Perplex City

by Naseha Sameen

Perplex City paints an intrinsic layer of the city in its three different lockdowns, decades apart, telling the story of a night as Khali Dera, Blossom Haveli and Jharokha Apartment remained a silent witness to the unprecedented acts of love, hate, jealousy, regret, and redemption that changed the lives of everyone around. The colossal events looked distant and insignificant; all they wanted and prayed was the night to end.

Year 2020, a night before the lockdown starts, a barkeep finds herself in possession of ICE, ecstasy drugs. She empties the contents in the water tank of her society, Jharokha Apartment, just before the cops show up at her place. During the night, the water is consumed by the cops who came for the search to the unaware resident. Under the influence of the drugs, ICE, the residents come face to face with their demons—their anger, their guilt, their lust, their greed, and their love. How many demons would surface and who would be their casualty?

In 1947, greed and hatred had divided the country. A girl in her 20s, Libni finds herself stuck in a rioting city. Stranded, Libni had to stay a night in this city. Searching for a shelter, Libni reaches Blossom Haveli. Little did she know, she was walking right into a sinister plot. Shreya and her husband Onkar were in the midst of their heinous plan to kill Onkar’s enigmatic younger brother Arin. Libni unwittingly became a part of a perplexing situation of love, deceit, and loyalty. Will Libni’s presence deter Onkar’s plan or is Libni a part of a bigger conspiracy? What turn will this night bring in the lives of Onkar, Shreya, Arin, and Libni? How will one night under a lockdown and curfew confined to a mansion change their lives forever?

Year 1857! Sepoy mutiny changed the course of history. India was losing this fight for independence; the freedom fighters were being rounded off. Imam asked the group of freedom fighters taking shelter in an unknown mosque to disperse and go under hiding including his daughter Meher. Meher managed to reach the road leading to Gurugram or Gurgaon as it was called then. The road was barricaded by the army. Meher had to hide in a small, desolated house in a deserted kasba. The residents of the house had moved on and it had turned into ruins. In those ruins seeking refuge were another couple, Guneet and Eshana. They were on their way to meet Eshana’s brother for the last time, who was caught during the uprising in 1857. But Eshana’s was due soon and the travel induced pain. They took shelter in Khali Dera. They were not alone. Terror ran high as they faced the forces unseen and unknown, namely Ajooni, who walked in the ruin, the whole night, night after night, claiming anything in it as hers.

Audible Audio

Published November 3, 2023

About the author

Naseha was born in a town encapsulated by two rivers, inhabited by people who celebrate on the face of natural calamities. It is a one-millennium old city, Cuttack which breathes of tales if only one can listen. Silent starry nights, noisy cracking dawn, lazy afternoon loaded with champak odor, giggling evening and early retreat of the day, all planted seeds of stories in her. After Master's Degree, she moved to the hustling metropolis of Gurgaon where she crunched numbers and provides realistic strategies to corporates for a living. Once out of office, she quickly became the dreamer that she is and starts writing while watching the foggy, slumber like morning of the metropolis that she fell in love the moment she stepped in Gurgaon. After 14 years, life gave her an opportunity to move to a new city. She parted with Gurgaon as friends and has moved to the city of Pearls, Hyderabad to make the city her own and her, a part of the city.

Her anthology of poems, Ruby Drops is Amazon Best Seller in Poetry.

Her book Heir - End of Innocence, is a winner of Author Page awards for for Best Debut and Best Woman Writer

For her, she believes her journey has just started.

Reviews

[Bookswithavinish · Rating 5 out of 5]

This particular novella "perplex city " is actually a tough read for me initially . Because just after reading the blurb i had lot of confusions regarding so many things but later on things get settle down after you get some momentum in storyline.

The novel was setup against backdrop of historical events, but still focuses on lives of common people . Overall you will definately create an interest after reading just few pages.

The book is basically divided into three parts :-

🦋the year of rat - jharokha apartment.

🦋year of pig- blossom haveli

🦋year of red fire snake- khali dera.

All these three parts are consist of multiple chapters . With intersting titles and plot. Moreover cover of the book looks amazing and matches well with theme of the book .

The language of the book is undoubtedly one of the biggest assets of this book . So , overall i must recommend this book to all the lovely reaers to give it a try for once .

Must read ❤❤

[Alok Ranjan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing and a masterpiece like the rest of her works, from Naseha Sameen.