I Caught Her Young by Major Upendra Dwivedi!!!

             Completed yet another book this month but I am still unhappy. This is not how I usually work when it comes to reading books. My speed has slowed down. I am sure that someone is working Black Magic over me. :-) Whatever, let's talk about the book now. The name of the 222-pages book is "I caught her young" which also has the tagline of "Tale of a Chocolate Cream Soldier". It is written by the debutante author- Major Upendra Dwivedi who is a serving Indian Army Officer. He is an alumnus of the prestigious Sainik School Rewa (Madhya Pradesh). He got trained at one of its kind military academies; the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla and the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. He has been a bright student and qualified for National Talent Search Examination, Mathematics Olympiad and numerous other competitive Exams. He continues his track-record by achieving podium finishes in all the Army courses he has undergone till date. He is an extensively travelled, a keen observer of life around and believes in cherishing each and every moment of life. He is an avid reader and has penchant for writing as well. He has written many short stories which got published in various Newspapers and magazines.

               The SYNOPSIS of the book says: MANU, a teenager, grows to be a dashing Indian Army Officer, CAPTAIN ABHIMANYU. Each day at Sainik School Rewa (a renowned boarding school), National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla and Indian Military Academy, Dehradun infuse in him a full of life attitude and amazing wit. But, was he equally confident and flamboyant as a child? To overcome his childhood fear of dealing with the fairer sex, he develops a science, CHICKOLOGY, with a set of well defined rules. "Chickology is a science that deals with all aspects of Chick behaviour, ways of attaining their propinquity leading to intimacy and also to drift apart, if need be." 

And ......... his heart skips a beat..many a times. 

LAILA, a popular party chick of Goa.

DIMPLE, a 17 years old Girl Next Door.

AARAGYA, a high headed alumni of Air Hostess Academy, Dehradun. 

Is he a confident flirt or a passionate lover? 

Are Army cadets any different from other youngsters? 

Are they stone hearted or humane? 

Can you hold yourself back from falling in love with defiantly close to real life story of the chocolate cream soldier called CAPTAIN ABHIMANYU? 

              "I caught her young" could have been many times better than the way it has been written. I just didn't get the exact concept of the book. The kind of biography and narration skills the author has, I was expecting a magic from him but unfortunately, I am been let down. I was expecting to know about the life of a soldier and how he struggles at the border yet has a heart of gold and love. I wanted to know how he meets his girl and treats her in a very different way as he has a big heart which is ready to give heart even to the nation. I wanted to know how he sacrifices one of his two lives for love. But what I got to read was the tale of a yet-another-college-boy kind of love story that I keep reading in every chick-lit that releases now and then. Even with chick-lit, magic can be written as I have reviewed in some of my previous book reviews but this one is just another romance fiction novel including Chickology. 

            Though there are some good parts that I would like to point out here- The initial pages is wonderful as author started on a good note by telling about a life of a soldier. Later, when Manu meets Dimple, that's another sweet part of the book. Then both of them getting caught by their parents later on is another part that made me worry yet laugh the way they get caught. The climax is another sweet part which thankfully has not been ended by giving a sad ending and thus ruining the book more. 

            To my dismay, even the cover page of the book is not perfectly made. The structure of the soldier and the shadow of the girl coming out of his body is stretched because of bad pixels. Something has not worked for this book correctly. As per my knowledge, Mahaveer Publisher never let any of their book look such under-ordinary but I don't know what happened with this one. Either it is been published in hurry or there has been some distortion in communication. I will give the book 2.5/5. It is for the target audience- 16-22 age group. 

 Thanks.

 ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU