Book title: Zero Not Out
Author: Vamshi Krishna
Publisher: Invincible Publishers and Marketers
Rating: 4/5
Zero Not Out by Vamshi Krishna—Book Review
Zero Not Out is the story of an IITian named Varun Krishna, who hails from a middle-class family in Hyderabad. He dreams of clearing the toughest exam in the world—IIT entrance exam, and achieves it with his hard work.
He joins IIT-BHU where he falls in love with a Chennai girl named Nitya Iyer. Throughout the four years of engineering, their love life goes smoother and lovelier. Both of them are deeply in love with each other and have plans to get married.
However, destiny has some other plans for them. They are parted when they finish their college life and are about to meet each other’s parents.
Along with Nitya and Varun’s love story, you get to see a highly-supportive father who is there for his son in all circumstances. He doesn’t put pressure of anything on Varun and let him do the things he really wants to do.
Engineers in India
Author Vamshi Krishna has also focused on why a large number of engineers in India remain unemployed. He has written about the harsh reality that most of the IITians lose their focus on academics once they crack the IIT-JEE. Classrooms and classes start to bore them.
And when they can’t get placed in a big company or can’t do what is expected from their families and relatives, they get depressed and pressurized. This leads to suicide cases, which has become a very common thing among students in India.
To control the suicides rates in the country and around the world, Varun comes with an innovative startup idea.
Zero Not Out book was very much relatable for me, as I also hail from a middle-class family who studied engineering and lived a hostel life. It is a gripping and catchy story that made me smile, feel emotional at times, and think about things that need to be changed in our lives.
Vamshi Krishna has written the backend of a successful life in a very creative manner. He has got good writing skills which won’t make you realize that it is his first fiction book.
My favourite lines from the book (Zero Not Out quotes by Vamshi Krishna)
Sharing some of the lines that I really enjoyed reading:
1.. “How common is it for men to fall in love with women who barely knew about their existence?”
2. “Only in some special situations in life, eyes do the talking while lips just become a spectator.“
3. “In the school of life, we ourselves are teachers and students too. For every roadblock you encounter in life, if you question yourself, ‘what can I learn from this circumstance?’ then you’ll eventually become the best student.“
4. “Fatherhood can change a man’s life. Overnight, most men become much more responsible in every sense.“
5. “Socializing skills will not even appear on the list of top 20 attributes of IITians. They prefer completing semester long series of lectures in one night rather than making eye contact with strangers. After all, what could you expect from people who locked themselves in a room of books for 2-4 years!“
6. “Human enjoy being loved by someone. They adore getting adored by someone. They enjoy it when someone makes them the centre of their life. And above all, the feeling of being needed by someone is of utmost importance to them.“
7. “If you consider engineering in India as a cake, then IITs are at the cream at the top and pursuing CSE in IITs is like red cherry at the top most layer. Everyone gets to see it before the cake is cut, but only a few get a chance to have it.“
8. “Some people say that love is courage, love is strength; but it holds true only when our loved ones are with us. When they leave us forever and disappear in the universe, it’s their memories that kill you from inside.“
9. “But little did they know that meetings would only slowly transform into phone calls and messages on birthdays and anniversaries. Such is life, as you keep meeting new people and visiting new places, the older ones by default move to the hidden layers in your memory.“
10. “Time is so much like water. It can pass slowly through an opening; one drop at a time, or in complete contrast, rush with such a high velocity that it can destroy anything and everything coming its way. It can freeze at times or vanish in the blink of an eye. Maybe, someone said it right: Emotion start where logic ends.“
Definitely a nice book