#Ravi Kumar

[scholarofgloom]

[davyreads]

review of nisha sharma’s the letters we keep

a story of beautifully written love letters; love letters to one another and to the south asian community, that sharma holds close to her heart.

"there is no sunshine without you here, my bachcha,"

the letters we keep follows ravi kumar, nepo baby extraordinaire, and jessie ahuja, hardworking scholarship student, as they try and unravel the mystery of the legend of davidson tower, where it is said that two star-crossed lovers suddenly vanished in a fire. nisha sharma details the struggles faced by the south asian community, and how those hurdles seem to transcend time. however, so does the love that these characters have for one another, and we follow these two parallel love stories as they grow closer and closer to not just each other, but to the truth.

keep reading for my personal thoughts (there will be spoilers)

this story follows hartceller students, jessie ahuja, a hardworking freshman, and ravi kumar, a senior who is also part of the very well-known kumar family and who is deemed by jessie a “nepo baby.” though their relationship starts off very rocky, they eventually call a truce so that they can unearth the secrets of the davidson tower at their university, since one of the campus legends is that a south asian woman and her boyfriend disappeared without a trace after the tower was set alight. with the help of some letters, jessie and ravi slowly start to unravel the story of these long-lost lovers as well as develop their budding romance.

hartceller is set up, from the beginning, as almost a hotspot for south asian students, and its place in the rich history of south asians in america is, in my opinion, very well done. sharma shows us how hartceller served as, to an extent, a safe haven for south asians just arriving in the us and allowed them an opportunity at higher education that were few and far between for this demographic. it was refreshing to read about indian characters and the different ethnicities and cultures of india, as well as have a small glimpse into the unique culture and identity carved out by the first migrants; i felt lucky and excited to have this chance to see it, considering i am neither american nor south asian.

another aspect of the book that i really enjoyed was the relationship between jessie and her father, and my favourite quote from the book actually comes from one of their interactions, because it is truly so beautiful to read. it is clear through jessie’s diligence that everything she does is out of love and service, and a debt she feels she owes to her parents for all that they have done for her to get to the point that she is at now. it is through these interactions that it becomes easier to see this story as a love letter in and of itself to the south asian community and, really, the forefathers of any community who took those first fateful steps to procure a future for generations to come in a land that promised hope and success. this difference between jessie and ravi is clear as ravi’s family has more established roots than jessie; he is wealthy, with a powerful family as a safety net should he fail, and his name automatically draws attention and respect, things that jessie (and her parents) have had to work at from the moment they got to america. the differences between the two main characters and their social classes are visible and you are able, to an extent, to understand them.

all of this being said, i did not enjoy this book. romance is already a genre that i do not immediately gravitate towards, and i am trying to read beyond young adult fiction, so once it was picked by my book club, i knew this book was never really going to be a good fit for me. the book feels very ya-esque, which obviously is not surprising, but it was to the point that it constantly took me out of the story, which already felt quite flimsy anyway. the book is paced quite quickly, and this seems like an instance of “insta love”, which made it even more difficult to read, because everything just felt a bit incredulous and that truly means something because i really enjoy books with fantastical elements to them. none of this was helped by the fact that these characters were not particularly interesting, and they fell flat at times. they had very strict archetypes that, once you get to my age (the haggard, wizened age of 20) and you’ve read as extensively as i have (wattpad, tumblr and ao3), get very tired and boring, especially when executed in a basic manner, as was the case for the characters of this novel.

let's first discuss insta love which is basically a very fast-paced romantic relationship (insta being short for instant, i assume) and it’s something of a universally despised trope; it is unrealistic, annoying and, honestly, a tad lazy. it is also present in this novel, and for me, it made the reading experience very frustrating because ravi seems to be immediately captivated by jessie, but we don’t actually understand why? he’s always talking about how surprised he is by how she can’t see what he sees, but what do you see, ravi? we are only told about his crush; we are never truly shown actual reasons for this sudden obsession. also, before reading this book, i had just finished reading the twilight saga for the first time, and there’s a point in the novel when ravi admits that he followed jessie home after their first meeting, and i got immediate edward cullen flashbacks. we as readers don’t actually know why he’s so taken by her, and we never really find out; this tends to be a feature of insta love – because everything happens on an accelerated scale, everything is underdeveloped, and i can just tell that this book was marketed as a “he falls first” book. this love story was not convincing, and it isn’t just ravi and jessie who suffer from this, but also the lovers whose letters they are reading. it’s worrying that the love story that brings our main characters together is weak and uninteresting. the “mystery” isn’t particularly captivating and over the course of the book, i didn’t actually find myself caring about their story. something else that weakens their story, as well as ravi and jessie’s, and therefore the novel as a whole, is that it’s kind of nonsensical? ravi and jessie find letters sent by the anonymous woman to her lover and they examine them for a class assignment, but they never once think about the possibility that the recipient would also have written back (those letters appear at the end to solve the flimsy inevitable angst that develops, quite weakly, between ravi and jessie). they try and tell this very old story and they don’t realise that they only have half of it, which really bugged me because it was the first question i asked upon realising we only had letters from one person. the whole thing felt quite shaky and it didn’t make for a fun read.

something else that hampered the reading experience was the characters themselves. we are repeatedly force-fed the idea of jessie as the “unattractive nerd who’s actually really hot” and ravi the “misunderstood bad boy nepo baby with a heart of gold who really has a passion for the arts and who actually has it just as hard” and this is something we are consistently told rather than shown, and it is drilled home so incessantly that it gets annoying and then angering. these characters seem to exist around the love story they share with each other and it’s aggravating to read because we don’t really know anything about these characters; even worse is that we don’t really want to know anything about them – they’re so uninteresting and boring and we don’t get why they even like each other. the characters and the story in which they appear are both so underdeveloped and you don’t really care about them. as i mentioned earlier, my favourite relationship in this whole book is the one that jessie shares with her father; the love they share is so tender and unhindered and so raw, it’s truly beautiful to witness. i wish as much care was put into ravi and jessie’s relationship; there seemed to be a preoccupation with hitting all the marks of a typical young adult romance (including the sex scenes which come out of literally nowhere) and the story suffers because of this strict adherence. you also see it in the inner thoughts of jessie and ravi, where they seem to constantly reiterate their personal standpoints in a somewhat unnatural way, and this only hurts the reading experience.

i feel it necessary to bring up here that this book also makes attempts at an enemies-to-lovers storyline with ravi and jessie, and it is so poorly executed. i would say that this is something that plagues many inclusions of this trope nowadays in some mainstream novels because the rivalry is either so laughable that it’s not serious or so severe that it’s unbelievable that these characters are actually breathing the same air right now. ravi and jessie are the former, and i don’t even think whatever they had before dating can be called a rivalry because like them and their story and the letters and the book as a whole, it is unconvincing. you’re not rooting for these characters, let alone rooting for them to get together because they are boring, as is their “rivalry” which ultimately comes from them liking the same study room in the library, and on a deeper level, jessie has some pre-conceived notions about ravi since he’s a nepo baby, a term that’s only used 6 times in the novel but that’s still 5 times too many.

something else that was annoying was the attempt to make it seem as if ravi has it just as hard as jessie which, let’s be real, is not the case.

“just because her life had been different from his didn’t mean that it was less than or worse off than his had been. if anything, it was better. she had people who appreciated and loved her for who she was, and as cheesy as it sounded, that was something that money couldn’t buy." – chapter 13 – ravi

what would’ve been really interesting to see, and which would’ve really brought the theme of class disparity to the forefront, is if jessie spends most of the novel, preparing herself for an interview for an internship that she really wants, she spends every waking moment padding up her cv and getting experience. she manages to score an interview and she prepares herself as best she can, only for ravi’s family to secure the position for him with little to no work on his end. that would have created a real tension between them, one that’s understandable, palpable and convincing and furthers the themes present in the book. the story doesn’t delve deep enough on any aspect and that really sucks.

imagine my surprise when i found out it was apparently modelled after jane austen’s pride and prejudice.

[richdadpoor]

Shah Rukh Khan Romances Nayanthara In New Jawan Song; Director Ravi Trolled For Kissing Mannara Chopra

Director Ravi Kumar Chowdary kissed Mannara Chopra suddenly on camera. Shah Rukh Khan and Nayanthara’s chemistry is palpable in Jawan’s new song. From Shah Rukh Khan’s new song from Jawan ‘Not Ramaiya Vastavaiya’ being released to director Ravi Kumar Chowdary being slammed for kissing Mannara Chopra on camera, here are the biggest headlines of the day. South Indian director AS Ravi Kumar…

[tigerleopardlion]

Bengal Tiger | Sriramulu Rabi Kumar

[atariforce]

Arcade Lighting by N Ravi Kumar

[thirst4light]

I am back with my favourite fangirl @balladedutempsjadis to review JAWAN!! Had a blast recording this, please feel free to share your thoughts on the episode!

[hindustanreporter]

Bichagadu-2 movie Business Analysis | Vijay Antony | Vijay Antony | Kav...

[sanammovies123]

Badass Ravi Kumar Official Trailer Review | By Sanam Movie Review Himes...

[lifeisacinemahall]

'Por Thozhil': lessons in mentorship in the face of chilling murders

Some have it, some don’t. Some are energized by the perficient future it offers; others see the drudgery of a pontificating tunnel that’s a time suck. Some see it as expanding their mishpocha; others view it as an intrusion into their solitude and focused work pattern. Which is why some are mentors, others tormentors. In the splendid Por Thozhil (The Art of War), cop Loganathan (Sarath Kumar)…

[todayworldnews2k21]

Teary-eyed Sunil Gavaskar chokes talking to Nitish Reddy's parents - Watch | Cricket News - Times of India

Sunil Gavaskar hugs Nitish Kumar Reddy’s father (Photo: Star Sports video grab) Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar couldn’t hold his emotions that came out in the form of tears and a choked voice during his conversation with the parents of Nitish Kumar Reddy, who scored a famous Test century in Melbourne on Saturday.In the fourth Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy, all-rounder Reddy, who is on his…

[rightnewshindi]

बाबा साहब भीम राव अंबेडकर के सम्मान में उतरी भीम आर्मी, डीसी कार्यालय के बाहर किया धरना प्रदर्शन

Shimla News: शिमला में उपायुक्त कार्यालय के बाहर भीम आर्मी, दलित मुक्ति मोर्चा और अन्य अनुसूचित जाति के संगठनों ने बाबा साहब भीम राव अम्बेडका के अपमान के खिलाफ धरना प्रदर्शन किया। जिसमें शिमला और आस पास के सैकड़ों लोग शामिल हुए। जानकारी के मुताबिक यह सभी लोग राज्यसभा में अमित शाह के विवादित बयान के कारण भड़के हुए हैं। लोगों ने उपायुक्त कार्यालय के बाहर अमित शाह मुर्दाबाद और भाजपा सरकार मुर्दाबाद…

[jatinnsharma]

IND v BAN: बांग्लादेश के खिलाफ टी20 सीरीज के लिए भारतीय टीम की घोषणा; मयंक यादव को पहले बुलावा, वरुण चक्रवर्ती की वापसी

बीसीसीआई ने 28 सितंबर, 2024 को बांग्लादेश के खिलाफ तीन मैचों की टी20 सीरीज के लिए भारतीय टीम की घोषणा की। तीन मैचों की टी20 सीरीज 6 अक्टूबर को ग्वालियर में शुरू होगी। दूसरा और तीसरा टी20 मैच 9 अक्टूबर को नई दिल्ली और 12 अक्टूबर को हैदराबाद में होगा। सूर्यकुमार यादव टीम की कप्तानी करेंगे, जबकि हार्दिक पांड्या, संजू सैमसन, रिंकू सिंह, रियान पराग और अर्शदीप सिंह जैसे नाम श्रीलंका के खिलाफ टी20…

[townpostin]

Photographers Association of Jamshedpur Honored at Delhi Expo

Recognition awarded by organizers Parimal Aakar and Ravi Ji; accepted by Secretary Rupesh Kumar. Photographers Association of Jamshedpur was honored for its dedication and hard work at a three-day photographic exhibition in Delhi. JAMSHEDPUR – The Photographers Association of Jamshedpur received an award at the Delhi photographic exhibition. The honor was presented by the expo’s organizers,…

[dhallblogs]

Delhi Bureaucratic Reshuffle: Eight IAS Officers Transferred.

New Delhi : A Significant bureaucratic reshuffle took place in Delhi with the transfer and posting of eight IAS officers. The reshuffle is part of a broader effort to streamline administrative functions and enhance efficiency in various government departments.

ALSO READ MORE- https://apacnewsnetwork.com/2024/07/delhi-bureaucratic-reshuffle-eight-ias-officers-transferred/

[tigerleopardlion]

Indian Leopard (Melanistic) | Sriramulu Ravi Kumar

[diaryofaninsanewriter]

Behind the Curtain: Exclusive Insider Look at the 'Money Tantra' Poster Launch Event!

Lights, camera, action! Mumbai witnessed a cinematic spectacle like no other as the poster launch event of "Money Tantra" unfolded against the majestic backdrop of the Gateway of India on 2 June 2024. The air buzzed with anticipation as industry luminarie

Lights, camera, action! Mumbai witnessed a cinematic spectacle like no other as the poster launch event of “Money Tantra” unfolded against the majestic backdrop of the Gateway of India on 2 June 2024. The air buzzed with anticipation as industry luminaries, writers, directors, and artists from Mumbai and Lucknow converged to witness the unveiling of this riveting tale. The poster was unveiled by…