by Soumik R. Chakraborty (Author)
The story of "Ambrosial" begins when the protagonist and his dear friend Xeala are sitting at a watering hole, the Señor Chiquita, partaking of beer and nachos. Both of them work as corporate lawyers in one of the topmost law firms of the country. But with great pay checks, comes soul crushing work pressure. Moments of unhindered relaxation, like the night in Señor Chiquita, are few and far between. Xeala wants to set up the protagonist with someone, as she herself has started dating her then boyfriend (and present fiancee) Axxen, and wants to see the protagonist settled as well. After some needling, the protagonist reveals that he is interested in a new girl in the office, the mysterious Sandxira. Xeala urges the protagonist to speak to her, get to know her, and then maybe ask her out. The protagonist offers a perfunctory reluctance but eventually agrees to do so. Sandxira, despite being a sweet and well meaning person, declines the protagonist when he does ask her out. Yet, over the course of the next few months, Sandxira and the protagonist get close and become slightly more than work proximity associates. In the protagonist's bleak existence, where he envisions himself to be the grungy lead of a Nine Inch Nails song, bemoaning about every day being exactly the same, the few bright things are his friendship with Xeala and his conversations with Sandxira. But, fate has stranger plans for the parties involved. Xeala leaves soon after, to pursue her dreams of becoming a bureaucrat by clearing the intense and gruelling civil service examinations. Sandxira gets a job in the protagonist's home city, and decides to move there. Even though she is leaving, Sandxira wants to stay in touch and asks the protagonist to look her up when he comes back home.A few months later, with both Xeala and Sandxira gone, the law firm job starts to take a toll on the protagonist. After assessing the direction his life is headed in, the protagonist decides to move out of his job and shift to his home city, in an attempt to reboot his life and have a fresh start. Back home, he meets the alluring Sandxira again, and they reconnect. She tells him that even though she had been hoping that the protagonist would remain a footnote in her life, she has really grown to enjoy his company and decides to reveal to him a reality altering secret that she has been harbouring..."Ambrosial" is an attempt by the author to be in the same hallowed company as Bilbo Baggins. It is a story inspired from life experiences of the author, written down as a book, in order to get some perspective and closure on a very strange chapter in the author's life, much like Donna Pinciotti did, in an episode of That '70s Show. The book is a science fiction romance about two lawyers; a boy and a girl, the latter of whom has the answer to the question, "What lies beyond the limits of our perception of the universe?". Even though the tag of "science fiction" puts off a lot of readers, due to the niche audience such a genre caters to, the actual story has quite a laidback feel to it, much like an independent film. Think the "Before Sunrise/ Before Sunset/ Before Midnight" trilogy of movies of Richard Linklater, sprinkled with the influence of Guillermo del Toro, Arthur C. Clarke and Justin Benson/ Aaron Moorhead. It is also a coming of age story about a boy who is left adrift while starting out in his professional life and his personal life becomes a maelstrom as well. But he eventually finds anchor with the help of some amazing people; people whom the author has had the good fortune of knowing in real life. They help the boy to come out on the other side as a person transformed. To borrow the words of one of the author's earliest reviewers, the story of "Ambrosial" delves into intricate human relationships while, for purists of the genre of science fiction, tries to ensure that the core subject remains true to the ethos advertised.