And We Remained by Asad Ali Junaid #Book #Review

And We Remained by Asad Ali Junaid Book #Review

*Publisher: Asad Ali Junaid (Author) *ISBN: 978-1495378928 *Publication Year: 2014 *No. Of Pages: 265 *Cover: Paperback *Language: English *Type: Fiction *Price: 249 *Source: Author *Rating: 4/5

My review:

While reading the book I recalled my collage days; bunking the class, sitting at the last benches doing nothing, canteen, playing volleyball, etc, I guarantee you, read this book you will fell relaxed, a must read for the fun loving person.

And We Remained is a story of five friends Sahir, Sandeep, Gopal, Anand and David, and their friend Wardha, during 1990s in Bangalore. They were studying in a college called Engineering Collage of Vidyakeerthi University (ECVU). From the beginning till the last page the book is very interesting you will never get bored, its humorous book. I think this book is a Memoir of Asad Ali Junaid.

According to my thinking every graduate has his own story, the celebration and the freedom from school makes a person important identity in collage.

In the movie Rang de Basanti there is a dialogue by DJ (Daljit – Amir Khan) that he is in the collage for more than 7 years, why because he doesn’t wants’ to face the real world. There are more Daljits roaming in the world other than in the college. Same happens to the protagonist of this book who in real world has to struggle to prove his identity.

The concept and the way of expressing is different. The story is narrated in present i.e. through emails along with the dates and in past as a normal narrative. Through emails every friend was connected. The email exchange concept is a new thing; I have read it first time. The book is a mixture of many events like love, heartbreak, prison, drinking, canteen, porn, nude pics, politics, strip clubs, principal etc, its a power packed book. Every character is given equal importance.

One thing which I liked the most is the Cover Design which is done by Author himself. It’s truly awesome. Black and white with many words randomly placed in the front. Also I salute to the author for self publishing his book, it’s a daring attempt. But the author’s attempt is worth it. It’s a one man army writing, designing and publishing.

This book is a good celebration of friendship. Congratulations to Asad Ali Junaid for his debut novel and hope he comes with much more interesting stories in future.

SUMMARY:

It is Bangalore in the late 1990’s. There are tremendous socio-economic and cultural transformations taking place as a result of liberalization. How would these changes impact a group of friends in their late teens? How would they cope, find opportunities and what of their original identities would they be left with, after western ideologies are brought in and bombarded into their awareness by cable TV and new media?

Told through emails and first person account of events, And We Remained is a light and entertaining read of these friends as they experience love, heartbreak, prison, politics, drunken binges, strip clubs, sexcapades, US and Europe during their journey into adulthood.

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

 Asad Ali Junaid is a design professional in Bangalore working in the area of Human-Machine Interaction.

Junaid’s book – And We Remained – started as a story which needed to be told… and one which needed to be told differently. While he was struggling to get the narration style and structure right, he joined a three week in residence ‘Just Write’ fiction writing workshop where he got a chance to learn the nuances of and hone his story telling skills from authors Anil Menon, Anjum Hasan and Rimi Chatterjee.
Junaid writes whenever there is a compelling story inside him bursting to get out. Junaid has written several short stories and is currently editing his second book – which like his first one – has an absorbing story and is very different in narration style.

Junaid has been a resident of Bangalore most of his life except for brief stints in the US for higher education and work. He has seen Bangalore’s transformation from the sleepy town that it was, to an IT hub of today.
Junaid’s wife is a Post-Doctoral Researcher at Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. Their toddler completes their home while keeping them on their toes.