'Second Spring' is the debut work of Ms. Sandhya Jane and when it arrived along side a consignment of 7 books to me for review, I was undoubtedly most hyped about it. Its cover page was illustrated with maple leaves and skyscrapers and wrapped in plastic giving it a look must suitable for all those Dickensian and Russian classics of yesteryear which we love to go over and over again. I wanted to read it first and certainly the most but something inside me stopped me from doing that. It could have been its serious look or width and with 288 pages, it was certainly a time-consuming work, and so I decided to go over with all the lighter (presumably) titles first. I finished them one by one and then I got stuck with it. First 20 pages, disappointing. Second, 20 pages, still at the same place. 50 pages done, no progress. 100, oh, come on!! 120-odd, two lovers of this book; Mr. Rohan Rana, all too charming and guy-next-door from a conservative family of Rajasthan and 32 years old and his boss, Ms. Avantika, a single mother and in possession of all consuming wit, spirituality and dexterity of corporate maneuvering; fell victim to their circumstances and one of them, Rohan leaves and this all happens when they first get a chance to show their love for each other in a surreal setting. What luck and now I believed, hang on, I might have got something here. But..........
Avantika, heartbroken (obviously) moves to USA leaving behind a lucrative career and settles in there with reasonably low profile designation. She enrolls herself into a local university and befriends a happy-go-lucky American cop, Steve. Then we find that she has completed her course and as suave a multi-tasker she has always been, starts writing for a local newspaper about 'spirituality' and probably 'Hindu way of living'. She, we find in one of the last chapters, has also gained a loyal following and become a widely read columnist or at least that's what Rohan think of her. I paused for a moment, not for the first time and thought to myself, how very convenient. Am I really reading a novel about a too-much corporate setting and platonic relationship or a fairytale? Steve and our heroine both find out that they have the soft corners in their hearts of each other but Avantika resists Steve for being a Hindu, she still believes Rohan was a pointer to her karma and he will definitely make a dramatic comeback and he really does!!!! Our hero, should I tell you, has fallen victim to a failed marriage and we get to know that he is an introvert though first 120 pages suggest he personifies all that traits which are in direct contradiction to the definition of word 'introvert'. He has got a kid now from his failed marriage and yes, he is divorced officially. All these years, he has also resisted Avantika and some 230-235 pages into the book, you now know what the title of this book really suggests. That Avantika and Rohan had in their fate to meet each other and that too some thousands of miles from their homeland, it was all obvious. They got their second chance. Unbelievable stuff!!!
Wait a minute, it doesn't end there. That would have been a perfect ending but do you remember, Steve was there in the picture too? He was the embodiment of a perfect, selfless and pure love and is one character that moved me the most and stayed true to his character all through this tscarcely believable potboiler of Rohan-Avantika. Steve lets go of Avantika for he realizes Avantika could be happy with Rohan only but a freaking health condition gives Avantika a new perspective into life. Stave was that person who has always been there for her through all thick and thins and now she must prefer Steve over Rohan and that's all when finally Rohan was with her and even her son approves of him. We also get to know that Rohan has accidentally fathered a daughter with Avantika of whom we had learned so far as cousin of Aarav, only son of Avantika. I stopped right there. This was too much nonsense and I hoped that pretty cover and wrapping shouldn't have fooled me.
A big, big disappointment. You can watch Akshay, Sunil and Shilpa's 'Dhadkan' instead and have much more fun. That's got brilliant music too if you think of that music as such.
Rating: 1/5 (one mark for all that effort that went into writing this book)
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