Book Review: The Aravan Head

Book: The Aravan Head

Author: Arvind Narasimha

Genre: Fiction

Publications: Inspire India Publishers

Amidst house shifting, setting up a home and travel I have lagged behind in reviewing some wonderful books that came my way.

Honestly, when the book The Aravan Head arrived, I had not heard of the character ‘Aravan’ from mythology though I knew of the related story. At the beginning of the story, I assumed it might be one where modern-day characters would be in some way related to mythology. But I was wrong.

The book however does introduce the hero of the story, Arya, with ‘Aravan Head’ as the backdrop. Arya, a cop is that super hero of Indian movies who does all the right things and escapes unscathed ninety-nine percent of times in the story. His character is unblemished, his attitude is rock solid but yet he has a softer side. He cooks well, he stands up for what is right, he respects women and he is handsome too…a perfect man who every woman would love to have around.

A series of events sends the super cop on trail of perpetrators. He goes undercover and stays at the farmhouse of the leader of underworld and discovers all his nefarious activities. Along the way he rescues an eunuch from clutches of criminals and falls in love with a shy pretty and simple girl.

In his pursuit of justice and bringing an end to criminal activities he puts up a tough fight. Of course he succeeds but pays a big price for his efforts.

Though the story is typical ‘masala’ movie kind of thing but what I liked about it is that the entire story line is knit tightly with no languishing moments. It is fast paced and keeps the reader engaged all through. The characters are well-defined and blend in the story seamlessly.

A well written story, it might as well be made into a movie which would definitely please the masses. The subtle emotional feelings and brewing love between Arya and Pavitra, the shy girl has been shown to blossom softly without unnecessary erotic presentation. The  end of story brought a little twist which was quite necessary to bring some realness to the human characters.

I loved reading the book because it kept me involved and eager to turn the page however, the perpetual success of the lead character became slightly predictable throughout the story but then again that is what the Bahubalis and Rajnikants of cine-world do…

All in all a mass entertainer. Go ahead and read if thrillers are your choice of weekend reading.

Yaari Dosti….

अमीरी गरीबी से परे हो
अहं से न घिरी हो
शर्तों में न बंधी हो
जिंदगी के तूफानों से लड
लौ जिसकी न बुझी हो
दोस्ती वो निराली है
नखरे उठाती नखरे दिखाती
उसकी नोंकझोंक ही बडी प्यारी है
गुनगुनी धूप सी
मन हरा कर जाए
दोस्ती तो वही निभाने वाली है
गिनती के ही हों सही
अपने यारों की लेकिन
खासी ऐसी यारी है

Book Review: Bhrigu Mahesh, The Return Of Damayanti

Book: Bhrigu Mahesh, Return Of Damayanti

Author: Nisha Singh

Genre: Thriller

Publication: Partridge Publications

Whenever I go to book stores, I invariably reach out to the mysteries and thriller section unless there is some super attractive history book that I was waiting for. Needless to say, crime fiction and thriller stories are my favorite genres for a leisure evening.

But the books that I have been reading in past few months were luke-warm as far as nail-biting thrill is concerned. I wasn’t really very sure whether I did the right thing by applying to review this book.

It turns out that I was wrong. Bhrigu Mahesh, the detective in “The Return Of Damayanti” by Nisha Singh reminded me of our very  own Vyomkesh Bakshi or the Brit pair of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson.

A keen observer who analyzes every situation in detail, Bhrigu Mahesh is approached by a retired petrified clerk  with a strange request. The poor clerk is at his wit’s end as he is scared of the ghost of his dead wife and he wants Bhrigu Mahesh to get rid of the ghost. Intrigued at this odd request, Bhrigu Mahesh drags his friend and confidant Sutte to the village of Krishnadwar. As is his habit he observes all the people closely related to the household of the clerk to zero in on the culprit who has been troubling Natraj Bhakti, the clerk.

As he contemplates, Natraj Bhakti’s sister is murdered and the story takes a sinister twist. Investigations lead Bhrigu Mahesh to the mastermind who for satisfying his weird experiment on human behavior has been manipulating unsuspecting people into doing out-of-ordinary acts that lead to eventually killing.

Though this is not a fast paced action story yet strangely the narration doesn’t bore you and you don’t feel like skipping anything. Story meanders through the lanes of the village and grows on you with little details hidden in the narration. Characteristics and habits of the people involved become evident subtly in the story. The friend of detective, Sutte, provides interesting breaks in the narrative by showing his annoyance about the village facilities and Bhrigu Mahesh’s habit of slipping into thoughts.

What I liked about the narration was that all the suspects of the ghost mystery and later of the murder are treated equally which keeps the reader guessing who the murderer was or who was troubling Natraj Bhakti with ghost activities. The culprits that emerge after complete investigations and deliberations of Bhrigu Mahesh are a surprise for the readers.

Even the title presents a mystery. Reader becomes curious to find who Damayanti is. While the reader is getting used to the idea of story revolving around a paranormal phenomenon, the sudden twist gives a new dimension to the story.

There could have been though more details of the house and village to complete the picture in the mystery. The house, the murder scene and the temple where the god-man instigated ordinary folk seem little less connected. Even the room which Nataraj Bhakti built for himself is described to be little away from the haunted room so I wondered how the clerk knew about ghost visits.

But in all the book is an engaging read. Readers who find thrillers interesting will enjoy this. Have a read.

Also on:

Goodreads 

 

Tab Bhi Uljhan Hoti Thi; Ab Bhi Uljhan Hoti Hai

 

रेत से बटोरी सीपी ही
बचपन की दौलत होती थी
सिक्कों की खनक में लेकिन
अब दौलत अपनी नपती है
ऊंचे आस्मां में ही
बचपन की पतंग उड़ती थी
अब कहाँ उस नीली छतरी को
निहारने की फुर्सत होती है
कागज़ की कश्ती जाने कितने
किनारों की कहानी तब सुनती थी
पक्की सड़कों पर लेकिन अब
बारिश ही कहाँ उतनी होती है
इश्क़ के सपने सजाये
रैना पलकें मूँद लेती थी
पहली झुर्री की आहट से
अब रातों की नींद उड़ती है
जवां होने की लड़कपन को
बेहद जल्दी होती थी
ढलती उम्र थम जाए
अब इसकी फ़िक्र होती है
तब भी उलझन होती थी
अब भी उलझन होती है

Wakt ka kya hai….

 

वक्त का क्या है
यूँ ही रेत बन
उंगलियों से फिसल जाता है
लाख कर लो मिन्नतें
पलट के नहीं देखता
यूँ ही धोका दे जाता है
ख्वाइशों का क्या है
यूँ ही पंख लगा
हर सू उड़ जाती है
लाख लगो लो लगाम
हाथ नहीं आती
यूँ ही दिल सुलगा जाती हैं
नज़र का क्या है
यूँ ही आवारा बन
दुनिया देख आती है
रस्मों की दे लो लाख दुहाई
अनसुना कर देती है
यूँ ही ललसा जाती है
आग ही है
जो वक्त से लड़ जाती है
शोले कुछ कर गुज़रें
ऐसी हवा चलाती है
ये कर जाए घर तो
यूँ ही दिल तड़पा जाती है
और मोहब्बत ही है
जो वक्त बाँध लेती है
ख्वाइश को राह दिखा देती है
नज़रों को ठिकाना देती है
मुझे और तुझे
बस यूँ ही संभल लेती है

Book Review: The Girl Who Loved A Pirate

Book: The Girl Who Loved A Pirate

Author: Kulpreet Yadav

Genre: Fiction/Crime

Publication: Rumor Books India

An author signed book is a prized possession for book lovers. And when ‘The Girl Who Loved A Pirate’ arrived at my door step, I was happy to receive yet another book with a note from author.

I haven’t read the earlier book in this series which I am guessing introduced the reader with ‘Andy Karan’ the spy.

This story is about a ruthless pirate wanted by the Malaysian government. Andy Karan, an undercover spy has dual job as a journalist trying to unearth drug don in Goa and a secret mission for the Indian government with the help of the pirate.

In a series of events that take the reader from Goa and the rave parties to the high seas where drama unfolds as pirates and Filipino crime hardened sailors take on each other. The leader of pirates battles with an urge to go against the government mission for safety of his lady love. The Indian coast guards and Navy along with Andy Karan come into play for the sake of mission. All in all there is a lot of action going on from the word go of the story. The subtle love story of pirate leader ‘Ba-qat’ and Andy Karan’s escapades with drug lords of Goa run parallel in the story.

The story however begins with Kurukshetra and Karan in his dying moments. I was expecting a ‘Karan-esque’ end to the story, Mahabharata style. Or that the pirate and spy stumble upon a dark secret of being brothers….a la Karan Arjun style. But as there was nothing of that sort, I was confused as to why the prologue  was the way it was.

Also I felt that since the story was named ‘The Girl Who Loved A Pirate’, there was very less mention of ‘Dao-Ming’ the pirate’s lover. She is in background with Andy Karan’s drug investigations and pirate’s action taking the center stage. I would have liked to see the girl in more prominent role may be as a spy herself who falls for a pirate and that would have justified the title of the book too. May be like the lead character ‘Lisbeth Salander’ of Millennium series by Stieg Larsson like ‘The girl who played with fire’ and the first one ‘The girl with the dragon tattoo’.

The book is a nice read with author’s knowledge about ships and seas shining through. The story also keeps the reader engaged and guessing throughout with fast action thriller. I would like to read more from the author…

Image

A Little Bit Of Love….

“MAHER” in Marathi language, means ‘mother’s home’…a place where a child finds safe haven, love and joy. Blessed I am to have had a home where I received all the unconditional love of the world, pampering, education and freedom. But this world is a cruel place and there are many who have been abandoned, abused and left to fend for themselves.

And it is for such destitute women and children that Sister Lucy opened her heart through an NGO ‘Maher’ in 1997. This NGO, registered with United Nations, tries to help children and women to learn life skills and stand on their feet.

In day to day life, we are often busy fighting our own wars to regularly give time to lesser fortunate people of the society. But a little love, even sometimes brings immense joy, not only to people who are thirsty for a little compassion but also to us if we care enough. Recently, a celebration of Mother’s Day at ‘Maher Ashram’, Wadgaonsheri, Pune, did just that for my teenage daughter and me.

After taking a few wrong turns, I did land at the right place and was greeted by Rakhi from World Of Moms. She (and her team) had asked me to join her in spreading a little happiness in lives of kids at ‘Maher’ through coloring and other fun activities. Palmers, a US skin care company, was the associate partner for the celebration. Little did I know that two hours will fly away soon and it would be an effort to pull away from such adorable, wide-eyed and eager to learn kids.

Yes, they were eager little kids…and no sooner we announced that they could choose between playing with clay-doh or indulge in some drawing and coloring than they clamored for the Camlin Modeling Clay packets! Armed with a clay packet myself, I sat crafting shapes after ages…I had last handled clay when my own daughter was a toddler. This time even she sat down amidst kids feeling all important and grown up at 14 years of age.

Kids engrossed with Camlin Play-doh

Creativity was overflowing and out came blue elephants, purple brinjals, green caterpillars and yellow snails followed by butterflies, cars and robots. Imagination took wings taking the kids to a wonderland with multicolored objects taking shape in their tiny hands. Someone wanted to make train and other wanted us to help with a ball of dough while some were just too shy to put a name to balls of clay that they managed to create…

Clay creations

Enthusiasm soon spilled over on drawing sheets. With Camlin art kits that included safe to use non-toxic oil pastels, color pencils, paint brushes and poster colors the room seemed to suddenly fill up with young Picassos and MF Hussains all ready to outdo each other! Cartoon characters began coming alive on sheets; ‘Chota Bheem’, ‘Chutki’ and ‘Raju’ stared at us from the drawing books; a rainbow of colors emanated from the little excited hearts spreading laughter, satisfaction and sense of achievement on their faces.

Little Picassos at work…

While I did manage to entertain and teach kids some clay craft, it was my daughter who became their go-to-person in the drawing activity. She helped the kids draw and paint, and time just flew…

Kids are the most truthful beings. A few hours with them left a deep impact on me. I am so glad World Of Moms asked me to join them in their Mother’s Day celebrations this year and some of us mommies got the chance to spread love. My thanks to Palmers too, for helping make this event possible.

The best and most unexpected reaction, however, was from my daughter. She exclaimed,“This was the best summer vacation activity that I did, Mumma!” Not only was I elated at her reaction but also felt proud of the compassionate streak she displayed. Being a kid herself, she connected well with the kids at Maher. And it was her reaction that perhaps taught me my biggest lesson.

The adult world’s boundaries of religion, caste and status do not stop kids from having fun. The uninhibited simplicity, uncomplicated trust and carefree attitude of children is what the world needs today.

Let’s all become kids again and make this world a better place!

Book Review: Winning Like Virat; Think And Succeed Like Kohli

Book: Winning Like Virat; Think & Succeed Like Kohli

Author: Abhirup Bhattacharya

Genre: Non-Fiction

Publisher: Rupa Publication

I am the odd one out in a nation crazy about cricket…Well, I know the great names of cricketers; national and international, few terms related to the sport and a general idea of how the game is played… Last match that I sat and watched being aired might be the one when Sachin Tendulkar was gifted a car!!

I know…I know…you might wonder then how I am reviewing a book based on a cricketer’s life story… In fact I thought so too and was about to turn down the offer to review this book.

But I like to know that India won a certain match or Indian players beat the hell out of other teams or Indians have become a team to reckon…I love the feeling of hearing about Indian achievements be it in sports, cultural or historical and even films. So here I am reading a book based on Virat Kohli…another dependable player and the current captain of Indian Cricket Team.

The book however is not about the sport or cricketing skills of Virat Kohli. The book by Abhiroop Bhattacharya looks at the sportsman’s attitude, morals and ethics in day-to-day life, on the field and in the confines of the dressing room.

Taking Virat Kohli’s interaction with his coach, friends and mentors, his loyalty and steadfastness, his ability to observe, absorb and revamp himself into a better sportsman, his leadership qualities as examples, the author has pointed out facets of this player that can be emulated by rest of us to become better and succeed in life.

Virat’s commitment and desire to excel is something which has been lauded by the cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar himself. The book has  more words of praise by most of the legends of cricketing world for Virat’s maturity, man-management skills, hard work, ability to handle pressure and his confidence in taking up a challenge.

The book has brought to light, the fact, that success comes to those who strive to achieve it and luck alone doesn’t play a part.

A nice read, the book provokes the reader to think about changing for better and making a success out of their lives with little ‘learning tips’ throughout the book. Well written the book is worth a read.

Read for your own sake. May be you will come a little closer to understanding this dynamic sportsman and take a leaf out of his success story.

Also on: 

Goodreads, Amazon

Book Review: Unns, The Captivation

Book: Unns

Author: Sapan Saxena

Genre: Fiction

Publication: Inspire India Publishers

I was already neck-deep in doing book reviews when “Unns” landed at my door step.

As I read through first few pages I had my doubts. The story begins with two teenage school kids realizing the first attraction and tickles of young adolescent love.

I went along to read the story thinking it yet another love story that I had to read just because I promised for reviewing it.

Atharva Rathod and Meher Qasim, the two teenagers promise each other allegiance and love forever. The kids find excuses to prolong their school hours for exchanging sweet nothings. As the school life approaches the end, Meher Qasim ends the fledgling of a relationship that could have been. Heartbroken, Atharva Rathod is stuck in his first love while Meher Qasim moves on.

The story then jumps a few years and it is then that it takes on a different flavor all together.

Atharva Rathod works with intelligence services and is involved in some secret mission. His heart still preserves his tender first love for Meher Qasim who unawares of his love is living her life somewhere in Germany. On one of his missions, Atharva Rathod travels to Germany. A chance meeting with Meher Qasim rekindles his hopes and love for Meher. With immense faith in his love, he opens up to Meher once again only to realize soon that he has been a fool in expecting anything. Circumstances lead to a jeopardized mission and imprisonment subsequently.

Destiny brings Meher and Atharva face to face again many years later after he is relieved from prison. Despite a bitter past, Atharva yet again is willing to give Meher a chance.

The story is full of twists and keeps the reader guessing. It is engaging definitely and at a certain point I wanted to shake Atharva and tell him not to trust or waste his time on a heartless ruthless woman. However another twist brings a change in heart of Meher.

The story describes the seven stages of love Hub or attraction; Unns or infatuation; Ishq or love; Aqeedat or reverence; Ibadat or worship; Junoon or obsession and Maut or when love is ready to embrace death for the lover. While Atharva seems to have reached all the stages of love, Meher holds back always. However as she realizes the unconditional love of Atharva, she too achieves the last stage of love in a selfless act and absolves herself of all sins.

Secret missions and romance go hand in hand in the plot of the novel and blend well. After the first few pages, the story suddenly changes the tone and wants you to turn page after page. Written in a very simple language, it reads well.

I liked the story much to my surprise. Read it and enjoy this tale of love and secrets. It definitely is worth a read.

Also on:

Goodreads, Amazon

Book Review: The Detox Diet

A diet book? This seems different though.

With food therapy it targets the root causes for ailments which seem chronic.Read a detailed review at Women’s Web.

“The Detox Diet By Shonali Sabherwal Gives The Reader Many Simple Hacks to A Healthier Lifestyle”