Zidd! by Hetansh Desai
Publisher: Half Baked Beans
Pages: 168
Price: Rs. 225 INR(Paperback), Rs. 55 INR (Kindle Edition)
ASIN: B07GJLW5LH
Buy here: https://amzn.to/2xvLV7Q
Vihaan looked at the skies, took a deep breath and shouted, ‘I want to be on the hoarding outside her flat!’
Parth did not react right away. After a few minutes, he asked, ‘Sorry? What is that?’
‘She said she doesn’t want to see my face. So, now I want to ensure she sees my face every day the first thing in the morning.’
Parth took a step towards Vihaan. He shrugged his shoulders, confusedly. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘There’s a hoarding outside her flat.’
‘And you want to be on it?’
‘Yes!’
Witness the roller coaster journey of Vihaan, a college dropout, and Parth, a tea vendor, as they strive to buy the most expensive hoarding space in Ahmedabad.
About the author:
Hetansh Desai is the Founder & CEO of Vital20 Communications, a marketing consultancy based out of Mumbai. He has pursued his graduation in Liberal Studies and post-graduation in Entrepreneurial Leadership from Bason College, USA. You can find him in Ahmedabad — as his family lives there — or in Mumbai, or on a cheap, midnight SpiceJet flight.
In his free time, he loves playing and watching cricket, reading the Bhagavad Gita over and over again, and listening to music. His hobbies include, you guessed it right, writing and public speaking.
What he doesn’t like, clearly, is writing about himself in the third person.
My take on the book:
Vihaan Mehta son of a successful businessman Vijay Mehta is expected to join business management course by default to take his father’s legacy forward. Instead he chooses a not-so-popular course in a college at Ahmedabad. He makes friends with Parth on the first day of joining hostel, not by chance but by Parth’s design as Parth needed a place to stay in that hostel. Parth a striking contrast to Vihaan is son of a tea vendor who had run his own tea stall and canteens and worked as a salesman before, now setups another canteen in the PDPU college premises. One fine day, fate mocks at both the friends as Parth’s canteen is demolished to make way for a new road and Vihaan has a nasty break up with his girlfriend Raina.
As Raina spats in a fit of rage to not show his face again, Vihaan wants to have his face on the hoarding outside Raina’s flat. Parth being the faithful buddy, promises to make it happen, the catch being this hoarding is the most expensive in the entire city, should be strictly rented for an year costing a whopping twenty lakhs. How are the friends going to make that huge amount without even a degree to their credit forms the rest of the story.
Zidd is the story of the stubborn will of two friends to get one of them onto a hoarding without any clue about how to earn the required amount. The author starts the story by giving a glimpse of Vihaan and Parth from their childhood, how they are smart even as kids in convincing people around them and in earning quick money. Vihaan not showing traces of his childhood spunk while in college was a bit disappointing for me until he and Parth decide to earn money for that hoarding.
Parth’s characterization is the highlight as he has a ready hack and idea for every possible situation. His undying attitude and ability to turn around any challenge is what engages the reader. The thread of how Parth looks at life as a game chess with references to Queen and Pawn are interesting. The book is different from your average love story as it concentrates more on entrepreneurship, the reality and the required qualities for any budding entrepreneur like negotiation, original ideas and ability to think on the go.
Pick this one to read the journey of two young boys who refuse to give up under any circumstances.
My rating:
4/5.