Almost Intrepid by Anjaly Thomas (Book Review-3.5*/5)!!!

           I have not read much of traveling or adventurous books hence whenever I get one, I look forward to it. I have always lived in confinements hence as it is said that through a book a person gets to live many characters and visit many places, I always feel excited when I get a book related to traveling and exploring in my hands. I remember how lovingly I read Bear Grylls and Raghu Ram's autobiography because their book had enough of exploration that I can ever find in my life. One more book of the same kind that I am just done reading is "Almost Intrepid" written by Anjaly Thomas. It's about her evolution from a journalist into a traveler just because she was bored of journalism over the years. Reading her book was excitement because it's about how a lone Indian lady travels different country of world without worrying what the world thinks of her. Great! Respect!

SYNOPSIS:- 

Witty, humorous, self-deprecating, and sometimes bumbling and incoherent, Almost Intrepid takes you on a ride through the mind of a first-time female traveler with a dream, a backpack, and very little else and whose only reason to start was to beat a ‘quarter life crisis’. But, what begins as an awkward attempt to flee the mundane life of a journalist turns into a globe-trotting mission-from climbing mountains in Tanzania, jungle treks in Papua New Guinea, Komodo chasing in Indonesia, to ill-fated sea rides in Cambodia with episodes of shoe-flinging at determined touts in the bazaars of Egypt and nearly getting hitched with a tattooed African man. The lawyer-turned journalist turned writer befriends every stranger she meets, finds joy in cheap B&BS, and shares in toxicants (of all kinds) with strangers and dreams of scaling the Everest someday.

About the Author:-

Anjaly Thomas qualified as a lawyer, but picked up the journalistic pen as her mythical sword soon after. When that failed to inspire, she exchanged journalistic monotony for the beauty of open spaces.

Today, she manages to balance what she calls the “Business of Passion”—writing and travelling. She lives in the UAE, is also a Lonely Planet writer, and writes for various newspapers and magazines, apart from holding a regular day job for that extra something to help aid her impulsive travels. Almost Intrepid is her first book in which she chronicles her life’s journeys, reminisces on lessons learnt and accepts the wisdom of prejudices shed along the (oft) un-travelled path! She doesn’t claim to be an expert on traditions, cultures, history or geography of the places she travels to, and hates being asked the best thing about them, because the way she sees it, every little experience makes her journeys special.

            Because Anjaly Thomas is a debutante and its her first travel book, she didn't manage to write it as best as other traveling books are but still, the way she has conveyed her message and philosophy through her words is encouraging and something that you can not ignore one started. Her writing style is easy-going with not so explosive words in spite that the title of her book has a word "intrepid" which is not so common. Haha! It is also guts that she has her own picture sitting on the globe on the front cover page which gives an outlook that the book is about her and her experiences on the planet. :-) I will call this book special because it's not always that you get an Indian woman writing about her traveling experiences and that too the ones she has done it all alone. 

           I loved the way book started with insight in Anjaly's previous life before turning into a traveler. The way the word and object "backpack" is given so much focus is excellent. You will start using it whenever you would be talking about traveling with your friends after reading this book. Such is the effect. :-) Her humorous takes on several proceedings makes it a wonderful reading experience. The way she states important points in bullets after every short and long while is what was very needful in this book to keep it specific and not a direction-less autobiography. I enjoyed reading her experiences with men- starting from Mike to the one who asks her for marriage and several others in the journey. I love the frank display of events by Anjaly without thinking that she needs to be conventional while writing a book. She has written all- her experience of kiss, sex, drinking, being bra-less etc during her journeys. 

             Coming to some drawbacks- I was expecting a lot when she comes to telling us about her experience of climbing mountain for the first time. She started it well but she finished it within few pages itself. I wanted that to be something extravagant and over-expressed but.. Actually, the whole book seems to be going in a hurry without describing anything descriptively. Author asks us to enter a room and as soon as we reach the lobby, she asks us to return back and move to some other room. Next time when the author writes, I want her to state her focus on one thing at a time without thinking that her audience will get bored of reading about only a place or event. No! We won't because all that you have experienced, we can never hence the only thing that can bring us close to it is your book. :-) In all, I would give this book- 3.5 out of 5. It's recommended to all the Indian girls who think that its impossible to achieve something that's not meant for girls.

 Thanks.

 ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU!!!