Kevein Books and Reviews

The Scroll of Karma by Debjit Chatterjee is a YA fantasy novel set against kingdoms like Dharmaskhetra and Vijaysthal. Basically it features, in larger and impactful roles, two young girls: Deepshika and Chandrika. The former arrives in Vijaysthal, however, she finds the palace a little mysterious, especially its architecture, alleys, corridors, and much more. Plus, she has a journal with her that looks holding some key codes for the story that follows up. Soon Deepshika and Chandrika become good friends and share pain and misery of each other. As the novel chugs ahead, it comes out that Chandrika has been a victim of some curse due to mistake of her father King Virdutta. The storyline spirals within the palace and one by one Deepshika tries to find out what was the lineage of the kingdom. The novel since a sort of part one in a likely series, thus, explores sweeps and builds the characters with peculiar insights and secrets of past. Karmacharaya and a few more characters adore the s...

The book ‘Indian Women’ presents a terrific research on ethos, pathos, history, and all those societal and its allied parameters that affect the space and liberty and identity patterns of women in all walks of life in our country for ages. Written by a duo of a woman and man – Indira J. Parikh and Pulin K. Garg – this book brings forward the inner dialogues of women from various facets of life that are not necessarily voiced over the time. These inner dialogues, expressed and unarticulated, form the scaffold of the book’s narrative. Despite producing such intense and profound content, which the duo have been compiling since 1983, the book goes in a smooth way, with least interruptions and above all it sounds like a complete work on the status of Indian women, providing relevant and timely commentary and throwing a   highlight on their space. It’s a general fact that women in our country endured a lot since the dawn of women. They had been denied privileges, personal space, basic ...

Vizag Blue by Anil CS Rao is a riveting novella with exploring themes like our identity in the world, infantile heart of an artist, dark sides of our emotions, sub-audition between two women, longing for love and attention, and most importantly relationship between a nurse and her patient. Set in Vizag (earlier called as Vishakhapatnam), a city in the eastern coastal of India, the book basically features Kalpana Iyer as its lead character. However Usha, her nurse, takes over all the talking and action and sounds like a protagonist. Kalpana becomes mute while doing a rehearsal of the play – Shakuntala in her university. She refuses to speak to anyone, including her boyfriend Prem. Dr Reena affirms Kalpana fit and thinks that with nature around her she will convalescence better. Nurse Usha and Kalpana move to a secluded sea house. Both ladies look initially at rest and fine there…they smoke, sew clothes, write letters, and stroll along the beach line, as a reader you may wait for Kal...

Children love to be in their zone of fantasy and imagination, but they are bogged down by the ruthless realities of the world. No matter what, some children chase their dreams and aspirations with an unmatched determination. Something similar happens in Ejaz Ahamed’s ‘Dancers in the Dark’. The novel is set in somewhere South India, backdropped against the village Kilipur, takes a sneak peek in the lives of fatherless poor emaciated siblings: Kalki and Karthi. Kalki is a seven-year old dark skinned girl. Well, in South India dark people is a common sight, she captures attention wherever she goes. She is an extreme case of being dark. People make fun of her, sneer at her…and much more. She is dejected by this curse. Karthi, her brother, believes he is responsible for her condition. But their world is different, their mother lives with stigma. In fact, they are so grappled by the strata of the society that is based on caste and its allied diversions that people throw any story to label th...

During our school days in 1990s and early 2000s, there used to be game that could increase our knowledge and awareness about our society and world in the form of questions and flash cards like ‘Believe it or Not’…’Did you Know’… and a few more. It was fun exercise to know about sports, celebrities, history, culture, and geography and much more. And with the advent of Internet and AI-based technologies, things have changed…information on any topic or person is available in all formats – short, long, images, and videos on YouTube like of Dhruv Rathee and Nitish Rajput. There are scores of niches for each topic; you just need patience to have grasped all. In the similar fashion, Vidyasagar Gujje written a book called Compare and Contrast . He brings on the table 25 fascinating topics/short articles shedding light of compare and contrast. From history of other countries & India to political leaders to cricketers and actors and much more…he waves interesting “Did You Know” sort of tal...

Have you come across a riveting clean Hindi rollercoaster drama love story with unpredictable climax and ending? If not, it is time to pick up this Hindi romance novel ‘Vrinda Tulsi’ written by Manglesh Mangli, the writer from Punjab. The novel’s story is placed in North India, as most of the events occur during chilling winter, and the way brumal evenings and cozy silent hustle bustle of the cold days is portrayed, it didn’t take me much time to conclude that we are in North India with the beautiful characters of the novel. Manglesh’s poetic prose connects the dots from past to present and nudges the story to its full tempo of emotions, melancholy, romance, bliss of youth, and tragedies and so on. The story features Kabir, Tulsi, and Vrinda. In the enchanting era of 1990s, Kabir and Tulsi are the epitome of beauty in their college. Slowly but eventually after a few hiccups of inhibition and crossing the barriers of society, they fall for each other. In love they are – planned marria...

Living life to the fullest doesn’t come easily, as our life is grappled by some or other hindrances…sometimes it is delay in work, or struggling to have financial freedom, at times if all is fine…morality and spiritual aspects haunt us. Thus, the question is how to lead a life that is free from unwanted clutters and burdens. Well, this book tries to answer it with short chapters, useful and fulfilling tips, and bringing anecdotes from the author’s life in snatches. The best thing about ‘Witnessing the Sacred’ by SS Rai is that it is light in its approach of spiritual fulfilling. It aims at amplifying the basic nuisances that matters in leading a happy life with balanced equation in all walks of life. Right at the first chapter, the author impresses with his brilliance of concise and clear writing, and tenacity towards life. First chapter emphasis on valuing our life – as most of us go in complaining mode or get   stuck in fake morality. So, if you are confused and have to choose ...