Pune is the second city I’ve loved deeply, after Mumbai. I’ve been there countless times—often enough to know the older parts by instinct, to recognise the quiet charm of its lanes, and to slowly understand the language of its newer, faster edges too. If life ever asked me to move away from Mumbai, Pune would be the only city I’d agree to without a long internal argument. It has that rare quality of familiarity without ownership, closeness without pressure. Reading Pune Junct

I remember the first time I watched a reality show unfold in real life—the bright lights, the cheers, the subtle whisper of alliances forming in shadows—and felt a strange thrill, a mix of envy and fascination. That same pulse ran through me as I turned the pages of Valedictorian by Shrestha Raychaudhuri, a book that sneaks up on you like a whispered confession and refuses to let go. Shrestha, already celebrated for her keen insight into human psychology, delivers a story tha