Kevein Books and Reviews

Divided by clan taboos, united by the vagaries of fate, Neelam Chandra Saxena is back with bang.  In the Flickering of an Eye, Vinay and Manju: the lovers from ordinary landscape endure an extraordinary love tale. Vinay, a shy teenager, holds a competitive rivalry against the much-hyped, tomboyish girl Manju. However, things between both begin changing following a cuddle up during a torrential rain. When Manju deliberately looses a volleyball game to save the thinning dignity of Vinay, he finds himself in love with her.  Though they both hail from simple and mediocre families and are also closely tied by means of neighbourhood goodwill, ritual exchanges, and family friendship; but their love story is not going to be simple, well-staged and easily convinced. Since they belong to the same Gotra (clan), subsequently their love affair cannot head for a successful marriage. That is the only hurdle. Nevertheless, they continue their affair despite knowing the risk. Love...

True Story of Kanakapala by Raja Rao reads like a folk tale and conjures up a world of superstitions and faith. Wherein Kanakapala – a huge three-striped cobra – acts as an agent of justice and protects the virtuous and punishes the vile and wicked, convincingly explains the role of snake. The story is woven around three generations. Rangappa, being left alone and orphan, accepts to be a pontifical Brahmin and cherished a strong and staunch desire to have the Darshana of Kashi Vishweshwara. Hence, he refuses girl after girl with enough dowry. Being a pontifical Brahmin he is given enough dakshina which he saves in a sealed sacred copper pot. When the pot is full, he sets out on a pilgrimage to the holy city Kashi. On the way he is offered rice and money, and even he is given the clothes by many. One day he arrives on the banks of river Hemavathy and after the evening ablutions and meditation decides to sojourn there only for the night. The moon comes in all splendor and everyth...

Vikram is a metric-passed unemployed young man known for aimless antics. He has big plans for life, such as touring around the world for seven years and building the largest library in the city. And for these dreams he needs loads of money. He is of clear opinion that doing job will not fulfil any of his dreams. So, he goes to buy a lottery to try his luck, but finds himself short of cash. To overcome this issue, he joins hand with a school teacher, who also happens to be his childhood friend, to overcome the cash crunch. The teacher sells off his old books to buy a lottery ticket. When Vikram buys the ticket on his name, the teacher grows suspicious of his avarice, and thinks the prize money will not be shared between two. Thus, he forces to Vikram sign an agreement but things didn’t settle down. On the other hand, Vikram’s father buys lottery ticket for himself, younger son Prakash, and his wife. Vikram’s Uncle also buys a ticket. For them, more tickets mean more chances of win...

The Company of Women by Khuswant Singh presents sexual episodes of a man with number of women, ranging from an Afro-American lady to an ageing Pakistani woman to his own wife in India. The protagonist, Mohan Kumar, is a brilliant student and when he is sent to the USA for studies, there he starts his sex career by loosing virginity to Jessica Browne, a black lady. Soon he gets fame for having the seemingly largest organ in the campus, which gets him more women on bed. On one of his memorable rendezvous with Yasmeen Wanchoo, a Pakistani woman, he learns how to lucratively quench older women who presumably lust after fine young men. As he doesn’t share good subaudition with his father, so upon returning India, he is nudged to tie a knot with a woman whom he neither likes nor he burns with desire for her. The lady in fact is grouchy with some unusual facial features. Despite marriage, his love for other women sees no decline; surely he feels no commitment towards his wife. Subs...

The book highlights: what kind of plight possibly takes place between the colonizer and the colonized? Adela Quested, a British schoolmistress, along with Mrs. Moore, an elderly lady, takes a journey to India basically for two reasons. First was to experience the real sense of India, its people and places and cultural nitty gritties. And the second was to meet Ronny Heaslop, the son of Mrs. Moore, being nudged by her Adela was also looking forward to see Rony as a possible groom for herself.   Initially, things go fine and they get engaged.  Dr. Aziz, a local but well-respected person, spots Mrs. Moore in a mosque and immediately objects her presence. As the conservation goes ahead, they find that they have begun liking each other and settle into a good subaudition. Mr. Turton’s house party turns out to be an unpleasant experience for Adela. To make visitors time pleasant in India, Cyrill Fielding keeps a tea party at his house, and on Adela’s request he also inv...

‘She Walks, She Leads’by Gunjan Jain features true stories of 24 women from India. The book holds a special limelight not because it is full of celebrities but it takes toil to rev up reminisces of childhood, nubile romance, family and tradition talks, life aspirations along with how well they fared to achieve their set goals. The writer must have put in lot of efforts in research because the protagonists hail from various and diverse fields, rather than one. Also, to cover the profiles extensively, the book has been segmented field wise i.e. from altruism to corporate to sports and everything in between. Whether you are reading love tale of Nita & Mukesh Ambani or the struggle saga of a Manipuri girl Mary Kom, the narration oscillates from pains to gains, missed to hit points but the exploration never boils down to dull tempo. A story covered well is riveted through all angles: personal, from the close allies, etc. Therefore the author has put in special efforts to suppl...

The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari is a very engaging fable which teaches as it delights. Through the chief protagonist Julian Mantle’s life story readers come to know the timeless virtues of enlightened living. Through the use of symbols, Robin S. Sharma has been able to objectify and deepen the teachings which otherwise may have seemed as dull morals. With the revelations of Julian Mantle the meaning of life is revealed to the readers. In the story Julian gets a wake-up call, a massive heart attack which was symptomatic of materially-sick life. He ventures into the timeless tradition of the East. He meets Yogi Krishnan of Kashmira in India and learns from him that every event has a purpose and every setback its lesson. He also learns that life is all about choices. One’s destiny unfolds according to the choices one makes. He finds Yogi Raman, the chief sage of Sivana whose life was one of simplicity, serenity and harmony. From him, he learns that self-mastery and the constant ca...