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College friends revisit days of yore in Devapriya Roy's novel

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Press Trust of India Kolkata

A long amble down familiar corridors, emotional flashbacks to simpler times, and a last - ditch attempt to untangle the web of misunderstandings - author Devapriya Roy has stirred up nostalgia and served it steaming hot in her new novel 'Friends from College'.

Roy, an alumna of Presidency College in Kolkata, has weaved real-life experiences in her latest read, which is nothing short of a love letter to the city of the nineties.

Friends reunite at once-frequented alleys and the past catches up. College sweethearts Lata and Ronny meet after several years and what follows is a tale of hope and heartbreak.

 

"The novel has instances culled from my experiences in college. Ronny is a procrastinator, much like me and my husband. Lata, on the other hand, draws inspirations from one of my college seniors.

"The characters, now living trans-city and trans- continental lives, come together and relive their college life," the author, who has four more books to her credit, told PTI.

Asked why she chose college romance after having written a biography on Indira Gandhi, Roy said she had penned the story for a national daily, which published its serialised version over several weeks, and "thus a novel was made, quite unintentionally".

"When I had written the first chapter, I just had the protagonists in mind. All other characters came to life as I continued writing for the Sunday read in the national daily. I did not plan in advance, I just wrote to find out what happens to the characters. The novel took shape subsequently," she said.

Roy was in the city recently to launch the book in the presence of her family, friends and college seniors - notable among them being filmmaker Srijit Mukherji, who asserted that the novel has all the ingredients of a romcom.

"Lata seems familiar, she exists in some form... Both Ronny and Lata do, I believe. The story has a personal touch and a universal appeal. I prayed, kept my fingers crossed in places. Some of it had a cathartic effect on me," Mukherji, who was six years senior to Roy in college, said.

The 35-year-old author, whose debut novel The Vague Woman's Handbook was one of the bestsellers in 2011, also explained how love stories then were different from what we see now.

"Eighteen-year-olds, these days, have so much more on their plates. Not many of them are concerned about love or serious relationships. I think they are also more fragile, scared of being hurt. To think of it, the whole concept of college romance must have changed," Roy said, adding that she has plans to write a "grand" novel on the changing needs and preferences of Gen Z.

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First Published: Sep 02 2019 | 11:00 AM IST

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