Room No 904-Shivani Singhal

Book: Room No 904?

Author: Shivani Singhal

Publisher: Partridge India

Each of us has that familiar memory of walking into a college for the first time, exhilarated yet nervous, butterflies in the stomach. This becomes more prominent when you stay away from your home for the first time, in a hostel. This is when friends become important, having a support system becomes a necessity.

Room No 904? Is based in a similar setting. Tamanna moves from Srinagar to Delhi to pursue a degree in law. Luckily, she gets a room in the hostel, but from the beginning, she starts getting a feeling that something is not right. Like every college, this one also has its secrets hidden inside the walls of the college. Allotted room 904 in the Narmada Hostel, she gets a nightmare on the very first night in the hostel. Coupled with the warden behaving weirdly during the room allocation and the hostel mates treating it like a taboo, things start becoming difficult for Tamanna. On top of the mysterious room, she has a run in with a senior, Tanya, who is bossy and vengeful. As a silver lining to this cloud, she befriends a girl opposite to her hostel room, Smera, who is 4 years senior to her but acts an anchor to her. She also gets involved with Tanya’s classmate, Surya. We are also introduced to Nandini, Tamanna’s paternal aunt, who is her guardian after the tragic death of Tamanna’s parents.

As the book moves ahead, we get to understand the reason why Room no 904 is central to the plot. We also get to move along the psyche of the characters and how they change as the time progresses. Why is Room No 904 such a taboo in the college? Why is Tamanna feeling uneasy in the college life? Are Surya & Smera truly helping her in the college?

Room No 904? explores different themes in the plot. Though the mail plot is a mystery, the subplots explore topics such as depression, teenage bullying, ragging in colleges and teenage love. It expertly weaves all the subplots into a coherent narrative that has equal amounts of mystery, thrill and emotions. Shivani has described the characters in detail and the scenes are believable. The theme of depression and bullying by peers has been handled extremely well by her. The plot of romance in the book has been shown with multiple perspectives and has a mature writing on the theme.

The climax of the book is quite unexpected and deserves due credit for its proper execution and planning. Guessing the ending is a bit difficult and that has earned this story another half-star.

For me, the book deserves a 4/5.