Meet Sri Anuprabha, aka Anu, a twenty-nine year-old banker who is terrified of entering her thirties. She dreams of quitting her job at the bank, sporting yoga pants and traipsing around the world. Her world turns upside down when things go awry and she is faced with the prospect of spending her days watching Tamil serials. She comes up with a five-point plan for reclaiming her life back before she hits the big 30. But things are never as simple as drawing up a flowchart in real life, are they? Especially with a ghastly recession rearing its ugly head.
Anu bumbles through the corridors of domesticity and travels on a fun-filled roller coaster ride in a bid to discover her passion in life. Along the way, she meets new people, experiences crazy things and learns some hard lessons in marriage, friendship, parenting and life.
The Crossover Year is a funny, yet heartwarming story of a woman in search of her identity, and a chronicle of her hilarious quest for discovering her inner mojo. Bring out a platter of cookies and a steaming mug of chai, and join Anu on the ride of her lifetime.
About the Author
Bhargavi Balachandran spent many years doing things as diverse as selling office equipment, air conditioners and corporate loans to analyzing balance sheets after her MBA. After quitting her full-time job, she found happiness thinking up insane plots and concocting stories.
She has written articles, travelogues and short stories for magazines and a newspaper. Bhargavi also has a romance novella to her credit, and is an avid blogger.
She currently lives in Chennai with her husband, and loves travelling, reading books and painting.
'The Crossover Year' is sweetness in simplicity … no unnecessary
twists or frills, but rather, a conglomeration of events that jot up the life of
Anu, a twenty-nine year old banker who tries to regain her identity after
quitting her job at the bank.
Things can be tough when you get out of your normal routine.
Anu portrays that feeling when she resigns from her job one fateful day. She
realizes that she has had enough from her boss, and would no longer tolerate
him or his evil schemes in the corporate world. She leaves with a dream in
her eyes of making her life bigger and better than what it is currently.
However, you can never plan where life would lead you. The
recession hits across all shores, and soon Anu regrets her decision to quit her
job where she worked for years. Fear leads to depression and then to insecurity.
Her husband, Mukund, whom she met at Tamilmatrimony.com, is supportive and
caring, but then again, he too feels the heat of monthly expenses when Anu gets
overboard and spends a princely sum of twenty thousand on gym costumes.
The plot revolves around the relationships, new found and
the lost ones that entangle Anu through her journey. While she feels her old
friends drifting away, an unlikely bond is created with Vinita and Gaurav, and
their pet doggie. A smile finds a place in your face, and you love reading her
thoughts. They are relaxing in a sense, laid back and lazy, but fun,
nevertheless.
The narration is lucid, and you feel that the author is
speaking directly to you. That’s what keeps the pace going, and you can easily
finish the book in a few hours. Right from the point where Anu quits her job,
to the moment when she participates in a Super Home Maker contest, with her favorite
TV actor Raakkesh being one of the judges, the author, Bhargavi Balachandran
keeps you engaged with her descriptive use of words. The scenes are very well
painted, and you get the feel of being in the pages along with the characters.
That is one important plus about 'The Crossover Year' that keeps it glowing
throughout.
Anu is a woman of today, strong and confident, but a bit
confused at times. She trusts her friends, and loves the company of close
associates. Her husband, Mukund, is a sweet chap who pampers her wife with ‘gift
vouchers’ (I so loved this idea, totally unique and fresh). He trusts her
completely and performs the role of a true partner. I loved the minor quarrels that
they had, and the subsequent patch-ups. Mushy and cute.
However, a few events in the book turns out to be predictable, and as a reader you feel that a few twists here and there would have accentuated the appeal of the story-line. Moreover, at places, use of abbreviations without a reference hampered the flow.
'The Crossover Years' falls in the genre of chick-lit, and
will appeal mostly to women. However, literature doesn't have a gender, and
this book has the potential to draw the attention of men as well. Don’t we
all want to know what goes inside the mind of women? Yes, grab this book and
you would know.
If you are looking for a light read, ‘The Crossover Year’
will definitely serve the purpose. Give it a try.
Title: The Crossover Year
Authors: Bhargavi Balachandran
Publisher: Alchemy Publishers
Publication Year: 2013
Language: English
Binding: Paperback
Genre: Chick-Lit, Fiction
No. of Pages: 288
Price: Rs 200
My Rating: 3/5
