Life, Odds & Ends


"A sensitive portrayal of emotions in a rapidly changing world. The book has a new age feel to it and will resonate deeply with modern women and men for it captures their lives." 

 - Amandeep Sandhu, Roll of Honour, The Hindu Shortlist 2013

"Unlike most IITians who churn out contrived campus romances, Anvita Bajpai takes the ‘road less travelled’ and explores the more profound aspects of modern urban relationships in her four stories featured in Life, Odds & Ends. Her unique themes and candid narrative style makes this book a very engrossing and insightful reading experience." 

- Vikram Karve, author of Cocktail

A pre-final cover of the book

 Anvita, a multidimensional IITian [IIT Madras alumnus], believes in living life to the fullest. Between her professional activities as a former AVP, an entrepreneur, now speaking at conferences and writing technical publications – and the joys and demands of domestic life – she enjoys her passion for creativity, imagination, and self-discovery. “Life, Odds & Ends” is her first work of fiction.

Above blurbs and cover define the book and the subject. The first story has the mention of IIT Madras Campus and Saarang. As she was writing that story, she needed to define a city and a campus. If one is not writing a science-fiction, or a book like ‘Harry Potter’, place becomes an entity in the story and it has to be known to the author. Hence, comes the mention of IITM campus, then Chennai, Bangalore and other cities. 

Again, it is a great opportunity that Anvita is speaking at Saarang 2014, 

on Jan 9th, 2-3:30 pm on “In the spirit of Life”.  


And at the end of her lecture, she would introduce her book to the world.

Please be a part of the event and share the excitement of being the part of IIT community. 

Limited copies of the book will also be available for sale at the IIT Madras Alumni Office.


You may like the FB page of the book to stay updated about it @ https://www.facebook.com/LifeOddsEnds

Further, Anvita can also be caught @



Twitter - anvita_bajpai



About the book


“Life is an interesting puzzle that we all solve in our own ways”. . . Here, four such puzzles take the form of stories in which friends, lovers and partners navigate the labyrinths of modern life.

A friend asked, “If Aliya is so good, how come she got involved with three men?” You may want to figure out “why?” - In “Drawing Parallels”.

“Soul-mates” defines the connect between two childhood friends, Mira and Kusuma, in spite of the orthogonally surprising turns taken by their individual lives.

In “Context”, a workplace friendship with Som, Kabir and Aman impacts Rituraj's promises to his wife.

“My World” finds Rumi navigating the pulls of family, career and self.



A note from P V Rajeev, MarketExpress


Anvita’s stories talk of the modern day youth. Where the young find jobs in the Silicon Valley of India. Where the man and the lady are both working. Where the couple has to live apart for months at a stretch when one of them has to go abroad on an assignment. 
The lady plays the Herculian task of managing the household, bringing up the kids, preparing the meals and combining all this with her job in office. Fortunate is she if her husband is one who lends the helping hand. Parents and in-laws and neighbours are there to give advice – both right and wrong. Sometimes you have to listen to this advice with one ear and let go through the other.
You may find your partner in college or in office and sometimes it is the age old arranged marriages that sets the ball rolling. Sometimes you get so frustrated you want a separation. Of course there are your friends and that of your partner who can help you to come out of the rut. 
Kormangla is a locality in Bangalore you may not have visited but there are many who have heard about the place. For an IITian, Bangalore is always a home and USA is a second home. You may be completing your studies abroad or you may go there for work.  And if you want to settle down in India we have ingeniously created our own Silicon Valley. 
You may find your life partner by chance.  But memories of your old love sometimes come back to haunt you. When this conflict arises you simply don’t know what to do.
Anvita in her stories talk of all these dilemmas. She is a modern day story teller. She has been to IIT and she speaks to IITians and the youth of today who have graduated from other engineering and management institutes and arts and science colleges. For these young boys and girls and young adults there is a new offering from Anvita to lap up. Enjoy reading it.


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