User:Leorockkk/A Bittersweet Nostalgia

A Bittersweet Nostalgia is a fiction novel by Indian author Vishal Gupta. It was published in 2012 by Strategic Book Publishing & Rights Agency. It is Gupta's first novel.

A Bittersweet Nostalgia explores several shaping events that take place within a span of two and half years; giving an insight of the protagonist and his life changing journey through events and experiences: trekking up hills, traveling deep into forests, close encounters into the wild, influences of different lands - good and bad, and interpersonal relationships.

Synopsis from the Back Cover of the Novel
Sometimes we have to escape from our normal surroundings to find out who we really are. A Bittersweet Nostalgia tells the story of a young man who tries to find the courage to journey into the mountains of Northern India to find himself.

Due to a vivid nightmare, he falters at the last moment and doesn’t take the journey. One year later, he finally channels his impulses and treks into the mountains of Maharashtra, backpacking through the forests of Bandhavgarh National Park and Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve. On this travels, he experiences many life-changing things, including seeing tigers and crocodiles close up. But something is still amiss in his life. Upon his return to the city, he stumbles across love. But the woman he finds undoes all the good of his personal journey.

Finding himself weaker than ever and full of despair, the boy who has now become a man tries to regain his purpose in life and to once again find the path he was meant to take. Will he succeed? A Bittersweet Nostalgia is not a travelogue, but is instead a journey deep into one man’s soul.

Style
The narrative of the novel is in the first person, though the prologue is in the third person narrative. The writer narrates his environment, his body, events, people, feelings and etcetera in real-time and in through his philosophical point of view.

Themes

 * Escape.
 * Suicide.
 * Trekking.
 * Journey.
 * Friendship.
 * Photography.
 * Wildlife.
 * Scandals.
 * Government.
 * Industrial mines and thermal power stations
 * Love.
 * Infidelity.
 * Loneliness.
 * Paranoia.

About the Author
Vishal Gupta spent his childhood and teenage years in a boarding, New Era High School, in the mountains of Panchgani, India. He graduated from Mumbai University with honors in History and Psychology. And now lives in Mumbai.

About his debut novel, he commented, “The story is personal and real, but I have used elements of fiction because sometimes narrating the truth indirectly through fiction is better done than any other medium or method.”