Delhi via Lucknow: Once, love travelled this route

Book excerpt: When Himanshu (aka Guddu) Shukla, a middle-aged investment banker, encounters his early twenties' infatuation Rimjhim Singh at the Lucknow airport, it evokes his unrequited love. The sedimented reveries of his memory make him realize that he was going to take the most decisive journey of his life. Rewind to the transition period of early 2000, when the 90s mindset was fading and a new generation’s thinking was emerging in the bustling Kanpur, Guddu Shukla, a student leader of DAV college, finds himself a nemesis in Bechu Mishra, a CA aspirant and local goon. Surrounded by comical and pugnacious friends, their rivalry is over the most stunning girl in town, Rimjhim Singh. As they fight for what they believe is right and of course the girl, the big question remains who eventually gets to be with her. However, this is no typical love triangle. At an age when romance was experienced far from Tinder matches and WhatsApp messages, fate intervenes, reality happens, and an unexpected turn of events takes Guddu, Bechu and Rimjhim on paths very different from what they set out on. Years later, when these paths cross again, what else could it be, if not a second chance? Piquantly funny, engaging, and taut, Delhi via Lucknow is a debut novel by Ashwini Rudra about unforgettable characters, their love stories and life goals. It is a desi young-adult story that will evoke nostalgia and romance in everyone who reads.