Cruising on a fictional world (IANS Books This Weekend)

Enjoy a dose of light fiction to beat summer heat. From heartaches to thrillers and from graphic travelogue to Vipassana journey - take your pick from this vibrant assortment of books IANS has on offer this weekend.

1. Book: Never Kiss Your Best Friend; Author: Sumrit Shahi; Publisher: Rupa; Pages: 206; Price: Rs.195

In this sequel to the bestselling "Just Friends", find out what happens when headstrong and impulsive Tanie Brar meets her equally crazy best friend Sumer Singh Dhillon after five long years of separation.

Their journey redefines the rules of friendship with its story of a boy and a girl who are soulmates in every sense.

2. Book: Juggernaut; Author: Akbar Agha; Publisher: Tara; Pages: 253; Price: Rs.250

"Jagernath". The last word of a dying man is the only clue Captain Gul Khan has when he foils an assassination bid on a top military general closely linked to Pakistan's nuclear programme. CIA's dirty blonde agent Eve, who had volunteered to assist Gul in turn for help in capturing an American-turned jehadi, winds up dead in a Peshawar hotel. Even as Foreign Minister Sadia Sharif deals with the diplomatic fallout, Gul discovers that the psychiatrist in-charge of ensuring the well-being of the men with their finger on Pakistan's nuclear-bomb trigger has been murdered. His only clue: A2 MC Bodmas written in blood next to his body.

Can Gul tie up all the loose ends and save the day even as Sadia Sharif resigns to protest against attacks by American drones on Pakistani soil? Or will the events spiral out of control resulting in a nuclear holocaust?

3. Book: The Vanished Path: A Graphic Travelogue; Author: Bharath Murthy; Publisher: Harper Collins; Pages: 222; Price: Rs.399

In 2009, the author took refuge as a lay Buddhist. Soon after, accompanied by his wife Alka, he set out on a pilgrimage to the historical sites in India and Nepal associated with the life of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha.

This graphic novel is an account of their journey through the ruins that mark the Buddha's life - the places where he lived and taught and lands from where all traces of that past have almost disappeared. As the duo wends its way from Sarnath to Lumbini, from Kudan to Bodhgaya, and many places in between, the author's pen brings alive the sights and sounds and smells of these places.

4. Book: Vipassana: The Journey of a Thousand Steps; Author: Pooja Lamba Cheema; Publisher: Hay House; Pages: 236; Price: Rs.299

Tired of battling melancholy and regret and wanting to find a purpose in her directionless life, the author decides to go away to a Vipassana ashram to explore the depths of her mind and come away free of the emotional baggage that she knows is impeding her life. Aware of the rigours of the form of meditation, she is nevertheless unprepared for the frightening loneliness and solitude of the ashram, where one is required to meditate for ten-and-a-half-hours every day for 10 days in complete silence.

Battling the demons from her past and trying valiantly to achieve the miracles she is hoping for, she unfortunately encounters defeat and severe disillusionment. It is only when she surrenders to the knowledge that everything is impermanent in life that the true miracle of life is revealed to her.

This book is a moving soliloquy of suffering, hardship, sorrow and surrender, set in the cradle of the mystical Aravali hills near Delhi, and shows the beauty and poignancy of pain and the futility of struggle.