Teenage Diaries the Days That Were

Exactly one month back we reviewed a book Blemishing the Odds, which was based on school life of Raghav. "Teenage Diaries - The Days That Were" was another nostalgic story of young boys in their teenage. Story made me feel that it's a Chetan Bhagat version for school going kids.

Book blurb

"How about bunking the next class and rushing to the cricket field and while you are at it, planting a bomb in the toilet?" Wait, what the hell am I asking you to do with deadlines to catch on!? But allow me to take you down the forgotten memory lanes and remind you of the times when...

You had a fit of breathlessness in front of your crush,

When FLAMES said marriage, you couldn't help but blush.

Blank calls played Morse codes,

Two meant - you missed her loads.

You were clumsy as shit, because her presence was sublime,

But after your break-up, crying became your favorite pastime.

You bunked the classes and said - 'Let the studies rot!'

But you never missed Kiran ma'am's class, 'coz she was pretty hot!;)

Cricket brought you glory,

And planting a bomb in school changed your story.

Life screwed you over and killed your spirit,

But you're glad that you anyway did it.

Told from the eyes of an Indian middle-class teenager, this story will make you wonder what you would have done if you were named Ghanshyam and were born a pessimistic nerd, while your optimistic best friend believed in unicorns and utopia! And to add to your woes, what if you fell in love with the most beautiful girl of your school? Wouldn't you then wait for a miracle to happen?

Well, what if that miracle happened?

Book covers story of Ghanshyam aka GK, a boy from middle class family. His childhood was bullied by kids of his age due to his old fashioned name Ghanshyam. His friend Vikram was only life line he had. A girl named Aneya entered in his life in 8th std. They had feelings for each other, but due to some guys they got separated. Separation was very stressful for Ghanshyam. He barely passed 9th in the shock. To get girl out of his mind he took study as mission, and topped state board.

He entered in 11th with heavy hope. He met new friends in 11th standard. Arman and Sabu (I am not able to recall his name) had changed GK and Vikram's life completely. With high class lifestyle, Armaan had brought many changes in the duo's life. They did all misadventure possible during school. Duo was able to stand against bullies with help of new friends. Though they might have learnt many philosophical concept during this period, they fell for wrong habits possible for the age. But a shocking loss they incurred after six-seven months was too high for them. It has changed them for good.

Things that I liked about book

• Nostalgic mentions of FLAMES, bunks, bullies
• Hindi Poems & Shayaris

The only thing that I didn't like is too much smoking & drinking sequences(considering genre I found it too much)

I am mentioning again : Book was liking like Chetan Bhagat story for school kids.

Talking about ratings:

1. Cover - 5 / 5 (Full marks, I really liked the cover)
2. Characters - 3 / 5
3. Storyline - 3 / 5 (Somewhat jumbled up, but not too complex to gauge story)
4. Concept - 3 / 5 (Just read similar book a month back)
5. Overall - 3.25 / 5

Book can be found at - Amazon & Flipkart
Review from other readers can be found at GoodReads