Ek Briyani

One day, I think about a decade ago, I went to meet one of my Uncle from my hometown. It was his first visit to the city of Bangalore. It was already long past lunch time, but my uncle didn’t have his lunch yet. So we went to a nearby restaurant.

"I won’t have dosa right now, will I get rice here?" said the uncle.

Being from a Riceoholic's land, I understood his feeling very well and replied, "you should try Chicken Briyani here, it’s really delicious"

As uncle was new to this part of the world he wasn’t quite acquainted to the great Briyani culture out here. But without any hesitation he was ready for the adventure.

"Ek, Briyani dena," he asked the waiter.

Within minutes the guy returned with an aromatic bowl of Briyani. My uncle was confused to see a boiled egg piece at the top of the bowl, covered with Briyani rice.

"Oh shit, I asked for 'Ek Briyani' and the waiter had given 'Egg Briyani'," complained my uncle.

"Bhai saab, maine to 'Ek Briyani' bola tha, aapne to 'Egg Briyani' le aaya. Actually I want chicken briyani," the uncle pleaded with the waiter guy.

The waiter replied with a smile, "Sir, ye chicken briyani hi hai, egg is free."

My uncle was so happy and his face brightened to a smile.

Grab a copy of my debut book Story of Tublu from Amazon or Flipkart. It is a Contemporary Fiction novel, published by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd. The book has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life.

For The Sake of Humanity

life was different then; loud music escaped from almost every room, guys desperately looked for a matchbox late in the night, holding cigarettes in their hands; those blistering laughter and the frequent booze. If one would take a stroll around the hostel in the evening, he could have possibly got a taste of all form of music including folks songs, Bollywood numbers, modern/classic Regional songs, Pop, Rock and Metal music amongst others. There were quite a few Metal freaks including my room-mate, Nair. We worshiped Metal songs regularly those days. Well, this is the kind of music which can be enjoyed best at a little roaring sound. Our room had two big speakers attached to our music system.

We had a senior named Houkib. I hope I've spelled the name correctly. Houkib was from Manipur and he was a true Christian. He was a guy of cool temperament and during our stay in hostel we had never witnessed a moment when Houkib drifted away from his coolness. Quite often he was occupied in his room reading or singing Gospel songs together with his friends. His room was a couple of rooms away from ours. Houkib was among the guys who sleep early and wake up early. After dinner, it happened quite a few times that I and Nair were inside our room, enjoying some metal songs, relaxing. Houkib would enter with his usual smile, but also with a little bit of discomfort on his face, this time. I and Nair were little curious as he wasn’t a frequent visitor. Houkib would stand near the music system, pick a few audio cassettes one after another and had a close look at them. After a few moments he would reduce the volume, smile and say "For the sake of humanity!"



Grab a copy of my debut book Story of Tublu from Amazon or Flipkart. It is a Contemporary Fiction novel, published by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd. The book has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life.

Anirban Nanda

Anirban is a final year student of Electrical Engineering at Haldia Institute of Technology. He lives in Haldia, West Bengal. Though he is a technical student he loves to read novels more than his Engineering textbooks. Reading books has always been his favorite pass time. Anirban fell in love with writing when he was in class twelve. He has published some of his stories in his college magazine. His anthologies "A Phase Unknown Women-A Tribute Season 2" , "Dream-Castle" and "The Paid Eminence" are due release in April, 2015. He has also become co-editor of an international magazine releasing soon.

One good thing about studying in an Engineering college and experiencing hostel life is that you would remain a student throughout your life. No matter how hard you try, no matter how older you get, you simply can't get that hostel boy out of your life. Sometimes in one situation or the other, the boy inside you will show his presence. Even though hostel life is more or less the same in any college, but there's something different about life in an Engineering hostel. The best part is we never study, but somehow everyone pass the semester exams. 

My debut novel "Story of Tublu" has a glimpse of hostel life. Many readers even felt that the novel is about the life of an engineer. I always had the intuition that guys who experienced hostel life are definitely going to enjoy the book, at least our engineering guys. But then I am totally overjoyed that Story of Tublu is also liked by many others, beyond campus. 

I am glad that Anirban read my book. It seems he enjoyed it wholeheartedly and also shared a review on his blog.

"It's a wonderful debut for any writer. The tag-line of the story says ‘an amazing journey called life’  -an apt tagline indeed! It is literally a journey of life; filled with every human emotion possible -love, pain, loss, friendship, hate, jealousy and more. The story shows the transformation of adolescence to maturity which is done quite brilliantly for both Maina and Tublu -our central characters. The jokes of Ganesh and mischief of Pranjal is so funny that it will make you laugh like a mad. Hostel life is described nicely and it will compel you to take a walk down your memory lane. It's a fascinating and gripping story till the end which can be finished in one sitting. If you want a fast and good story in a simple language; grab this one"

To read the complete review please click the below link:

Review of Story of Tublu by Anirban Nanda

Grab a copy of my debut book 'Story of Tublu' from Amazon or Flipkart. It is a Contemporary Fiction novel, published by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd.