of literature. Wish your novel can reach and touch many hearts aplomb. I just want to say THANK YOU"- Satish M

"Ek dum change story he yaar.. what a story with superb ending, ek valuable lesson ke saath , Life is like a Mercedes Benz car - uski logo 3 arrows - we have to balance our personal life along with professional and social life and perfect start of the story right from day one. Sahi kaha hai ki apni zindagi apni hath mein. zindagi dil se jee jati hai. Dil ki suno aur hamesha har pal khush raho and more importantly khusiyan baanthe raho. Thanks a lot for writing this story. Dil ko chu liya hai and of course not to forget about your writing style . hatts off.." -Geetha

"Emotionally charged.......what a write up man.....infact I wouldn’t call it a write up...yeh toh seedhe dil ki jubaan h jo dil tk jaati hai and  the message is also very true.....we should not wait for the perfect time for perfect time is present.....we want to do something in our lives for our loved ones....but when you don’t have your loved ones beside u to share d joy of your success then the success is worthless......life is too short to be perfect......be happy with what god has given u and take every day as a challenge.... Ifall short of words to convey my gratitude towards this master piece and i hope many more such gems are coming our way......and who said it’s the end......yeh toh abhi aagaz h...mukaam toh aur bhi kai abhi haaseel krne h...." -Vikash Maheshwary

"Your write up reminds me of blarney stone." -Kishore B

"Pulkitji, It’s really heart-touching. It has learnt to draw a clear line between personal and professional life and to balance the same. Khushi's part is awsome. It’s fantastic, mind-blowing, superb, etc. I am not getting words to express my feelings towards novel. It’s wonderful. We will be waiting for your next work Sir. Thank you Sir." -Ramya

"Amazing write-up dear  I imagined it but still your words and emotions compelled me to read it slowly with every emotion of d same …." - Renu Singh

"I cried after reading it ... you know what is unique bro u wrote what a girl feels even if u r a boy....hats off to u for such a wonderful writing." - Priyanshu Saxena

"Every time I read it I ended up being more surprised and curious as to how this story will end... Hope nobody faces this kind of situation in life wherein you have to choose, your life and career becomes uncertain, your personal life is disturbed, and the only option available to you at that time is to run away from life... From people... Awesome story sir... Eager to read your novel... You rock sir... :-) :-)" - Aanya

"Really this is the best write-up I have ever read. From the beginning of this book I had goose pimples, I was so afraid about what was to come next. This book has left me Shocked , Stunned & Speechless. I will keep on thinking about it the whole night." - Richa

"Yet again a master piece.....it's really amazing how u connect with your readers...the language you use...full of emotions and undoubtedly this is one of your best piece of writing....straight out of d heart....sometimes I start doubting if its fiction or reality.... That is something like an accomplished seasoned writer you write man......the vocab....the language.....so simple yet so elegant......I am at a loss of words dude.......and yes like everyone ...me too hooked, I can visualize everything yaar......all said and done.....this story of yours is a story with a heart......can feel d heart beats.......direct dil se.......keep writing bro......god bless....."  -Vikash Maheshwari

"The only thing I can hear in my room is my heart beat....unbelievable...no words sir only respect for the girl" - Arpit Nagar

"Finally, there is nothing in this story which I didn't like.

Everything is almost perfect in this and after reading it I'm almost satisfied. This is what I would expect from someone who can actually write a story. I liked it! “- Amar Kumar

"It’s too good. I was just reading it and there was one movie going on in my mind. It is like amazing...!!! Really. Heart touching."

Thanks Pulkit, each one of your post is wonderful. - Shridhi Jain

"Kudos to you Pulkit ....your writing skills definitely need to be appreciated." -Neha Shenoy

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HAPPY READING!!!