In modern Indian English literature, who is the author of the contemporary novel titled "The Guest"?

Introduction / Context:
The question tests your knowledge of contemporary Indian English literature and specifically asks about the authorship of the novel titled "The Guest". Many competitive exams include questions on popular modern novels and their writers, so knowing which author wrote which work is an important part of general awareness for book and author questions.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• The novel title given in the question is "The Guest".
• All the options are names of Indian or India associated contemporary writers.
• You are expected to match the correct author to this specific title.

Concept / Approach:
To answer this question correctly, you need to recall which writer is associated with "The Guest". A good strategy for book and author questions is to mentally group authors by their usual genres and the approximate time period in which they publish. You can then try to remember the covers, blurbs, or publicity of each book and match them to the correct author, eliminating options that are famous for very different works.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Note that the book title "The Guest" refers here to a modern Indian English novel, not to older foreign works with similar titles. Step 2: Recall that Mitali Meelan is a contemporary Indian author known for the novel "The Guest". Step 3: Check the other names. Mohit Goyal and Ashwini Parashar are not widely known for a novel titled "The Guest". Step 4: Anand Neelakantan is primarily known for mythological retellings such as "Asura" and the "Bahubali" related books, not for this contemporary realistic novel. Step 5: Ravinder Singh is famous for popular romance and emotional fiction titles, but he is not the writer of "The Guest". Step 6: Therefore, the only option that correctly matches the novel "The Guest" is Mitali Meelan.

Verification / Alternative check:
You can verify this by remembering book marketing or bookstore listings where "The Guest" is clearly attributed to Mitali Meelan. Another way is to recall that the other authors in the list are typically linked with different very famous titles, so if you associate them strongly with other books, it becomes unlikely that they wrote this one.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Mohit Goyal is not known as the author of the novel "The Guest". Ashwini Parashar is also not associated with this title. Anand Neelakantan focuses on mythological and historical narratives and has not written this particular novel. Ravinder Singh writes popular romance and memoir style fiction, but "The Guest" is not one of his works. Hence these alternatives are incorrect for this specific title.

Common Pitfalls:
A common mistake is to confuse "The Guest" with older international works or short stories that have similar titles. Another error is to pick a very famous author from the list by guesswork, assuming that the most popular name must be right. In book and author questions, popularity does not always match the specific title asked, so you should always focus on actual associations rather than fame alone.

Final Answer:
The author of the novel "The Guest" is Mitali Meelan.