A dominating Boss, nagging parents, gold-digging Guchi smitten girlfriend and a baggage full of frustrated ambitions – these may seem some unrelated high strung phrases, but actually these are the basic building blocks of the tough corporate life of Nakul Kapoor, the hero of my latest read ‘Romance with Chaos’ written by Nishant Kaushik, an uncommon story of a common man!

In the beginning, the protagonist, Nakul is a sincere, dedicated professional, who is desperate to climb the corporate ladder. He is an efficient employee and a perfect team player with leadership qualities, in short, a deadly combo for success. But, his heart is too good to survive the craftiness of his co workers and superiors, who blame him for mistakes, while hog limelight for all the good work.

Would Nakul ever be able to leave a mark in the company, where work ethics are zero and opportunities are only reserved for flatterers? Or would his good nature be sacrificed at the altar of greed and self gratification? As Nakul struggles to learn the hard lessons of life, Nishant Kaushik creates a beautiful story, with essential spices of love, drama and emotions thrown in for good measure.

The novel appealed me with its everyday storyline, an ordinary plot that sounds like the biography of a modern corporate executive written elegantly in a subtle, suave, fluent narrative.

Small events in Nakul’s life are comically exaggerated, the atmosphere is genial yet bubbling with office politics and all the characters are identifiable as real people. When Nakul was swindled by his colleague, I could almost sniff a parallel in my own life. The story seemed strikingly genuine, yet interesting enough as fiction,

However, I could hardly relate to the sudden altruistic streak in the second half, that engulfed not just Nakul, but his money minded employers as well. In a way, all the characters became too good to be real, giving an unnatural flavor to the novel. A bit too sweet for the khatti-meethi story I was loving initially.

Secondly, the author has used a series of sketches to justify the change in Nakul’s personality. Though, the technique was innovative, but I found it a bit obtrusive. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but for me, nothing beats the charm of a well written fluid narrative.

Other than these small aberrations, I liked the novel for its freshness, its smart trick of using snazzy titles for individual chapters and the terse yet easy language.

Last but not the least, the novel is full of witty one liners, that instantly strike a chord within your heart. Nakul’s zeal to add a spark to his boring, insipid life instead of lamenting over lost opportunities was infectious, inspiring for all of us, who wish to make life more meaningful,

All in all, a good debut by Nishant Kaushik!