Poetic pen

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Tuesday, March 26, 2019

A to Z Challenge 2019 Theme Reveal - BOOKS FROM MY CHILDREN'S BOOKSHELF

I participated in April A to Z Challenge back in 2015 and to my own surprise, completed successfully for two blogs – A to Z Challenge 2015 - WOMEN in A to Z PROFESSIONS and Quotes - Pregnancy. Then, the consequent year, the over confident me participated again and failed miserably - April A to Z Challenge 2016 - "WOMEN and ISSUES AROUND THEM". I did have some of my favorite posts that year despite of failing in the challenge.

This year, I prepared my mind at the very last moment and decided to go for it again. Coming to the theme reveal, theme for this year would be my blog’s genre - BOOKS. I would pick one book from my kid’s bookshelf and post about it. Again, I cannot guarantee that it would be alphabetical, but yes, I do hope that they have 26 books to post about in that cupboard and those organizers. All of them would be picture books targeting the children under 6 to 7 years old. Also, most of them would be sharing a moral or message for the same age group – some are just for fun too! I would not promise but I would try to add a small moral story as-well. The stories might be from my memories of old is gold collection which have been passing from generations ever since I know.


Theme for this year is - “Books From My Children’s Bookshelf”. Fingers crossed!!!

Guess what, my other blog is also participating again. Do check out the theme reveal there – It’s again also related to books – Quotes. May be, both together are lucky again and hit the nail

Let the fun and learning begin.

Are you participating in A to Z Challenge 2019? Sign up's are open till 6-April.

Do you have a theme for the month? Check out other theme reveals as-well.
Visit A to Z Challenge to find more details.

Friday, March 22, 2019

Orange Sky & Blue Sun: Collection of Emotions by Subhadip Mazumdar

About the Author

Subhadip Mazumdar is an Indian Author born in Bihar, India. He grew up in Kolkata, where he completed his schooling from Don Bosco, Park Circus. He graduated in Electrical Engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology followed by his post graduation in Management Sciences from University of Canberra, Australia. He has been working in the Information Technology Industry for over two decades, both as an entrepreneur, and for large multi-national companies. His work had given him the opportunity to travel across multitude of countries covering both hemispheres. His travels motivated him to collect emotions, and thus present them through his first book Orange Sky and Blue Sun.
He can be reached at orangeskybluesun@gmail.com

The Blurb:
Orange Sky and Blue Sun is a collection of emotions spread across two continents.The stories in this debut collection covers the spirit of life and discovery of its purpose. The stories explore the flight of the fundamental free spirit of an individual. It challenges the defaults of life, and the protocols that are institutionalized for convenience. The stories follow the aspirations, hope, failures, tolerance, and acceptance of a few generation of people. They appear different yet similar, divided yet yearning to unite.

How I Felt About The Book:
There is something about the short stories which never lets the interest and curiosity to let go irrespective of the reader's age. "Orange Sky and Blue Sun" is a collection of ten short stories set up in the backdrop of Bengal.

The author Subhadip Mazumdar did a pretty decent work considering that it's his debut launch. He kept the background and detailing to the pattern he could connect the best with - Bengal which was again a clever and good choice. The stories reflect different emotions and generations of life. The writing style is really simple and very clearly echoed the exact thought process and plot behind each story.

Below are few of my favorites in no particular order:
We Have All Changed
Time To Go
Shombu Salesman
Ammaji

If someone has read the book or would be reading it, would realize that my favorites are from the beginning of the book. While I liked all the stories, my expectations went a little high on reading the best ones in the very beginning (which was a good choice on author's part to develop interest of readers). As the book progressed, the stories became a little predictable and not so interesting. This was a point which made me take one star away from my rating.

Even still, I really enjoyed all the stories and finished them in 2 to 3 small sittings (thanks to my slow reading pace, office, kids and husband dear to keep the kindle away and take a good night sleep!). I can recommend it to a few friends if they want a light yet decent one time read.


                                                   

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Greed Lust Addiction : Victory over vices makes you champion by Ravi Dabral

The Blurb;
Materialism is the mantra of the modern generation, whose motto is to ‘eat, drink and be merry’. This philosophy gives rise to ‘greed, lust and addiction’ which are vices within us. As against this, spiritualism believes in having ‘ virtues, values and morals’ to live a contented, stress-free and purposeful life.

This is the journey of an investigative journalist, thrillingly revealing mysteries of the corrupt material world. Believing in following the virtuous, righteous and spiritual path in life, how far will he succeed in a society dominated by corrupt politicians, unscrupulous greedy businessmen, puppet media, insensitive police, and even a biased judiciary?
Will he survive in the midst of the powerful lobbies who have scant regard for human life? Or will he be crushed like a beetle under a booted foot, as everyone predicts? Or will he be able to stand up just with the help of a handful of yogis of the Himalayan ashrams and their spiritual followers?
A novel with lots of twists, turns, conflicts, romance, emotions, drama, suspense, thrill and action, promising a mesmerising reading experience…


About The Book:

‘Greed Lust Addiction…’ as the blurb states is the story of a journalist wherein he rediscovers himself and his life while his life turns upside down with once incident. It is the story of almost every street or city of India now a days. The language, setup, tone and descriptions used by the author Ravi Dabral made the book quite relatable.

The author managed to introduce many sub-plots some of which were handled quite well while others just managed to surface and end with no details. There were many twists and turns which unfortunately were quite predictable. Also, the cover, which I really liked at the first loo, but somehow, could not relate much considering the theme and background of setup. I think the it could have been something else or better.


The book takes a direct dig at present level of corruption when it comes to Indian politics, judiciary system, police, business and common man. I also liked the usage of education and technologies which the author applied when it comes to practicing yoga, self discovery  and welfare of society.


                                                              

Thursday, March 14, 2019

Lehengey & Lafdey by Varun T.


The Blurb Says:
They say that marriages are made in heaven; but weddings, my friend; weddings are executed in hell! After writing three political thrillers, all of which helped me garner a bit of fame and intellectual fanbase, I was convinced that politics is perhaps the most difficult field a man can engage in. But then, matrimony came along and politics suddenly felt like the non-essential elaichi in this Mughlai Biryani called life.

When my ‘loved ones’ subjected me to scenarios unimaginable, when as the groom I had to wait for an hour for my baaraat to arrive, when certain ‘rituals’ scarred me with shame for the rest of my life, I so wanted to give it back to the society! And hence, ‘Lehengey and Lafdey’ was born. 

LnL will raise your ire, tickle your funny bone, and show you everything except what a wedding is supposed to be: a sacred union. In a world filled with romantic novels, where love always wins in the end; patience, perseverance and the insane ability to bear a butt load of crap is required to emerge victorious in the holy war of matrimony. 

Enough talk! Jump right in and witness a whirlpool of emotions, with a cup of masala chai and some fryums on the side. Put your seat belts on, for it is going to get crazy. Welcome to the world of Lehengey and Lafdey!

How I Felt About The Book:

As mentioned by the author Varun Tejwani, he has written political thrillers and had his first attempt at this theme, he stayed away from mystery, thriller etc. The little book is written in first person and the language through the book is very simple.

Indian weddings and the extravaganza they bring along is not new to the world now a days – thanks to the recent famous weddings in past few years. The title and blurb had a lot to offer with the subject chosen. Considering the audience to which the book is targeted, I am a little disappointed with the book. Honestly, I could count more masala and funnier or irritating details from my own wedding which went quite smooth without much drama and hurdles. The author had a lot to offer which I must mention went missing. The narration and plot both went blank somewhere in between the story.

Minus the drama and real fun which Indians are very much aware of, the book was an average one time read and I could fly through the pages – thanks to simple English and relatable instances. It made me go back to my own wedding days and rewind many of the rituals and shopping spree which I did not mind at all.




Monday, March 11, 2019

The Modern Day Hindu by Nikhil Chandwani


The Blurb:
“Here are your instructions. You must overlook everything you know. Modern Day Hindu needs you to blur the edges of white and the dark spheres of life. It is my journey, practicing a very rare Hindu way of living, and blending the same with Quantum Physics, The Cosmos, a whole lot of Hollywood Movie mentions, Rock Music and Passionate Resistance. This book provides resolutions to the Twenty-First Century dilemmas through certain laws, I decoded, while implementing classical Indian knowledge. The book reveals the wandering consciousness of Hinduism. Awareness, that might complete your missing puzzle.



About The Book:
I liked the cover and found it quite creative. A person mediating with all the possible distractions in present era all around him on the cover along with the title made a perfect match. It’s a perfect match for current generation and is also a good percentage of our elders these days too.

The author has tried to throw a detailed insight on twenty-first century mass and how different areas affect their lifestyle with the help of seven spheres. The language used is simple and to the point.

The author also supported each and every point conveyed with an example. The examples range from day to day life, science, mathematics, philosophy etc.

Somewhere between the book, I sadly could not follow through and lost the connect. After that, I was just reading and not able to catch up. The reason might be because of too much knowledge. Honestly, I did not find anything bad about the book, I was just not able to grasp after a point. I think it needed more intense editing on the examples given and the connect between each other – there are a lot of random examples which I feel would have worked better for articles.

For me, it did not work very well. At the same time, I would like to mention that it’s me who might not have like it. It is a decent read for the people who enjoy reading physiological non-fiction books and of course movie buffs are going to relate the most out of it.



                                                      

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Voice of the soul by Shreyans Kanswa


The Blurb:
How does it feel to lie just by yourself and delve into the silence. The silence that is a path to deeper self, a self that is unexplored. That same unexplored self can also be regarded as the soul. 

While the time ticks on the clock, a bond with your soul is timeless. Such metaphors are rendered powerless when a conversation is created with oneself. 

These poems mean more than just words, they scream soulfulness. It is rather weird that we go looking for answers outside when all that we have to do is seek deeper within ourselves. The poems are experiences that the poet shares with the world, and these experiences are nothing fancy- they are all moments that the poet experiences with himself. They are questions risen from inquisitiveness and introspection.

How I Felt About The Book:
The book is a collection of 61 little poems.
Each poem takes the reader to a ride on an emotion or feeling about one or the other phase of life. There is poem about birth, death, pain, happiness, relations, nature, technologies and many more.

Honesty, it took me a few poems before I could get in the flow. Each has been penned differently. It deals with the day to day Facts we encounter in our life.

There are poems based on silence, feelings, life, death, pains, relationships, meeting, departure, illusions, eternity. There were some lines which made way in my kindle notes. Like:

They all reached the light
Some before, some after
All claimed that they saw it first
Religions were formed
Rituals were performed
With the absence of love in their heart
They invented the creator
Popularly known as God

Following were my fav among all:
A Dry Leaf
Miracle
Devil
Real
Broke
Redefine
The House of Wood
The One You Think

Another fav line goes as:
I asked him, “Have we ever met before?”
He said, “We have been together forever.”

There were some poems which I could not relate to and a few were too casual considering the theme of the poems. For example, the use of ‘shit’ word in some of them did not go well with me.

Apart from this, it was a decent one time read.


                                                    

Monday, March 4, 2019

3 Steps To Himalayas: A Practical Guide To Achieve Your Goals by Ramesh Kundu


The Blurb:
We have become prisoners of our times and the result is a stressful lifestyle. This race to compete with everyone else is leading to irreversible destruction of the environment and social institutions. We have more comforts now, but pay the price with serious health problems & psychological issues. We are less happy now and peace of mind is just missing from our lives. 
This book is an attempt to look at simple solutions for all such challenges faced by a majority of us. 
Going to class with swollen faces after being slapped for 150 times; spending three days & nights in a police lock up; your friend fighting back a leopard with bare hands & surviving; watching helplessly as a person is hacked to death in front of you - all these experiences have brought enough learning for a lifetime which have been shared in this book. 
To live a stress-free life, we have to understand and face our fears, understand and find reasons for our limiting beliefs, have control over our anger and suppress our greed. 
Self-awareness, self-management and self-development are the keys to evolve and make our lives better. For being successful, we need to re-look at our passion and skill sets, and find opportunities for what we are good at. 
Let us start our journey to the Himalayas…

The Book:
3 Steps To Himalayas, as the title very clearly states is a three step self help book to accomplish one’s ambitions. It is also a practical guide as all the points covered by the author Ramesh Kundu are also supported by real life simple stories.

The introduction section made me think if I had made the right choice as I am not a fan of self help books. It was not too late when the supporting stories made their way.

The best part about the book were the quotes or the teachings at the top of each story. The tiny stories also varied in all emotions and aspects of life. A few stories felt quite emotional while at the same time, few of them were funny yet delivering their intended message aptly.

Although the broader perspective of the book is only 3 steps, but in the process of which there are 10 sub topics covered which in turn have multiple sections inline. Now, that is the reason which made me done. I know I may sound a bit rude, considering the reviews I read from other readers, but then, that’s my take. As mentioned, I am not a self help book person, but there are a few of them I have really enjoyed. But, somehow, by the middle of the book, I was too impatient to finish it and put it aside.

For the people who like reading non-fiction and self help, I must admit it’s a good and full of learning one time read.