Excerpts from my diary

  Some books don’t feel like books at all – they feel like someone opening up a corner of their life and letting you step in. Shaher mein ladka, ladke mein… was that kind of book for me. I come from a small town myself, and like the author, I once carried the same restless dream of moving to a city. Reading these stories, I could almost hear echoes of my own journey – the confusion, the excitement, the way the old world never really leaves you even when you’re chasing a new one. What I loved most is how honest these stories are. Some are drawn from the author’s own life, some from friends and family, and some from the way life just brushes past us when we’re not expecting it. But all of them feel lived-in and real. At times I smiled, at times I just sat quietly with a line long after reading it, and a few stories left me with that sweet ache of remembering where I came from. This isn’t just about small towns and big cities – it’s about the spaces in between, the people who shape us...