Trending in Love-Pankaj Dubey

Book: Trending in Love
Author: Pankaj Dubey
Publisher: Penguin Random House India

What id the biggest thing that motivates you?

Trending in Love by Pankaj Dubey is the story of Sanam, a carefree but headstrong woman from Delhi, and Aamir, a young main from Kashmir who has hope in his heart. Both of them aspire to become an IAS officer, though the motivation for both is poles apart. Their hard work pays off when the results are announced and both of them are on the podium. They meet at the IAS Training Academy in Mussoorie. As the days pass, the distance between the two starts to blur and love starts blossoming in the mountain air. Things take a murky turn when they decide to spend their lives together, because of the religious divide. The book explores the love story of Sanam and Aamir and how they face the odds and choose love over society.

The first thing that jumps out when you finish the book is that the blurb isn’t that accurate to the plot. The book claims that it is the story about undying love in the face of society’s most dangerous beliefs, but as far as I understood, it was a love story, period. The part about the society felt was added as an afterthought, because it had no semblance to the entire narrative. With that part cast aside, the story was quite fresh and the author took time to get the details right. Creating a setting in the IAS Academy in Mussoorie was an interesting POV to use. The storytelling was quite imaginative with the scenes coming out alive as they progress, and I commend the author for such a visual treat. The climax of the story was a tad bit disappointing, with the societal pressure part coming out of the blue.

Coming to the characters in the book, Pankaj has created Sanam and Aamir in mirror image of each other, while one was headstrong and outgoing, the other preferred isolation and solitude.  The character of Sanam was quite intriguing with all her character quirks. Aamir was an interesting character study due to his growth as a character during the story. Kuldeep was another quirky character that made the story what it is with his timely interruptions and reactions that added nuance to the plot.

Overall, a good read which scores a 3.5/5 for me.

Grab a copy of the book here.