Meghna by Sundari Venkatraman

The third book by Sundari Venkatraman is a romantic story,Meghna It is the story of a 22 year old girl set mostly in Mumbai. I had just purchased the book from Amazon and was having a problem downloading it when the author asked me if I would like to review her book and agreed to send me a pdf of the book. Thank you so much Sundari ji for the book and a pdf means that I can read it any time I want. The book starts with a prologue when Meghna’s mother dies and Rahul moves to London and moves into present when Meghna has just had a tiff with Rahul immediately after he has popped the question and has gone to Dubai and her plane has been hijacked. The rest of the story is in a flashback till it comes back to the present and moves forward from there.

The Blurb:

The young and dashing Rahul Sinha lives in England with his parents, Shyam and Rajni. He is an only son of the rich banker. Rahul is totally attached to his father but does not care for his mother. Read the book to find out why….
Rahul is exulted with his efforts at work paying off and plans a holiday with his best friend Sanjay Srivastav who lives in Mumbai with his wife Reema, kids Sanya and Rehaan and most importantly, his sister, Meghna. Rahul recalls meeting Meghna just before they parted six years ago.
Meghna works for a website and also teaches modern dance as she loves it. She’s thrown for a toss when Rahul comes visiting. She had thought he had forgotten them.
But how could Rahul do that? Sanjay’s his best friend and Rahul had always treated their home as his own. Sanjay’s mother had been more of a mother to Rahul than his own. Rahul had stayed away after moving to England or so Meghna believes.
Thus begins the story between Rahul and Meghna, the teasing, the flirting, the anger, the tears… …will they find love?(

The characters:

Meghna Srivastav, 22, stays in Mumbai with her brother and his family. Having lost her father when she was two and her mother at sixteen, she is very close to her brother, Sanjay, an airline pilot, and sister-in-law, Reema. She is independent, works as a copywriter for a website, teaches dance with her partner Prashant and rides a motorbike. She dotes on her four year old niece, Sasha and two year old nephew, Rehaan.

Rahul Sinha, 30, moved to London after completing his CA in Mumbai when he was 24 and joined his father’s bank. Now, he is a Director. He is very close to his father but not his mother. He and Sanjay have been friends since school days and Sanjay’s mother, whom he calls Mamma, practically brought him up.

The story:

Rahul gets promoted as a director and decides to come to India to spend time with his best friend, Sanjay. Meghna is surprised to see Rahul in her home when he drops in after six years.  She has had a crush on him since she was sixteen and her family knows about it. Rahul’s feelings for Meghna are powerful but he does not know whether they are enough for lifelong commitment. So, he wants to get to know her better and goes with her everywhere. He proposes to her with all the works and she accepts happily.

But Prashant is in love with Meghna and then there is Aisha, Rahul’s self-proclaimed fiancée from London waiting for him at Sanjay’s flat. Meghna runs away, takes a flight to Dubai, the flight is hijacked. Will they find each other again?

My take:

As with all Sundari Venkatraman books, the plot is simple, the story is sweet and the characters loveable. Meghna’s family is a typical Indian middle class close knit family with a brother, bhabhi and kids. The easy camaraderie between the charaters has been beautifully depicted. The relationship of Sasha and Rehaan has been depicted very well. I could visualize the story. The author has described the feeling of both the protagonists making the book all the more interesting.

A nice book. Highly recommended.

Book Source: Review copy from the author as well as bought

Publisher: Flaming Sun

Format: ebook