Mehrun-Najia Rizvi

Book: Mehrun

Author: Najia Rizvi

Publisher: Half Baked Beans

Do you believe in the concept of fate, of people meeting each other for a reason?

Do you believe that everything that happens in our life, happens for a reason?

“Mehrun” is the story of Mehrun Khan, an aspiring Healthcare Manager who enrolls in a course in a college in Indore and how her choices impact the direction of lives of Mehrun and all those attached to her. The book opens in the year 2004 when Mehrun joins her course in Indore. With the usual anecdotes of college life of introductions to seniors, freshers party, birthday celebrations, group outings and hostel life, we experience different emotions of Mehrun and get introduced to her thinking and her thought processes. We also get to meet her classmates and friends who become an indispensable part of her life as it becomes evident as the story progresses. Meera, Mehrun’s classmate is from the same town, Bhilai, that Mehrun is from. Her roommate is Neetu, who was the first person she met on the campus when she arrived. On the next day, we are introduced to other people in her class, Divya, the loud one, Mudit is the one who sketches amazing portraits and is extremely handsome. Nishan is the comedic one whereas Puneet looks exactly like Nishan but has a feminine voice.

Lastly, we are introduced to Aarush Nair. In Mehrun’s own words, “His sarcasm and wits keep us entertained between breaks. He walks as if he rules the world. He never initiates any conversation and you could easily mistake him to be arrogant, but he has deep, kind eyes. There is definitely more to his personality than what he is trying to project.”

As the story moves forward, it comes to light that Mehrun is a practical person, for whom reality comes before emotions. Her motto is to “follow logic” rather than “falling for emotions”. Despite other people around her who seem to be falling in and put of relationships, Mehrun keeps her distance from it. However, it is Aarush that seems to change her logic. What he means to her is what she cannot comprehend yet she always wants him around.  When Mehrun decides to move out of the country, and is in a dilemma, she wants to reach out to Aarush.

What happens next?

Has Mehrun given up her logic and fallen for Aarush?

Mehrun is a story of coming of age and how emotions drive is to certain decisions. Aarush and Mehrun, the two protagonists of the story meet each other and walk away multiple times during the course of the plot that spans from 2004 to 2016 and from locations from Bhilai, Indore, Jaipur, Delhi & Doha. As the time passes, we see Mehrun’s emotions changing. With a storm in her personal as well as the professional life, she now has to juggle a tsunami in her emotional life as well. Battling with multiple emotions, Mehrun is a roller coaster ride with unexpected twists and turns. A wonderful reminder of college times and young romance, it is also a story of how belief in the idea of love and soulmates still holds water in todays times.

Najia Rizvi has debuted with a 4 star story. A definite read.