#BookReview: Urban Chronicles - I by Nita Bajoria

 

About the Book: 

Urban Chronicle series is a collection of graphic short stories. Unlike typical genres of a comic book, this series is one of its kind that explores life in a metro. The infrastructure of built environment categorized by urban sociology has always been a subject of an enigma. City dwellers are often accused of escaping from their agrarian life towards the comforts of a bourgeois metropolis. But is it true? Is a cosmopolitan devoid of struggles and hardships? My stories are humble attempts to explore the above questions through some lighthearted tales that capture this alienated and fragmented reality through an imaginative weave of words and illustrations. Tinged with suspicion the three stories, in the first series of Urban Chronicles are grounded in the contemporary era. While in one a husband tries tackling his suspecting wife, in another, a neighbour’s curiosity, brings forth an unexpected truth. And then there is our GBG, aka Gossip Brewers Group who will go to any extent to find out spicy secrets of their society.

About the Author:

Nita may be best described as a lazy bookworm who utilizes her moments of feeling out-of-place in a social gathering by observing people around her and plotting short stories. Before she started writing fiction, she experimented with various occupations like being a computer teacher, computer programmer, kitchen designer, kitchen manufacturer, and office magazine editor. But her favourite job is the one she's now doing full time - weaving stories. Mother of an adorable daughter, she finds writing de-stressing. She loves reading on flights, and she is at her best when left alone to scribble on her laptop in a library or a cafe. Knitting stories around relationships, emotional needs and various perceptions that build up the drama of life is her forte. She believes that travelling opens up her mind and helps her understand life better. Most of her short stories and travelogues have been featured in popular magazines such as Women's Era, Alive, and Airports India. The Leap is her debut novel. You can get to her blog by simply typing the word "nitatussiemussies". 

The Review:

Nita Bajoria’s Urban Chronicles Book I, is a collection of three short stories in a graphic novel. It takes commonplace instances from everyday life and shows us what it is like to live in the city.

Balcony touches upon how we constantly make assumptions about someone else’s lives, by peering through our neighbour’s windows. Smell is a sweet and funny anecdote of what happens when suspicions run wild in a wife’s mind when left to her own devices. And finally, Mrs. Ramachandran, who heads the Gossip Brewer’s Club in her society. The theme, as explained in the blurb, for these stories is suspicion.

This is a fun and happy read, to make a Sunday afternoon fun while sipping on your cup of chai. It’s a comfort read for sure. We cannot wait to read the next two installments for Urban Chronicles.

The illustrations also do justice to the stories. So kudos to Pradipta Mukherjee for nailing all the characters well!

Added bonus: the Hindi version of this book will be made available in the market very soon.

You can get your own copy by placing an order: Amazon India | Flipkart