Title: Grow Up Messy!
Author: Paromita Goswami
Publisher: Ficus India
Blurb:
Childhood is considered to be the best
time of one’s life. What if you get a chance to live it once more with a
five-year-old?
Misry, a naughty five-year-old girl, lives with her parents in a B.S.F border
outpost near Indo-Bangladesh border. But with no schools and friends she feels
very lonely. She tries to befriend some local village kids. But they find her
incompetent in their rural antics. They nickname her Messy as most of the time
she messes up their plan. Can Misry really be a part of the gang?
Set in the early eighties, join Misry in the adventures of her life.
Fun Facts About The Characters:
Madhavi is a Bengali lady from a middle
class family. She is born and brought up in a small town on the outskirts of
Howrah in a very secure and loving atmosphere. She has an elder brother, elder
sister and a younger sister. Her father is a professor of Botany and her mother
is a housewife. Her marriage to Anurag, a B.S.F officer introduced her to an
entirely different lifestyle that she had neither dreamt of nor seen before.
Nevertheless, she succeeded in adapting the new lifestyle of being a military
man’s wife which was more or less full of uncertainty and waiting. She
discovered another side of her personality where she is the actual storehouse
of strength for her man who has responsibilities beyond his family needs to
attend to. There is also a different avatar of her as an officer’s wife where
she has to motivate the soldier’s wife’s to be self reliant and confident as a
part of the welfare association programs. When Misry walked into her life, it
was an entirely different experience for her. Mothering a naughty little girl
was not easy. There were times when she even competed with the Head Cook of the
Langar to win her child back.
Anurag is a B.S.F officer who knows how
to balance between his personal life and his duties towards his job which is
more demanding. When he had married Madhavi, Anurag wasn’t sure how she would match
up with his lifestyle. However, under
the spell of his love she had settled in
no time and metamorphosed into an officer’s wife who knew very well how to control her emotions. Anurag made sure she was always well taken
care. Therefore he always made arrangements beforehand when he might not be around for some time. When
Misry announced her arrival he knew he was going to miss part of her growing up
years because of his nature of job. So he made sure that whenever he spent time
with her it would always be a memorable moment for both of them. Watching the
night sky together laying in a cot in the courtyard or telling her adventure
stories from his own life during bed time or always considering her opinion
above all were some points Anurag never missed. He knew raising a kid was not
an easy job when he himself was not present always on several occasions. So he
had his own ways of incorporating values and discipline in his naughty daughter
that she adored and obeyed him without any second thoughts. There were several occasions in the book when
Misry’s endeavour made Anurag doubted if
he was a good father or not.
Misry the main character of the book is
just like any other child but with a difference that she is quite naughty.
However, her innocence wins over all
heart. She maybe just five year old but loves to befriend boys older than her.
Tomboy as she is, she gets into serious
trouble with other boys in school and it
is really interesting to watch how she comes out of such situation. Her little pranks can drive anyone crazy. Like an
episode of Bheeru, the child from the
village, where Misry lures him with a dairy milk chocolate to get back into the
children’s gang but actually ends up somewhere else. Her funny fights with her cousin Raju is another
hilarious moment. Grow Up Messy! is all about being a child.
Surbhi, Madhavi’s elder sister and
Raju’s mother is another character to watch out for. I especially like her
more. She is a home maker and lives in Kolkata with her husband and younger
son, Raju. A middle aged lady who is
more focused on getting worried rather than
finding solutions. There is no doubt that we all have come across one
such character once in a life our family. One who is disdained to worry for
everyone else in the family. Surbhi is one such character in the book loving
nicknamed as Chintamani. Though she doesn’t have much role in the book but it
is great to watch out for her. I am sure to give her a good role in the
sequence.
Dadu and Dida, Misry’s grandparents,
Madhavi’s parents. Just like any other grandparents they also love to shower
their love upon their grandchildren. There are some hilarious and touching
moments in the book when Misry comes to visit them. How life is so different in this sleepy town
of Ashoknagar is definitely to look out for in the book.
About the Author:
Paromita Goswami is a writer and
storyteller by passion and a rebel by choice. She says the world is full of
stories and as a writer she loves to pen them down. Her work is not genre
specific. From literary fiction to children book to upcoming paranormal thriller
and women fiction, Paromita Goswami‘s books offer the variety of life to her
readers. Grow Up Messy! is her second book. She debuted in 2015 with
Shamsuddin’s Grave, a literary fiction. Besides writing, she is also the
founder of reading club that enhances book reading habit in children. She lives
in central India with her family.
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Buy Link:
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