Book Name– Colourful Notions The RoadTrippers 1.0
Author – Mohit Goyal
Publisher– Srishti Publishers and Distributors, first published in 2017
Available on – Amazon here Colourful Notions: The Roadtrippers 1.0
I got my copy from – Writers Melon, in exchange for an honest review
Excerpt – “Would you give –up your high paying job and comfortable personal life to drive ten thousand kilometers across India? Just for Fun! Three twenty –something’s dare to do just that! While the two boys take turns to drive, the girl gives voice-over as they record their entire journey on a handycam. Ad, Sasha and Unnati are ordinary youngsters, rendered special by the feat they accomplish.”
This is part of the excerpt from the back of the book.
The book promises a lot but somehow falls short in delivery. The premise of the story is extremely interesting where 25 year old’s decide to go on a road trip covering 10000 kms. Where it lacks for me is the detailing.
The book starts with etching out each individual’s role while on the road trip. Ab or Abhay is the financer, owner of the vehicle and the person who came up with this idea. It’s his handycam that they record the journey with. Sasha or Shashank is the foodie of the group and he has joined the roadtrip as he would get to taste the cuisines from all over India and spend some alone time with his girlfriend Unnati. Also the fact that he is stuck in a mundane family business in which he has no interest makes it all the more easy to take this decision. Unnati is Sasha’s girlfriend and an Assistant Radio Jockey. She wants to figure out where her relationship with Sasha is headed and is officially the voice for this documentary. So it has all the right ingredients for a good read – there’s travel, life experiences, food, lost youngsters trying to figure out the purpose of their life, underlying family problems that nobody wishes to face, but it kind of loses focus somewhere in between. Also the poor editing is a damper.
We can’t call it a travelogue or travel book as it lacks depth in terms of description and experiences. It can’t be called a foodie book as there is hardly any description about various food or cuisine. It just blandly talks about Punjabi food in Delhi, Hyderabadi biryani in Hyderabad and in Mysore and enroute Rameshwaram about Idli- Dosa and certain Chettinad favourites like paniyaram and Chettinad Chicken. Nowadays decent regional cuisines are available in all cities, so why add this angle, if not planning to delve on it.
What works for me – It can be called as cross between rom-com and BFF novels, with random locations sprinkled in between. The story line is true to human nature. Nobody is shown as near perfect and hence some traits can make you smile and remind you of someone you know. The pace is quick. Some parts of the story stand out in terms of life experiences and insights. The proceeds from the book are being pledged to CRY. All in all a light read and a decent attempt for a debut novel.
It is rightly named as Roadtrippers 1.0 as in today’s world of social media it is hard to believe that the roadtrippers use Google Maps for direction but use no social media to post about their incredible journey!
The story in a nutshell is that the three friends are a confused lot when they start the journey but figure out what they need to do by the end of the journey.