Urban Love | Every woman's story

Women have always been strong literary characters. Women generally possess a lot more dimensions as compared to male characters and is usually a writer's dream, because from their basic description from facial features to the clothes might choose to wear for a particular occasion, to reactions during tense moments, there is so much scope to dramatize and play these things up and that makes a book interesting and fun to read.
In fact if I had to name my top five female protagonists, I would say Nancy Drew; because solving mysteries and crimes is always so bad-ass, Jane Eyre; a modern day feminist with her strong values and principles, Hermione Granger; while many argue she wasn't a main character, she was vital and the brains of the group, Jessica Wakefield; I must confess I was a Sweet Valley High fan and appreciated Jess's vain and cool approach to men and school and she was probably the original mean girl and lastly a tie between Anna Karenina and Catherine Earnshaw; both of who lived in different times but were remarkable woman, each in their own way.

That being said it's not too often where you come across a book that revolves around the lives of women as their main characters. And if you do, the possibility of them being written by a man is almost nil. Chick lit always has a chick's name under the title because who else to write better about what women go through other than other women? But author and restaurateur Akshay Chitre has taken a leap and actually penned down a fun story -  Urban Love (Give a chance to life) which talks about three close girlfriends living in Mumbai and their quest for love, with the regular ups and downs each woman goes through at least some point in her life.

The three characters come from different backgrounds, Meghna from a small town and a past life she's trying to forget and overcome, Priya, from a middle class family who's parents seem very liberal when it comes to the social and love life of their daughter and lastly Anusha who was born with a golden spoon and has been protected all her life by her father. When these three women meet at a spinning class, their friendship is unstoppable. It's a journey of laughter and tears, tequila shots, countless dinners, arguments, carefree banter and men, with hidden dreams and revelations, all that hold the book together and keep readers captivated. Urban Love also talks about the ideologies drawn by society when it comes to different roles that have to be undertaken by men and women and how when they change or if a woman fails to follow that path and do her role, she is not generally appreciated. Showing the good side and the bad side of what happens when you follow your own dreams as opposed to the dreams others have for you, I finished this book on one go. Most women will identify with something from this book as it covers everything, from guy troubles, to cat fights and parental nightmares.

I also attended the launch for the book at the Hilton Mumbai International Airport and met with the author himself, who told me why he was very interested in writing on a woman's point of view, most of which revolved around gender roles and how women are supposed to behave and the complications most of them face, all which are explained very in his words here - Why are women so complicated
Another commendable part of the evening was, apart from just toasting and raising glasses to the book, they chose to felicitate a number of recognized women like Candice Pinto, Sandhya Shetty, Babita Malkhani and Kanchan Adhikari among a few others. While the rains had flattened our hair and dampened our shoes and clothes, the occasion didn't dull our spirits as everyone raised their glasses to celebrate womanhood.

On that note, Happy Women's Day ladies. Shine and be yourself always, and don't let anyone tell you what you can and cannot do!

Urban Love (give a chance to life) can be purchased at Amazon, Notion Press and Flipkart.