Author: Rashmi Kumar
Format: Paperback
Language: English
ISBN: 9788129116048
Pages: 138
Price: Rs. 95.00

Stilettos in the Newsroom‘ by Rashmi Kumar is a story that comes straight out of the heart, told in a matter-of-fact way. I have been hearing about this novel for quite some time, and hence, the interest to go through it, when I finally got it in my hand, was rather high. The result? Could not help slogging till 3am in the night.

Stilettos in the Newsroom‘ is a story of journalism, by journalists, with the major protagonist being Radhika Kanetkar. The novel charts her growth from a notable newbie in the newsroom to a successful journalist, jumping over the various hurdles that life had to offer her in the long way in between. In her life as a journalist, she remained solely concerned, concentrated about her profession, often giving her life a way out from the nine-to-five job she was into, by partying and escaping to places with her friends. She got a great friend-cum-philosopher in Sushmita and the bond shown in between them was one of the finest touches of the author in this novel. Radhika (often called as Rads by her friends) did everything in her life – from creating unnecessary bloopers in her job, to learning not to make those mistakes again, to get bitched against by her fellow colleagues, to getting sexually sought after by weirdo foreigners, she saw life from a different angle, which may be much common to everyone related to the profession of journalism. But one thing she was not much successful in was her personal life, her love-life. The author portrayed the love affair between Radhika and Sameer (of Rajat, Tina, Sameer trio fame) in a brilliant way, at the end of which both of them came together to each other.

Writing: All through out the novel, Rashmi was the quintessential Radhika, in every sense. Rashmi Kumar’s background in journalism made her draw the perfect picture, ensembling her experience in that sector. While the preliminary pages were hard to concentrate into, what followed from there on were a fluent story telling, casting of nicely portrayed characters, in the string of similarly interesting incidents. Humour is an important part of this novel which makes it to score a notch above what it would have had scored without the humour aspects. Throughout the book, the author has successfully showed the tiny little likings for small things that every person nurtures with care in their heart. For Radhika, living in different cities (Delhi and Pune, as featured here) came as challenges, at the end of which she ended up loving each city in their own ways.

Stilettos in the Newsroom‘ a book well recommended for everyone. Personally, my favourites have been the ‘Journalism Rules’ at the end of each of the 27 chapters in the book. Smooth language, urban storyline and interesting characters make it worth-reading!

Overall rating: 7.5/10

More Details:
The author on Facebook: Rashmi Kumar
The novel on Facebook: Stilettos in the Newsroom
Author’s website: rashmikumar.in
Also, you can mail the author directly to: rashmikumar.in@gmail.com

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