Book Review : When strangers meet.

Thank you to both the Author and blogchatter for allowing me to read and review the book.

About the Author

K. Hari Kumar is working as an Assistant Director in the Indian film industry. He has written, acted and directed four independent projects that have been screened in various film festivals.

About The Book

An easy but interesting read, When Strangers Meet.. has a story that youth can relate to. It shows the father-son relationship from the points of view of the three main characters in the book, each belonging to different ethnicities and stratas of society.

The lives of Jai Sharma, Krishnaprasad Iyer and Hussain Ansari intersect on one fateful day at a metro station. It’s a meeting that changes their lives forever. Jai is a typical rebellious college kid. He has his own dreams and passion, but is being forced by his parents to pursue the dreams that they have for him. In order to break the shackles of parental authority, Jai runs away from home.

Hussain, a tea stall owner is a man of modest means. Although, he has never known happiness in his life, he never lost his faith in Allah. He is on a journey that he is sure will turn his fate around.

Last but not the least is Iyer whose story is at the heart of the novel, When Strangers Meet…It is the story of his past which unexpectedly changes the lives of Hussain and Jai.

Book Review

The major part of the story revolves around Krishnaprasad Iyer, who as a young lad is passionate about cinema and leaves his home with a hope to do well in the Film Industry. However, his story takes a turn when he experiences the hardest days of his life yet decide to win over the stones that life threw on him. Despite being a school drop out he begins from scratch and with his earnings finishes basic education and ends up in a decent job.

Jai a happy-go-lucky youngster who belongs to an affluent family runs away from his home with the same intention of pursuing his acting dream learns what life is about and gets to understand his mistake when Krisnaprasad Iyer narrates his painful life story in a dramatic yet realistic way. Hussain Ansari, on the other hand, is a poor tea stall owner yet strongly believes in God, starts his journey to fulfil the dream of his son who wishes for a better and richer life. It is when the three men meet at the metro station the story gets painted vividly with the creativity and descriptive narrative that quizzes the readers at the end of whether Krisnaprasad Iyer is a Ghost or it is Jai’s imagination or is it Jai’s intuitive conscience remains a mystery. However, the young boy learns a life lesson from a stranger who he meets at the metro station and returns home and apologizes to his parents wholeheartedly. In addition, the story gets even more beautiful when Jai’s parents are happy about him taking up his animation course and pursuing his dream rather than him becoming an engineer as directed by them.