Saturday 6 June 2015

The Departing Point by Santosh Avvannavar, Jyothi Byahati & Raghunath Babu Are: Book Review


Two people departed…
In search of love…
Leaving love in between”

This is the tag line of the book.

The Departing Point is a collection of seven love stories that neither have a happy ending nor highlight the sadness of love failures. Three common aspects of all of the seven tales are:

  • narrated by the boy in love
  • the couple in love does not get to stay together in the relationship for long and
  • the girl in love happens to be the reason for the break-up.


Hence there comes a departing point in their relationships which all of those men end up facing with both maturity and resentment. 

The authors have brought out the persistent mind set of men when it comes to love. At the same time, the wavering and indecisive natures of women towards relationships are also highlighted.


The first story, My Last Letter, is the most matured love in the book. It is an interesting narration through a series of eight letters that alternate with the past and the present life of the protagonist. He writes eight letters to her ex-girl friend expressing his emotions and the life he lived after her departure from his life. However he never got the courage to post them. The story sees a surprising twist when he receives the last letter from her.

The second story, Derailed – Salem Express, is the story of a young man who is caught up between an emotional love towards his lover and physical attraction towards another girl. He explains the difficulty of playing a dual role in relationships.

The next four stories are love stories that begin in school and colleges and see several ups and downs before they end at the departing points. The stories convey the emotions that a boy undergoes while falling in love; the persuasions that follow to win the love of a girl and how relationships fail after the initial phases of love. Some of the lines show the reality of how real-life stories falter at unexpected and trivial issues.

The last story about Nadir and Paki is a fond tale of two people who are friends from childhood. The humorous take combined with thoughtful assertions was admirable.


Teenagers going through turbulent times in relationships can connect with the stories more reasonably. People who dwindle between to love or not to love may find it a helpful read. Quite a quick read and can be a nice companion for journeys. 

A personal note to the authors: If each story was conceived by different authors, I would like to see their names credited for the respective stories. If it was a combined work, I understand. 

Reviewed for the Author

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book as a complimentary copy from the Author in exchange for a honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. 

Thanks to author Jyothi Byahati for the signed copy. 

Title: Surrogate Author: The Departing Point 
Authors: Santosh Avvannavar, Jyothi Byahati & Raghunath Babu Are
Publisher: Hoffen 
Pages: 76


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About the Book

A physicist says ‘Biologically, love is a powerful neurological condition like hunger or thirst, only more permanent’. A psychotherapist says 'Love has many guises'. A philosopher says 'Love is a passionate commitment'. A romantic novelist says 'Love drives all great stories', A nun says 'Love is free yet binds us'. The authors try to find out what is love from the people who have experienced it. From common people like us. Based on true love experiences, The Departing Point brings seven exciting journeys of love showcasing different situations and circumstances where the travellers for some reason are unable to complete the journey to reach the “happily lived together ever after" station. 

About the Authors

Santosh Avvannavar: Santosh started his career as a consultant and Soft Skills Trainer. After his college education from NITK, Surathkal, he worked as a re- searcher at University of Eindhoven, University of Twente, and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He was also the Placement President while working at IISC, Bangalore. He has over twenty-five publications of mostly research doc- uments in national and international journals. He has also authored sixteen con- ference papers and regularly writes articles for a national and worldwide daily paper. He also works as an advisor for different organizations. 

He also dabbles in fiction writing and is the author of Adhuri Prem Kahaniya; Dear Wife, Your Husband is not a Superhero, Second Heart and Get a Job WITHOUT an Interview; Be A B.A.; Surrogate Author; Title is Untitled; Black, Grey and White. 

He likes to devote his personal time in writing for a website, namely the Amrita Foundation for HRD (www.amritafoundation.wordpress.com). He has conducted seminars and training sessions for more than 40,000 people in India and abroad over the last seven years. 

Jyothi Byahatti: Jyothi has done MBA in HR & Marketing from Karnataka University, Dharwad and started career as a banker with ICICI Bank Ltd. She has also worked as a Recruitment Consultant with an executive search firm. Moved on for a short stint in teaching with T John College, Bangalore in the department of Management Studies. Jyothi got involved in proof reading and editing a few books, which inspired her to start writing stories. 

Raghunath Babu Are: Author of Title is Untitled. He holds B.E., M.Tech (IISc, Bangalore), Sr. Software Engg, Over 5+ year of experience as a Software Engineer at Yahoo! and Microsoft India. An alumnus of IISc, Bangalore. - See more at: http://pothi.com/pothi/book/santosh-avvannavar-departing-point#sthash.ReQ3B9LU.dpuf

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