Name: A Window Seat
Author: Vishala Katta
No. of Pages: 249
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Frog Books (An Imprint of Leadstart Publishing Pvt. Ltd.)
Price: Rs. 250/-
Published in: 2016

How did I get it? From the publisher.

THE BLURB SAYS:
When a dying corporate professional escapes into a train to somewhere, he finds himself become a storyteller of old mythological tales. Tagging along is ten year old Hari who is looking for his parents he lost in the trains.

What makes them hold on to each other for longer? Do they find what they were looking for? What happens when they bump into each other few years later? But do all of them make it alive?
A window seat is all about those conversations with strangers that seem to change you unknowingly.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Vishala Katta writes about the untold stories that ordinary people carry on their shoulders. She finds extreme gleeful childlike pleasure in conversations with strangers and other creatures that choose to respond. Originally, an engineer, she set out to pursue her love for Communications at Mudra Institute of Communication, (MICA) Ahmedabad. She is currently residing in Delhi doing her daily corporate grind as a marketing and communications professional. While most of her day is spent on her seat at work, the rest of the time she is busy lecturing her better half about feminism and travelling to places with the sound of water.

MY THOUGHTS:
I was quite excited by the blurb. The plot seemed offbeat and interesting. The cover also looked nice with the chugging train.

 

Stalin is the dying corporate, Hari is the ten-year-old urchin and Kuhu is the runaway bride. The story started out well with Stalin.He is suffering from incurable cancer and so decides to travel, looking for a miracle. His religious debates also were interesting. But he didn’t turn out to be the storyteller the blurb promised.

 

Kuhu’s part also started well, but somehow some things were absurd in her story. Like she is asked to visit a dead relative’s family alone, in a distant town on the very second day of her wedding. She goes to the railway station alone in the evening (it is very near from her husband’s home) in a new place, dressed in an obvious newlywed’s attire. Her husband sees her off from home only. At the end, I actually felt sorry for him.

 

How Hari lost his parents in the train is not very convincing. And nobody noticed a lost boy at the stations is also not very convincing.

 

The plot had potential but the story didn’t turn out to captivating. I was actually a little disappointed.