The Meanderers - Paperback

by Dhawal Trivedi (Author)

"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.

Author Biography

My name is Dhawal Trivedi. Welcome to my space. Writing for me is about exploring the depth of human character, enquire into human values and emotions such as love, friendship, loss, sexuality, lust, ethics, morality, purpose, meaning, joy, bliss, sadness, heartbreak and what not. There's so much to us - emotionally, spiritually, physically. All those realms make us who we are. While my thoughts laid above might project a 'heavy' or 'brooding' outlook, my writing aspires to do all of that with a very easy-going perspective. I wish to go into the depths of life, but not with seriousness, with joy. So, while I may at some point talk about the programming of ethics and morality, at another point, I would love to stroll through a beautiful garden and appreciate the beauty around, crack a joke to a stranger and post a picture with them on my social media. The world needs open-minds. Minds that are free to explore all kinds of ideas, concepts and criticism; and to do all of that with love and laughter, not seriousness. I aspire to, through my life and my works, assimilate all facets of life - material, spiritual, sexual, emotional, under one umbrella. I don't see myself just as a writer, but more as an explorer of the many dimensions of life; a seeker of truth. This is my aspiration and my message.