• Title – SMTP (So Many Turning points) – Crorepati turns Roadpati
• Author – Ashutosh Bhatia
• Publisher – Mahaveer Publishers
• Genre – Fiction
• Pages – 192
• ISBN – 9789350880296
• Price – 140 INR

Synopsis : Aaryan, a simpleton boy from Jaipur, dreams big and is always too eager to let his life unfold at its own pace. He is ‘flamboyant in nature and is always surrounded by the thoughts of one or the other girl. He is shown to make hasty moves for some the very important aspects of his life, including his career just to see himself nose-dive on almost all occasions. His search for a soul mate ends when Shona steps in his life. Aaryan belongs to a very supportive family where his father and elder brother guide him at every step helping him climb the ladder of success in the IT sector. Aaryan attains the status of a ‘Crorepati’ in less than five years owing to his hard work and vision just to come across a critical meltdown that transforms him into a ‘Roadpati’ in no time.

Life takes steep turns to gift Aaryan unprecedented success and in no time turns his triumphs into steep falls. These are the many turning points of his life.

Review: The minute I got hold of the book the first thing that struck me was the title beginning with SMTP (So Many Turning Points). My very first thoughts were that the title of the book ‘ crorepati turns Roadpati’ is quite explanatory in itself, then why had the author added the extra acronym?

As I started reading the story, the reason became clearer. Aaryan, the protagonist, emerges as a young, confused boy who makes career moves guided by short-term goals, failing to contemplate the possible consequences. The result being, he faces many failures and embarrassing situations that make up the many turning points of his career and life.

Aaryan juggles his desire to make a mark in the IT sector with website development being his prime interest. Though the book successfully reflects the dilemma every student faces while making career choices, but the choices made are quite confusing yet shown to fare results that are exceptionally good. A very similar fate is met with the failures happening all of a sudden that make him go bankrupt.

The way the love story of Aaryan and Shona unfolds is the only part in the book that goes on at a very realistic pace. Aaryan’s family has been shown to be pretty supportive and understanding which makes up for an added plus point to the plot.

The one thing that struck me right from the start was, the many turns mentioned haven’t been given opportunity to let Aaryan’s character evolve. Besides, due care isn’t taken to share details about the changes that went about in his life at a given point of time. The outcome being, the book makes for a racy read and makes the protagonist appear as a weak, confused boy who is shown to achieve results at the pace of his dreams. That makes the plot quite confusing on a number of occasions.

Introduction of plenty of characters in the story has led the author to make mistakes while quoting references which is another point of distraction. Though I wish to congratulate the author for giving the book an unexpected thriller ending, I’d like to point out that the book could have ended well had it been given its due pace and space to evolve.

The hasty summations without due care to relate happenings across paragraphs on the same page and abundant grammatical errors gelled with repetitive phrases makes this book desperately need a thorough ‘proof read’ and better editing before going ahead for a reprint.

The language is plain and the book makes for a breezy read. The book would make for a fun read during travel.

About the Author: This is the first book by Ashutosh Bhatia who hails from Jaipur and is currently the CEO of a renowned Information Technology Firm Alea IT Solutions.

Rating: 3/5

* Thank you Ashutosh Bhatia for providing me a review copy of your book in exchange of an honest review. I wish you all the best for your future endeavours.