Title: The Mistakes I Never Forget
Author: Karthick Hemabushanam
Publisher: Leadstart publishing
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
First Publication: 2021
Language: English
Book Summary: The Mistakes I Never Forget by Karthick Hemabushanam
The Mistakes I Never Forget is the story of the struggle of a young man, Gautam—who moves to Bangalore, the silicon city of India—in hunt of a lucrative job in a software company. He has completed his engineering degree, but struggles to speak English fluently. This makes his employers’ think he is not qualified enough and refuse to give him a job.
He shares space in a dingy one room apartment with three other young men, Lawrence, a nerd, Kamesh a hulk, and Madhan, who doubles up as their chef—all struggling for months to find software jobs and make ends meet.
Even his roommates and friends ridicule him because of his language shortcoming. However, when a beautiful, talented young woman, Reshmi, falls in love with Gautam, his friends are amazed and question the why and how of this relationship.
Reshmi’s works in the software industry, but dreams of being a choreographer. Will she fulfill her dream?
Will Gautam get a job in a software company despite his stuttering English?
Book Review: The Mistakes I Never Forget by Karthick Hemabushanam
The Mistakes I Never Forget is a celebration of the human mind, its possibilities and hardships, its ability to not let a language determine a person’s value and life. It is not a story of overcoming but of accepting, a story of fighting, discovering and realizing the possibilities that exist for everyone. It is one of the most heart-warming story, but it is a very hopeful one, without losing its realism.
The story chronicles Gautam’s struggle to get a lucrative job in a software company after moving to Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India. While he has a degree in engineering, he is not fluent in English. As a result, his employers are concerned that he is not qualified enough for the job. He lives with three other young men in one room apartment, Lawrence, Kamesh, and Madhan – all searching for software jobs and struggling to make ends meet. His roommates and friends mock him for his limited language skills. The romance of Gautam and Reshmi, a stunning and talented young woman working in the software industry, is a source of amazement among the friends and find it hard to understand their relationship.
Both Gautam and Reshmi are stuck in some ethical dilemmas. As the story plays out, both go through some major changes all the while learning and growing from their experiences. I adored the journey both these characters went on. Both have held themselves back. Both haven’t actualised the life they want for themselves but they come together and everything falls into place. We go on a journey with them to find the people that they were supposed to be, apart and together. Both of the main characters come across as specific individuals and yet completely relatable to absolutely anyone who’s ever been young and struggled. Their adoration of each other unfolds so slowly, so gradually, that we can’t help but feel like this is far more than infatuation.
This story was vulnerable, dramatic, romantic and honest. The characters were well developed and easy to form relationships with, the plot line was smooth and strong. I liked the subtle hints of romance that didn’t take over the story and left it sweet and tender. I also enjoyed how the romance was slowly built up over the course of the novel and how it just brought everything together. The romance wasn’t from lust; it was from taking comfort from another. The story didn’t focus on romance and falling in love- it showed how people actually do struggle in life.
Author Karthick Hemabushanam’s writing is so eloquent and he just knows how to capture a scene and write it in a way that you keep engaged with what’s going on. He amazingly creates the fear, obsession, tentativeness and devotion Gautam and Reshmi feel for each other. The scenes, dialog and thoughts are tender, touching, elegant without ever drifting into being saccharine. It is full of philosophical questions mixed with humour, difficult situations and those little real life details that are so difficult to capture in a book. Overall, it is such an important story that I will recommend to everyone, as it includes everything, from thought-provoking moments to romance, from self-discovery to coming of age.
