Once Upon The Tracks of Mumbai: Book Review

Author–          Rishi Vohra  – In conversation at Mtalks 7/7

Book Title—    ONCE UPON THE TRACKS OF MUMBAI

Cover Page—  The couple picture conveys cupfuls of romance and love, a love-story for sure. Train and tracks openly talk about Mumbai, the daily travelers, and the life-line of the city, a tale of a common man and a story to look out for.

When I saw the cover page, I felt it to be a poster for a Bollywood Masala movie, loved it too because it made a positive impression but when I had read the book, I felt that the main character of the story should have been given the right footage.

Hero of the Book–   Our favorite fellow is known as Babloo. I appreciate the way he introduces himself to the world with conviction and boldness. People call him autistic and psycho, with a state of mind that’s a little different from what we would call normal, though I am not convinced with the way normal’s behave. But definitely as the book progresses we get to know that our protagonist is different, he is someone who lives a life on his own conditions, his own beliefs and has a world of dreams distanced with the realities of life.

Life-line of the Book–The tracks of Mumbai play a key role and form the backbone of the book. From the start of the day to the time it ends, Babloo loves to be around them. They give him a purpose in life.  They help him show the real him. He is a young lad who wants to prove himself for his love (Vandana) and he does it best by using his strength and power in and around them.

Love never comes alone–Troubles land up in all forms when marriage alliances come into picture or for that matter when the bad guy tries to play good. Some of the realities of life are touched upon through the twists and turns and the emergence of ‘Rail Man’ in the story makes it interesting.

The story is fresh and different from the college romance. The Author’s writing style is sweet and simple and many a times quite influenced by Bollywood style.

🙂 🙂 🙂

Ups and Downs–

USP: A mentally challenged person writing about his life and its tumultuous journey. 

In my opinion, a few things that could have been done away with, firstly the descriptions of C grade movies, then the part where a loafer of the road, Sikander dupes a sensible girl, Vandana.  And lastly the fight scenes of Rail-man seemed a little exaggerated to me. I felt the idea of Rail Man was a great twist to the story but it could have been made more believable.

Overall a happy ride with its share of bumps!!!

Happy Reading!!!

To know more about the Author, Visit MTalks 7/7

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