The Meanderers

"Let your journey in life be the pilgrimage from fear to love" Winner of the 2018 EW Award for the 'Best Novel', 'The Meanderers' chronicles the story of a boy, Om Vats, from the age of five till twenty, broken down into three phases. First, when the boy is five - the age of innocence and wonder. Second, when the boy is fourteen - the age of puberty and the blooming of sexuality. Third, when the boy is twenty - the age of aspiration and ambition. When Om is five - he lives with his maternal grandmother more than his parents. He calls her 'Naani'. His father, Mahesh has lost his job and his mother, Kiran, has never worked in her life. But, they all must jostle hard to get him admitted into a good private school to ensure his bright future before the new session begins. When Om turns fourteen, he befriends a boy called Rohit. Bullied by a group of boys at school, at the dawn of puberty and adolescence, Om must delve deeper to find out more about friendship, sex, and fear. At twenty, Om is about to graduate and aspires to be a ground-breaking software engineer. He experiences a soul-stirring love for the first time in his life which alters his outlook towards his aspirations. Will Om be able to accept love with all the dangers it comes with? Will Om be able to reconcile love with his material aspirations. 'The Meanderers' aspires to be a sincere enquiry into ideas and emotions such as love, loss, sex, fear, courage, friendship and impermanence.