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Showing posts from March, 2023

Book Review: Awareness Journey by Selvan Srinivasan

Awareness brought to our consciousness helps in achieving overall wellness. We get to know the exact meaning of life, being happy, what we are pursuing, and what we are seeking in the world. But most people link awareness with spiritual guidance or awakening. Both are different – awakening and awareness. This book of Selvan is on awareness about within. The book reads like an experience, more than just a journal or conversation between two people. Being aware of our body, mind, energy, and breathing is critical to heal us from within and to put us in a default happy mode. The author Selvan Srinivasan teaches awareness programs where people move from illness to wellness. The book is neither fictional nor a work of research. He penned down modules what he teaches to his mentees. The book covers the awareness journey of Aayushi, which she takes with her mentor Selvan, also known as Oogway, a name inspired by Kung Fu Panda movie. Aayushi works from home for an MNC company. She lives wi

Book Review – Only Thoughts: Philosophy of Everything by Sujal Sahu (S.S)

Only Thoughts: Philosophy of Everything by Sujal Sahu is an unusual engrossing non-fiction book that takes a firms stance on the subject matter of philosophy. The book first asks a question – is philosophy the rudimentary aspect of everything that we have and do in life? Next, it tries to demystify all the suspense and air that we hold on the name of philosophy in science, humanity evolution, society and its allied parameters, knowledge, and thoughts. The book begins with the motive of the book – in fact it challenges the ages old ways that we have been tended to follow without giving proper reasoning and logic. People have been molded to think in a specific way, to relate in a specific way, whether it makes sense or suits them is something considered second-hand. The author here in this book sharply pinpoints that blind arrangement that obstructs the true growth of an individual, organization, nation, and the world itself at a broader level. Not much further in the book, it comes

Book Review: Muawza by Sanjiv Priyadarshi

Muawza by Sanjiv Priyadarshi is a collection of eleven short stories. The title Muawza is an Urdu word meaning compensation. The book is built around quite a number of themes that matter in life. Friendship, sacrifice, societal status, blessing, death, irony of fate, and of course compensation are the prominent themes that takes the storytelling to an elevated level. The great thing about the book is its literary stature that is inclined towards humanity and compassion. Within so short space, the author managed to tell stories that looked replete from all sides. Nearly all stories are well-narrated, have subthemes, and ends unexpectedly. However, readers may feel that the tempo and feel of the book is terrific in first five stories, especially dealing with death and other tragedies that could not be amounted with any other compensation. The first titular story Muawza discusses the futility of life of people living around roadside i.e. slum dwellers, who are often victimized by rand

Book Review: Farewell Season by Ashish Kalita

Farewell Season by Ashish Kalita is an absolutely extraordinary collection of nine short stories. As the title suggests, farewell is a prominent theme in the book; nearly all stories are built around the same scaffold. It explores the different dynamics of human emotions and tales of fate that are caught in the storm of circumstances. They eventually lead to farewell – some go ritually, while others are unwelcomed and tragic. The broader theme of the book insists that farewells do have patterns, situations, intense feelings, subtle madness…but can we ever understand them behind the veils of emotional curtains? Ashish takes readers to the deeper levels of human psyche and narrates powerful stories about love, family bonding, friendship, quirks of fate, ironies of life, and so on. Another great aspect of the book is that it binds the readers with North Eastern cultural heritage and flavor, sprinkling the backdrop with cuisines, festivals, local jargons, etc. The book commences with t

Book Review: A Happier You by Dr. Mukesh Jain

Dr. Mukesh Jain presents happiness as subject in his latest book, ‘A Happier You.’ Happiness is an important life factor. It’s intriguing; people run and chase after many goals only to feel happy at the end. But it can’t be said that it’s a time-tested formula and works for all. If you believe the author, kindly scrap this thought pattern. Happiness is not related to hedonistic achievements. Right in the initial chapters, the author covered this most clichéd belief of human race. For instance, if I clear the IIM exams, or I lose 10 pounds of weight, or I buy a SUV car…then I will be super happy all my life. The book takes us on a reverse belief…it is like be happy…be productive…achieve goals easily. Segmented in 42 short topics, this book brings the length and breadth about happiness. We humans think of and do many activities (psychologically and physically) that could make us happy. Surprisingly this book almost covers up all those aspects. For this reason, each page of this book is f

Book Review: 2042 by Amar B. Singh

The poetry collection named 2042 of Amar Singh takes us to a near future and shows how the world could be fairing that time. Though humans might have evolved technically and scientifically, but have their aspirations taken a change or is it the same? Read on this lovely book of 21 poems to get the hints. The core nature of the book is futuristic. It portrays human thinking, lifestyle, societal parameters, etc. in the year 2042, which is not normal like today. The book provides food for thought and makes up an engrossing yet lucid read for people that often weigh, mull, and profess worldly changes with the society, faith, religion, and moral choices. All poems are subtle and sublime, written in rhyming pattern, the collection gradually covering a gamut of issues that matter in reshaping the world. Yet the standout theme in the book loudly expresses the effect of excessive usage of technology on humanity. The first poem is 2042. The world is a changed place if you compared with tod

Book Review: The Book of Stamps by Vidya Math

The Book of Stamps by Vidya Math is a riveting novella with a high dose of imaginative storytelling. It’s purely fictional, set across mystical lands, and narrates a web of connected tales of the king, the prince, the dancing girl, and the shepherd through the book of stamps in the possession of the little girl Othelia. Othelia’s best friend with whom she visits places in imaginary state is Harry.   The girl Othelia shares a deep love bond with her mother, who couldn’t understand what the girl is up to with her stories from the book of stamps. “Othelia’s mother smiled to herself, ever amazed at the little girl’s imagination. This invisible character, Harry, seemed to be many things and now he was thinner too!” Vidya has weaved a story of magical realism yet she connected the past of main characters with the girl Othelia. Lavender, the missing ruby, tragedy in the end – the girl gets the share and the influence of her characters in her life too. In a sense, the entire book was con

Book Review: Samudran by A R Vikram

Certainly the novel Samudran is engaging and offers a whole new level of thrill. Unlike any other romantic thriller with more or less captivating contemporary themes, the storyline of this novel takes readers in near future and narrates them a tale of a young ordinary man who turned extraordinary for various reasons but love was the forefront theme. Readers may take time to grasp the whole thing of the novel, as its story expanse is vast and changes dramatically post a mystery discovered by the lead character Samudran…in short named as Sammy by all. It starts with a research project for a small group of scientists, their head professor, and Sammy is the photographer with them. The objective of a small team on the island is to conduct scientific research about some medicinal herbs that can be used for disrupting medical needs. At the beginning, Sammy and his colleagues Sangeetha and Karthik weren’t aware of the malign connection of their boss Professor Rajan with a renowned Indian p