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The A to Z April Blogging Challenge 2013   is  sailing ahead, and I’m trying to keep track of the lovely new bloggers I meet each new day! I’m co-hosting it on Amlokiblogs, so drop me a comment there if you have something to say about the challenge itself. On this blog, I’ve been featuring mostly indie-published book excerpts for all of April. I love reading, and supporting author-friends, and this is a good way to do both.

Never Mind Yaar

Never Mind Yaar

Today, for N, I give you a literary novel : Never Mind Yaar by K. Mathur.  According to Graeme Lay, reviewer, Write Right, NZ, “The author’s perspective and insider information draw in both, the Indian and Western reader. Conflict, both ideological and physical, is constantly present, lending tension and drama to the narrative.”

Elevator Pitch: Never Mind Yaar follows the lives of friends Binaifer, Louella and Shalini, women of diverse backgrounds—Hindu, Christian and Parsi—who meet while attending college. The novel’s main plotline surrounds Shalini who, against her family’s wishes has fallen for an impetuous student activist, Bhagu.

Will Shalini listen to her heart or mind? Will tradition triumph over love? 

Excerpt: Dr. Naakwaa of Gyan Shakti College couldn’t help smiling to himself as he looked at the sea of eager, animated young faces. They all seemed to speak at once, or so it seemed to an old man like himself, their ceaseless chatter outdone only by sudden bursts of loud laughter.

Even as they talked and laughed in their own groups, he saw their eyes covertly watching the others. An air of breathless expectancy hung about them, as if something momentous would sweep them up on a wing and fly them away to an unknown destination. Without exception, they all clamoured to go, even the ones standing at the periphery, hesitant and slightly lost though they appeared to be.

Buy the book the author’s website, Amazon and Best Little Book Store.

 

Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

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28 Comments

  • Kumar Suhas says:

    Thanks a lot for sharing this here , I will surely check this out.

  • G Angela says:

    Sounds interesting, thanks for sharing !

  • beckarooney says:

    That excerpt really drew me in, I want to read the whole thing now! Great post, thanks for sharing 🙂 x

  • Sumita Pai says:

    Sounds like an interesting book. Had not heard of it before.

    Four Leaf Clover

    • KayEm says:

      Thanks, Sumita. That is how it is with indies. The book isn’t in bookshops where you can pick it up, browse through it, touch it, feel it, see it, remember it and sometimes, buy it on impulse. It is only available online. On the other hand indies can make their work available in formats like Kindle at 2 and 3 dollars.

  • My Say says:

    I got to know about it in your last post , I saw on Amloki .. the one with a stranded tree standing against wind … amazing one !! Let me check Amloki again .. (if u dont mind me asking why Amloki ?Had thought i would ask you sometime back as well…but then i was not a regular visitor of your sites. Do u love them ? I used to as a kid !! 😀 )

  • Jai says:

    Sounds interesting. I will check it out.

  • Roshni says:

    The excerpt is really well written!

  • Excerpt seems promising. New Indian author on the circuit?

    • KayEm says:

      There are more excerpts on the blog, cheerfutornado, and a reading. (Bhabhuti, the barber discovers the king has only one ear – old Indian folklore). Thanks for those kind words.

  • Sounds interesting. Must check it out.

  • feralstate says:

    Inspiring stuff! Look forward to reading more…

  • Well, I went over to the other Blog. Saw the lovely picture and made a comment. I’m not sure what I’m meant to do next

  • precari0us says:

    Sounds like an interesting book.. Will check it out..

    – Your fellow A to Zer
    Visit my post at http://precari0us.wordpress.com/

  • I just started wordpress, and didn’t know about the challenge. I wonder if there’ll be another challenge of that sort soon?

  • kristin says:

    When I saw the title of the book, “Never Mind, Yaar” I had to come see what the post was about. I was active in a South Asian book group for several years and since leaving, I haven’t see anyone called yaar. Sounds interesting.

    • KayEm says:

      Thanks, Kristin. What books did you read in your South Asian book club? What made you join a South Asian book club?

      • kristin says:

        I joined the group because I realized that there was a culture in that part of the world with millions of people and I knew practically nothing about it. Some of the books were “The English Teacher”, “A Suitable Boy”, “God of Small Things”, “The Reluctant Terrorist”, “Bombay Time”, “Loving Ayesha”, “The Calcutta Chromazone” and others by Amitav Gosh, “Cinnamon Gardens”, “The Last Jet Engine Laugh”, Several by Uma Paramewara, Several by Meera Syals. I’m sure there were others but these are some I still have.

        I watched a bunch of Bollywood and other films – classic and new. I also joined an online community and tried some recipes, read political discussions and reviews of films etc.