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Offside
Gaurav Kale is back to his hometown Vadodara. It has been three years since he was last here, but old memories still continue to haunt him. He recollects the time when he joined a struggling club, Vadodara United Football Club(VUFC); his enmity with the club's captain, Bali; his one-sided attraction towards the hottest girl in college, Shreya; and his best friends Golu, who desperately wants to lose his virginity and John, the crackpot - all of whom cause havoc in his life. Plus, the struggles of getting a misfit team to gel and work together as the biggest tournament of the year approaches just adds to his troubles. As Gaurav reminisces and explores the past, he has to decide whether to go back to a life he has loved or forget the past and start anew once again. When football, the world's most popular sport, and love, world's favourite subject come together, the result has to leave you spell bound.
146 pages
First published January 1, 2013
2 people want to read
About the author
Kiran Vijayan
1 bookKiran Vijayan has a B.A. (Honours) in Economics and a Masters in Human Resource Management from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. He works as a human resource professional, and besides reading and writing, he also enjoys sports and music. He is also a member of the Baroda United Football Club (BUFC) and continues to play football every Sunday at the Reliance Complex. Offside is his first book.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 27, 2013
3.5 stars
Finally a book on football/soccer (not cricket) by an Indian Author. Not that I dislike Cricket (Well I would never tell) but I am a big time Football fan, I respect all Football clubs (Not at all when they are on fields of course) but I am a Huge Real Madrid fan..specially their Jersey no. 7, forward player if you know who I mean. So It must pretty obvious how much I was anticipating thing book and the Book Cover with a football panel prints is enough to give the gist of the story one will confront. I liked it, Simple yet effective, Worn out football print shows how much it has been played in the book, at the beginning of every chapter there is a silhouette of a boy kicking football, I like the detailing...
"I have loved only two things Deeply, passionately in my entire life-- a girl who was like no other and a game that means more to me than just a game."-- Page no. 2
The protagonist Gaurav Kale, after completing his MBA is back in Vadodara, his home town after 3 years, a city where he grew from a shy awkward boy to a confident sports boy or a Jock boy if you prefer :) but a sweeter kind. A place where he always belonged with his football and on the fields of Reliance sports complex, he has grown kicking and playing on these fields long before he joined the Vadodara United football club (VUFC), local club where he found best friends for life, enemy and love of his life.
The story primarily revolves around Gaurav and his two friends Golu and John, where John makes every situation hilarious with his witty remarks; Golu is desperate to explore his Youth a lot more. They play Football every Sunday with other players of VUFC, Bali (A brute), Chang, Girish, Nair Uncle, Gaandpa (Funny story with the genesis of his name) and Ringo. Apart from football, these three friends are on a roll with mischievousness of college life, pulling pranks, drinking, messing around, pulling each other's leg and having each other's back.
Gaurav's love Shreya, pretty girl, damn good badminton player who is in relationship with Gaurav's enemy and Gaurav is utterly smitten by her, Shreya is trying to befriend Gaurav but are they 'Just friends' or something more than that??
As per the introduction-- "Offside" is a novel by Kiran Vijayan which revolves around football, friendship, college life and love in Vadodara.--- It is indeed.
Story is very well written, I'd say it is more sports oriented, nothing fancy but something a hardcore player who practices his butt-off on fields then enters a tournament by keeping his life at stake would understand. Someone who juggles his unrequited love, chase for his passion, experiments of new craziness an friendship all at the same time. The characters are weaved very carefully all being in their territory all the time, never slipping. I Liked the Villain of the story Bali, felt bad for him by the end
"...Don't look at the players, who they are, what they have done', Uncle said, indicating towards the Boca A players.'Look to win. To win the Cup. To create history. Now Come on ...VUFC!'"-- Page no. 123
I specially liked the pages where VUFC played semi final and finals for the Chandrashekhar Cup, the description of those matches were exhilarating, Commendable joy by the Author. He had used his own experience withe game very crafty.
The realtionship of Gaurava and Shreya was very delicately weaved, it is one of the many things I like about the story.
Over all a light yet enthralling read, specially for every football lover, no matter which Club you favor. :)
Finally a book on football/soccer (not cricket) by an Indian Author. Not that I dislike Cricket (Well I would never tell) but I am a big time Football fan, I respect all Football clubs (Not at all when they are on fields of course) but I am a Huge Real Madrid fan..specially their Jersey no. 7, forward player if you know who I mean. So It must pretty obvious how much I was anticipating thing book and the Book Cover with a football panel prints is enough to give the gist of the story one will confront. I liked it, Simple yet effective, Worn out football print shows how much it has been played in the book, at the beginning of every chapter there is a silhouette of a boy kicking football, I like the detailing...
"I have loved only two things Deeply, passionately in my entire life-- a girl who was like no other and a game that means more to me than just a game."-- Page no. 2
The protagonist Gaurav Kale, after completing his MBA is back in Vadodara, his home town after 3 years, a city where he grew from a shy awkward boy to a confident sports boy or a Jock boy if you prefer :) but a sweeter kind. A place where he always belonged with his football and on the fields of Reliance sports complex, he has grown kicking and playing on these fields long before he joined the Vadodara United football club (VUFC), local club where he found best friends for life, enemy and love of his life.
The story primarily revolves around Gaurav and his two friends Golu and John, where John makes every situation hilarious with his witty remarks; Golu is desperate to explore his Youth a lot more. They play Football every Sunday with other players of VUFC, Bali (A brute), Chang, Girish, Nair Uncle, Gaandpa (Funny story with the genesis of his name) and Ringo. Apart from football, these three friends are on a roll with mischievousness of college life, pulling pranks, drinking, messing around, pulling each other's leg and having each other's back.
Gaurav's love Shreya, pretty girl, damn good badminton player who is in relationship with Gaurav's enemy and Gaurav is utterly smitten by her, Shreya is trying to befriend Gaurav but are they 'Just friends' or something more than that??
As per the introduction-- "Offside" is a novel by Kiran Vijayan which revolves around football, friendship, college life and love in Vadodara.--- It is indeed.
Story is very well written, I'd say it is more sports oriented, nothing fancy but something a hardcore player who practices his butt-off on fields then enters a tournament by keeping his life at stake would understand. Someone who juggles his unrequited love, chase for his passion, experiments of new craziness an friendship all at the same time. The characters are weaved very carefully all being in their territory all the time, never slipping. I Liked the Villain of the story Bali, felt bad for him by the end
"...Don't look at the players, who they are, what they have done', Uncle said, indicating towards the Boca A players.'Look to win. To win the Cup. To create history. Now Come on ...VUFC!'"-- Page no. 123
I specially liked the pages where VUFC played semi final and finals for the Chandrashekhar Cup, the description of those matches were exhilarating, Commendable joy by the Author. He had used his own experience withe game very crafty.
The realtionship of Gaurava and Shreya was very delicately weaved, it is one of the many things I like about the story.
Over all a light yet enthralling read, specially for every football lover, no matter which Club you favor. :)
April 19, 2013
The book interested me from the title itself because I am, and always will be, a Manchester United supporter. When the author mentioned that it's a soccer+love story, it made me more curious to read it.
On the pitch, and on matchday, your support might be toward your favorite club, but I feel this is very enjoyable for any soccer fan. There is nothing very different in the way the story progresses, but I feel there is something different in this book.. A simple story about a guy's passion toward the game, and in it melded fun moments of college (mischief, pranks and such) as well as a love story. Best enjoyed if you are a soccer fan. Just reading for the romance part might not work out well. Catchy cover design, and I liked the silhouette from the cover going at the start of each chapter as well. Characters, some of them have been given an extra layer, which is quite nice. And the description of some aspects of soccer were also relevant, to give a little perspective to the non-soccer-fan reader.
I rate it 3.5 stars.
My review: http://wp.me/p2J8yh-2kr
On the pitch, and on matchday, your support might be toward your favorite club, but I feel this is very enjoyable for any soccer fan. There is nothing very different in the way the story progresses, but I feel there is something different in this book.. A simple story about a guy's passion toward the game, and in it melded fun moments of college (mischief, pranks and such) as well as a love story. Best enjoyed if you are a soccer fan. Just reading for the romance part might not work out well. Catchy cover design, and I liked the silhouette from the cover going at the start of each chapter as well. Characters, some of them have been given an extra layer, which is quite nice. And the description of some aspects of soccer were also relevant, to give a little perspective to the non-soccer-fan reader.
I rate it 3.5 stars.
My review: http://wp.me/p2J8yh-2kr
April 3, 2013
a simple and light read about football, friendship, love and life..
Categorising this book would be difficult. It is a bit of football, a bit of male bonding and a bit of romance. ‘Male bonding’ is more stressed than ‘Romance’ though with ‘Football’ being the main theme.
Read full review here - http://jigar-doshi.com/2013/03/offsid...
Categorising this book would be difficult. It is a bit of football, a bit of male bonding and a bit of romance. ‘Male bonding’ is more stressed than ‘Romance’ though with ‘Football’ being the main theme.
Read full review here - http://jigar-doshi.com/2013/03/offsid...
September 18, 2013
It is a readable book, to all those who like reading romance and football or anyone of these. Apart from being based on football, there is nothing different in this book from the other ‘love-stories’. Next time, you are going to travel for around three to four hours, pick a copy of it. Reading around one hundred and thirty pages won’t take much of your time and will not bore you for sure.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews