Rajat Narula: I work for the World Bank as a lead financial management specialist.   
My first novel, The Jasmine Bloom, was published in 2017.  Azalea Heights is my second novel.  The Jasmine Bloom has been accepted by Fairfax County Library.  
Besides, The Jasmine Bloom, I have published several poems and two series of articles.    
I have lived in India, Indonesia and USA.  

Sameer Chadha is in a mid-life crisis, unhappy with everything around him, even his name. His corporate career is languishing and he is increasingly alienated from his family.  His wife Kavita, a part-time poet and a full-time mother, lives more in the past than the present.  When their lives collide with that of Ritu, a younger woman coping with an abusive husband and an autistic son, a chain of events gets triggered that puts all their lives into a tailspin.  The Jasmine Bloom is a story of love, lust, ruin and resurrection.  It is a commentary on the fragility of modern family life; of terrible secrets and shocking choices.  However, at its core, it is the tale of a man learning to be happy in the here and now.

The Jasmine Bloom

They watched a movie together at home. Pari and Sameer. She laughed as Ajay Devgan began to get mad at Arshad Warsi showing him a finger; he got out of control if someone did that. She knew what to expect next and laughed in anticipation. He smiled. In her pink hello kitty night suit, her hair braided in two pigtails, she looked cute hugging her knees and giggling uncontrollably.


The scare she gave him. He lived a nightmare in those thirty-six hours. A nightmare within the nightmare his life had become. 


The morning after Dr Mehra's midnight visit, she had regained consciousness for the first time. He sat in the chair beside her bed, looking at her sleeping. The nursing home was coming alive; morning greetings being exchanged, floors being scrubbed with disinfectant, breakfast trolleys with porridge, tea and toasted bread making their rounds. Pari mumbled something and he bent to listen but couldn't hear what she said. 


Chapter 43: Game