Five Books About That Kuch Kuch Hota Hai Stuff

1. Flat-Track Bullies by Balaji Venkatraman

Who was your first school crush? Did you love tuitions because it meant you could spend an extra hour with your crush? What about those long phone calls that began with excuses like Math problems, hmm? 

That’s just what’s going on with Ravi Venkatesan, aka Ravi, aka the Sachin Tendulkar of marbles matches, the lead character of Flat-Track Bullies. 

His vacation before middle school has just begun and for every vacation, one must have goals. One of the most important goals in Ravi's list is Mission Rapunzel, ie., to befriend Shweta, his 'beautiful' classmate. In school, she sat five benches away but during the vacation, she has become his bench-mate in IIT coaching class. When he sees her, kuch kuch hota hai, but he doesn't know what it is. However pointless those classes may seem to others, for twelve-year old Ravi, Shweta's presence adds beauty to everything, jaise, khilta gulaab...jaise, shayar ka khwaab. He thinks it is a 'medical problem' to be attracted to girls! But he has a plan!

• Shave twice a week to encourage a moustache
• Begin with talking to less hot girls and upgrade eventually
• Take advice from older boys about talking to hot girls

While juggling summer classes, vacation fun and trying to understand girls, Ravi has the most exciting adventure with unexpected twists, turns and nail-biting suspense, boletoh, like the last over of an IPL match. The book is a roller coaster, one-sitting read.

2. Slightly Burnt By Payal Dhar

Komal is a 16 year old girl growing up in Delhi in a fairly chilled-out household with not too many rules. Two things give her the tingles in the tummy - love notes with roses from her school senior Rajat and the aroma of good food. She loves hanging out with her best friend Sahil. 

She loves cooking, especially combining unexpected combinations of ingredients. The results are wildly uneven, sometimes awesome, sometimes awful, but there are always takers, even for the slightly burnt output, because nothing and no one is perfect, right? 

Komal totally gets why her brother Vikram prefers photography over cricket but can't seem to get why, in weddings, girls have to wear scratchy ghaghras when boys can look comfortable and cool in kurtas. 

But life’s pretty good – except for the fact that her second-best friend Rashmi, is totally hung up on Vikram and keeps bugging Komal to do some setting on that front. Which is, frankly, big eye- roll! 

But all this recedes into the background when Komal stumbles upon a baffling secret. How is she supposed to react when she finds out that someone she loves is gay? How do you deal with your fears for the discrimination this person might face? Who can she discuss her confusions with? She turns to the universal best friend: Google. There are plenty of people online who share her doubts. But it’s still not the same as talking to someone. 

Slightly Burnt is that rare thing – a book which deals with a political issue (in this case LGBT choices) and is still super fun and super true to life. The best thing about this highly entertaining book is how relatable every character is, how real the language and situations feel to a regular middle-class urban Indian household. 

Slightly Burnt is a delightful reminder that however unusual the ingredients, with a pinch of fun, cooked in the heat of love and friendship, anybody can make a flavoursome dish out of life. 

Maybe slightly burnt but it can taste delicious after all.You will definitely want a second helping!

3. Comics Epidemic - An anthology of tales from Dharavi. By the Children of Dharavi, Edited and Curated by Chaitanya Modak

A boy proposes to a girl. She says, nope. 

He says, ok it's no problem let us be friends. The end. 

4. Starcursed By Nandini Bajpai

“He glanced down and caught me staring. I could hold his gaze only for a heartbeat before dropping mine. 

Blushing, I pushed his arm aside and moved away. ‘You fly it. I will watch for now.”

This and many other Kuch Kuch Hota Hai moments makes ‘Starcursed’ a Bollywood-ishtyle love saga – just set in 12th century India. There are stolen glances, rain sequences and crucial to any epic love story, pyaar ka dushmaan. 

Leelavati and Rahul are perfect for each other but they belong to different class and religious backgrounds. Pigs might fly but their union is just not possible. 

Leelavati is born under the influence of an evil planet and is therefore ‘unmarriageable.’ The world may think it is a problem. But  Leelavati loves the perks the tag brings her. She can now indulge more in mathematics, avoid learning household chores and have no tension of going to random sasural. And then, ishq plays it’s tricks, and she falls for Rahul (not played by SRK, unfortunately or fortunately). So, now what? 

5. Talking of Muskaan By Himanjali Sankar

“Tighten your muscles,” I said.

“Stop being a macho girl Muskaan. Give up. Today the makeover begins.”

There’s more – Muskaan’s romantic feelings are for other girls. But where is the place, the language, even the teasing, which takes that into account? 

Talking of Muskaan has shades of darkness, as it delves into the mind of 21st century teenagers - independent thinking and inward looking, continuously coping with what’s coming their way with the help of Google or imitating elders. But how does this help them cope with the difficult truths of teenage life – with bullying and mockery done just for laughs, with serious cruelty if you are a misfit? Even if you are not a misfit, parts of this book will resonate for anyone in that half-way to grown up place called teenage.