Tag Archives: book review

Book Review: Rambles Into Sacred Realms

Book: Rambles Into Sacred Realms

Author: Krish V Krishnan

Publishers: Inkhorn Publishing

Rambles Into SacredRealmsI am fond of sketching and I love to write when inspiration strikes though I often find myself short on time to write and sketch simultaneously. I have lamented and given excuses when asked why I wasn’t sketching enough.

Now here comes a book ‘Rambles Into The Sacred Realms’ with stories of travel all around the world, of forgotten sacred practices, of hidden ancient temples, of folklores and of rituals to please Gods and goddesses.

And it is not a simple travel story to various sacred sites around the world… instead it is where prose and art has joined hands and superbly so…

Author, Krish V Krishanan’s labour of love describes his journeys into the mystic worlds in twelve chapters….

…the scary subterranean caves of Mayans in Belize where wading through the swift waters of creek brought him face to face with stories and skeletons of people sacrificed on altar to end extensive famine…

…the mysterious expanse of Angkor Wat where the nature has taken hold upon the ancient temple ruins becoming one with the enormous stone statues of Lord Shiva and dancing apsaras….

…the abode of Lord Shiva in ancient city of Varanasi and the many ghats along the sacred river Ganga milling with devotees praying for that final release from the human world of suffering into the land of Gods and eternal bliss…

….the Guatemalan wildlife and pyramids and temples of Tikal…

…the sacred site of Goddess Pele with erupting lava at Hawaii…the giant boulders arranged in mystical circle with a definite purpose of their existence still a mystery at Stonehenge in United Kingdom…

….Petra and its red stone wind sculpted rocks, Bedouins, Wadi Rum and tombs at Jordan….the holy cities of Bethlehem, Nazareth and Jerusalem where the stories of Chritianity, Islāmic and Jewish faith originate, seaport of Jaffa in Israel…

…the land of Pharaohs, Sphinx and grand mysterious pyramids at Giza, the temples of Egyptians….Greek temples and oracle…pyramids at Mexico…Buddhas at Thailand…

He has brought his travel experience alive not only with the elaborate prose but also with his drawings in various media. Peppered with historic facts, travel tips, folklores, story around his art and  illustrations and details about the art material and techniques makes this book stand apart.

It is neither just a travelogue nor just a book of art….this concoction takes the reader on a wonderful journey with vivid imagery in words and colours.

The only regret I have in reading this book is that I don’t have the paperback version of book and I really would have loved to have it.

After reading this book, now the thing is that I can not any more lament about not finding time for art and writing simultaneously. I am quite inspired to take offbeat journeys and revisit my artistic side….and the author’s aim to make readers want to travel and paint seems to have been accomplished.

If you have a thing for great prose and good art, this is the book for you.

Also read at:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1655018795

https://www.amazon.com/review/R284NF83S968PC/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

Book Review: As Boys Become Men

Book: As Boys Become Men

Publisher: Rupa Publications

Genre: Fiction

Author: Mukul Kumar

as-boys-become-men-original-imaefkrthnnhujfqJust because a couple of Bollywood movies with three friends became popular, it seems three is a magical number.

And just because Chetan Bhagat made his college life into a crowd pulling story, doesn’t mean everybody starts writing story of their  college days.

I too went to a college and it was one of the first few all girls architecture college. We had to struggle quite a lot to make people see us as serious students. This way I guess I am qualified to write my college life story as well.

In this book “As Boys Become Men“, the story revolves around three civil services aspirants and their trials and tribulations. The three boys hailing from Bihar come from modest backgrounds and each one carries the burden of expectations of their families. The boys struggle with biases towards students from Bihar, accommodation problems in the expensive capital city, finding love and no-strings attached relationships, coaching sessions, anxiety of results, successes and failures.

Now I don’t know much about preparing for a civil services exam. No doubt it must be a hard nut to crack….after all not everyone becomes an IAS officer. But after reading first few pages, I was not much inspired to read the book. I had to literally force myself to read the story, all because I had signed in for book reviewer’s programme.

The effort in describing a scene like ‘the trio is laughing and chatting’  or ‘the boys finish eating and switch off the movie’ throughout the story do not really make for an attractive reading.

The story telling is way too ordinary….not interesting enough. The reference of ‘Monalisa’ and ‘Soma’ again and again do not work at all. The struggle of a civil services aspirant does not ‘shine’ through the entire narrative at all.

When I received the book, someone asked me what my opinion was judging from the blurb. And I honestly replied that the blurb seems promising but I couldn’t have been more wrong. The blurb is better than the story inside. I have even skipped portions of book because it did not hold my attention.

I am quite disappointed by the story and the mediocre style of writing. I am dying to read a good book now where the language, the situation, the characterisation and plot all come together to make a good read.

Read if it works for you….

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1623301662

https://www.amazon.com/review/R2W35E3LR2KPSE/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

Book Review: It Was Always You

Book: It Was Always You

Author: Divita Aggarwal

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Rupa Publication

it was always youOf the three books that landed up at my door-step, this was one which caught my eye as it had some pretty good reviews including one by Shashi Tharoor. And I was much intrigued to find that the book is penned by a 17 year-old girl. It would be a lie if I said I wasn’t jealous a bit too…here I am, mother of a teenage daughter, with an urge to write the story that has been brewing in me for quite some time now but every time I put pen to paper my courage fails me and I begin to doubt whether my story is worth telling; and there is this brave young girl who has hardly spent time in an adult world but has gone ahead and published her school life story!

The story is a simple coming of age of a young girl Aisha, who while dealing with her daily routine in school finds her friendship with Kabir, the son of a corrupt MLA, finally blossoming into love over the years.

Either I am too old to relate to the events in book(there was never any MUN kind of thing in the convents I studied in) or I am too young(my daughter’s school has not informed me about any such event in her school as yet)…the description of events in school is very new to me. I am not sure what my reaction would be when my daughter reaches that stage….I won’t be gifting her any diamond ear studs like the protagonist’s mother, for school function….at least that is certain!!

 I found Aisha’s father’s advice, in the entire narrative, quite appropriate when he tells her, “Aisha, what is meant to be, will be. If two roads are supposed to meet, they always find a way, a direction.” This philosophy holds true in most aspects of life be it finding love or your calling.

For a teenager to pen a story long enough to be printed as a book, the effort is commendable. However, people of my age are not the target readers for the story. Kids from international schools would feel more aligned to the events mentioned in the book.

Overall a nice simple love story for teenagers.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1617477762

https://www.amazon.in/review/R1TMZYZWQBW2HQ/ref=pe_1640331_66412301_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

Book Review: I Made A Booboo

Book: I Made A Booboo

Genre: Non-fiction/Parenting

Author: Shivangi Sharma

Publication: Rupa Publications

bookWhen I opted to write review of three books by Rupa Publications, I wasn’t expecting a big bundle delivered at the doorstep with all three books at once. Now it was a matter of choice for me to read any one of them.

I chose to read Shivangi Sharma’s “I made a Booboo” first because the blurb promised to take me down the memory lane when my baby was born. The title of book was unusually funny and reminded me of the movie ‘Baby’s Day Out’.

I started reading the book enthusiastically because being a mother I kind of knew what to expect from the caricature on the book cover….and I could identify with the world turning all topsy-turvy with the arrival of the baby. As I read along a constant smile played on my lips…it seemed the author had peeped into my bedroom to spy before writing the account.

The pregnancy jitters and apprehensions in first few pages resonated with my condition and I guess most of the mothers will identify with the story too. Once our bundle of joy arrives in the world, it makes sure we learn patience with its own set of rules of sleeping and waking up. But may be because I followed my mother and grandmother’s advices to the word, my daughter adapted within two months of her birth, the schedule I set for her feeding, bathing and sleeping….the first two months however had been similar to the author’s experience with sleepless nights making me look more haggard instead of a happy woman.

Though I left my job only few months into my pregnancy and never looked back but I can relate to the guilt pangs of the author. It is because of that guilt that I let my baby have all my time exclusively for herself even ignoring time meant for husband and disregarding his needs.

Author has used humor well in describing the routine of a new mother and managed to not become a preachy-here-is-what-you-should-do self-help guide on bringing up a baby kind of book.

After few pages however the account of the author post-pregnancy though hilarious becomes monotonously predictable and I got bored halfway through the journal. Relating  a few episodes is fine but the book goes on and on about similar events and is repetitive. It should have been a shorter book to keep my kind of readers engaged.

Many new mothers will find themselves in the same shoes as the author and enjoy reading the account as if it was their own. Readers with grown up kids will also reminisce and laugh on the  similar events…

A light perk you up kind of read.

Book Review: She

 Book: She

Genre: Fiction

Author: Santosh Avvanavar

SheI was travelling when this book was delivered at home. Accustomed to think novel as a at least 200 pages thick, I was surprised to see this booklet thinner than a travel guide!

The story it seemed was based in Kolkata, precisely where I had travelled to on an assignment. My expectations for the story had slightly gone down a bit due to the size of the book and I took my own sweet time to start reading the book.

Inspired by the song by RabindraNath Tagore ‘Ekla Cholo Re’ the story is about the society’s behaviour towards the LGBT community.

It is the story of Kusum who born a boy, prefers to indulge in activities more popular with girls. The father, though a doctor is ashamed of his child’s choice of activities and all hell breaks loose when father discovers the sexual inclinations of the child.

Kusum, falls in love with the son of another doctor, Dr Banerjee,  a friend of father. Both set of parents are horrified and Dr Banerjee shifts his son to some other city. The boys, all grown up meet again after few years and rekindle their relationship. However the societal norms and pressures make the lovers decide that  Kusum undergo a sex-change procedure and become a ‘proper’ female for the relationship to continue. But even after the successful sex-change procedure, the fear of ostracism from the society gets to the lover and he succumbs to his family demands of marrying another woman.

The author has tried to draw attention towards our behaviour as a whole towards the gay, lesbian and trans-genders which is far from empathy. We still consider gay relationships inappropriate and look down upon such alliances. The trans-genders are still not accepted in the normal society and the LGBT community is fighting for their place in the regular social thread of society, just like the protagonist of the story.

After reading the story, I realised that busy with my own everyday life and small problems, even I never gave thought to needs of people who are not defined as ‘he’ or ‘she’ in the society.

The story is an attempt to open up your eye but I wish there was more body to the story and the characters were developed in detail with the agony of the characters, the reaction of parents and the final decision of Kusum to go ahead in the world alone were defined properly. It seems like a hurriedly told story or more like an excerpt. The issue of acceptance of LGBT community is huge and the story does no justice in taking it up.

A great effort but a very short story. Decide for yourself….

Also read on:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1601143494

Tunnel Of Varnavat: A Review

Book: Tunnel of Varnavat

Author: Gautam Chikermane

Publishers: Rupa Publication

Genre: Fiction

Tunnel of VarnavatThe characters of the epic Mahabharata are as complex as it can get with each one having shades of good and bad, right and wrong, compassion and ruthlessness and the more you read various stories of Mahabharat, more facets to each character are exposed.

Every author has his own version of the individual player from the great epic. While most books I have read have stories revolving around the members of royal family or the estranged son ‘Karna’, less has been written about all those characters that played subtle yet important role in life of Pandavas or Kauravas.

In the great epic, the Pandavs had to fend off conspirators, death threats, fight for their rights and face hardships all their life. But where a political conspiracy brews, bravery alone might not suffice for escaping a bid on life. A warrior besides all his skills needs loyal people around him to be his eyes and ears in a hostile atmosphere, people he can trust to warn him of impending danger around the bend or to fight by his side if the need arises.

And though Pandavas, having spent much part of their growing up years away from palace, royal life and subjects of the kingdom, seemed helpless, alone and vulnerable but their endearing politeness and humility had won them trust and affection of people in and around the high walls of palace. People were ready to make sure that the Pandavas escape unscathed and every attempt to compromise their safety was foiled. Vidur, their uncle cum prime minister of Kuru kingdom, the grand regent Bhishma Pitamah, their grandfather, and their maternal cousin the divine Krishna helped them throughout against the reining blind King Dhritarashtra’s secret wish to see his nephews destroyed.

Duryodhana, the crown prince with his maternal uncle Shakuni, always carried a grudge against his five cousins and sought out ways to kill the Pandavas. In one such conspiracy, he built a palace of highly inflammable lacquer and gifted it to the five brothers with an aim to burn the building while the five men slept at night. However Pandavas escaped yet again through a tunnel under the palace.

Tunnelling is an engineering skill which needs careful planning, knowledge of terrain, soil conditions and accurate execution for it to become a successful escape route. It certainly is not an overnight work. The thought, that the ‘Lakshagrah’ the palace of lac, might have tunnels that could be used to escape either would not have occurred to Duryodhan and his scheming uncle or the more likely explanation could be that Pandavas had a friend in the enemy camp who was loyal enough to construct a tunnel after the palace was built to save them.

This is the aspect that the author Gautam Chikermane explores in his book ‘Tunnel of Varnavat’. Never in the stories was the making of an escape tunnel given its due… Author ‘digs out’ a story about this intricate world of tunnels which permitted royals to escape and be safe.

The chief engineer, Badri along with the prime minister Vidur chalk out a parallel conspiracy in favour of Pandavas and right under the enemy’s nose successfully execute the escape. With a  few impromptu allies the tunnel is dug and enemy fended off.

I simply loved the idea around which the story is woven because in all other stories it was always taken for granted that Pandavas knew the peril and would escape. The author takes the reader under the ground describing the making of a tunnel and the dangers involved. I was almost transported to that era and could smell horses, hear the metal clang of the practising swordsmen, walk through the forest with hidden tribal warriors and feel the conspiracy  brewing.

The story though quite gripping drags sometimes at places. Also I was not convinced of the inner demons, turmoil and webs of tunnel in the mind of the chief engineer. The wolf-dog and his army of wild dogs was stretching the fiction a bit too far.

In all it was entertaining read but could have been slightly shorter even without losing its flavour. Good for readers who love elaborate period stories.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1583942160

http://www.amazon.com/review/R4M8TMONAZ7BX/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B01AUWHH62

Book Review: Rakshasa

Book: Raakshas

Publisher: Westland Books

Author: Piyush Jha

Genre: Crime Thriller

RaakshasMore often, it’s the crime thrillers, war-espionage-spy stories, detectives and mysteries that lure me to a book store. The affair with mystery stories and thrillers started in school with Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie and shifted to Robert Ludlum with Bourne series. Later Dan Brown became much favourite.

There have been stories by Indian authors who have tried to shape their books in Dan Brown style with Indian mythology woven in the story but for me, by end of the book those stories lost their grip.

With the delivery of ‘Raakshas’ at my door step I was expecting something similar with a promising great start and later tapering off and story getting diluted.

I delayed reading the novel by a day and decided to take it as my travelling companion for a three-day trip to Kolkata. Though the ‘soon to be a major motion picture‘ tagline on the cover did not make me rush into reading but once I began reading I was happy to find that it captured my attention. Soon I was so engrossed that I almost missed the boarding announcement for flight to Kolkata.

The story is about ‘Raakshas‘, a man so named by his own grandmother for being the cause of death of his mother during childbirth. The boy grows in a love deprived atmosphere often subjected to inhuman behaviour by his own father. A child engulfed by adverse circumstances he is shaped into a heartless, dispassionate and ruthless cold-blooded killer. He meets his nemesis in Maithili Prasad, the Additional Commissioner of Police who hunts him down and puts an end to the terror he unleashed.

That the childhood traumas and upbringing may play a great role in psychology and perceptions of a person is the underlying idea behind the story. The author has brought attention towards the various other reasons that have been researched in other countries, in the making of a serial killer.

After a long time, I have come across a good attention holding story but I am not sure whether it will make into a good movie. One, because in the movies churned out by the Bollywood even a criminal breaks into a song and dance sequence and two, he is shown to have some weird quirks like insane laughing or idiotic conversation during climax which for me spoil it. Also sometimes movies do not do justice to the book. I liked the book ‘Da Vinci Code’ by Dan Brown but did not like the movie.

This is one good story, tight in its composition. I liked it and stopped reading it only after the last page late at night. This story will keep its readers engaged.

Also read on :

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1553340090

http://writersmelon.com/

http://www.flipkart.com/reviews/RVJUMIBE6EZFLS8HI

https://www.amazon.com/review/RUV7S5FJP42K2/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

Book Review: Ramayana, The Game Of Life: Stolen Hope

Book: Ramayana: The Game of life (Book III: Stolen Hope)

Author: Shubha Vilas

Publisher: Jaico Publishing house

Picture1Most of my age have grown up listening to stories of Ramayan from our elders and can narrate the common and most popular stories from the epic quite easily to our kids.

This book from the series “Ramayana: The game of life” is book III ‘Stolen Hope’. In this book the duration of exile for Rama, Lakshmana and Sita is narrated through various stories that are interconnected to various other characters who each play a part in the epic.

There are many stories in the book which I was not aware of and only after reading those I could connect certain events to larger part of story. Author Shubha Vilas explains the context of stories in a way that might feel relevant to the younger generation.

The example of Maricha who turned himself into a golden dear and lured Rama away was the one which I found quite apt. With this example author explains that if we run after cheap thrills in life, we may be as well walking away from a good, balanced and virtuous life and endangering ourselves.

Another example when Ravana tries to woo Sita by disrespecting her relationship with Rama will relate well with younger generation too. He has described rightly that for love to have impact in relationships, there has to be transparency for respect for each other to bloom.

By giving the example of Surpankha’s shifting focus from Rama to Laxmana , author has brought to light the importance of loyalty in relationships. That an unstable and questionable loyalty can never be the basis of a long-lasting relationship is explained beautifully in the book.

The author has tried to connect with easy explanations of situations presented in Ramayana. There are many examples for reference to look at situations in today’s age too like Bharata’s decision to stay in Ram’s shadow, Sita’s way with words, Jatayu’s reverence etc..

However, if I go for nitpicking there are many proof reading and translation mistakes which jars the reading pace. The sentence formation is quite poor at many places. Usage of wrong words like ‘besiege’ instead of ‘beseech’ stick out like a thorn. The usage of adjectives seems too much forced. I was put off just for this reason while reading the text.

Read and decide for yourself whether it relates and applies to your daily interaction with all kinds of people.

 Also read on :

https://www.amazon.com/review/RHY8PFZIW0C7T/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B019ZFKQ0Y

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1536805009

Book Review: Forbidden Desires

Book: Forbidden Desires
Publisher: Rupa Publications
Genre: Fiction
Author: Madhuri Banerjee

Forbidden DesiresThe educated Indian women are slowly but surely beginning to reclaim their voices which were being repressed since many centuries now. They are now being vocal about their likes, dislikes, emotions, desires. They are no longer crying behind closed doors and silently bearing the ill behaviour meted out to them by their own spouses. They have become bolder and are not afraid to walk out of a stagnating relationship. They know what they want and are working towards having it.

The ‘Forbidden Desires’ is a story of such women who at some point of life have realized that they have been betrayed in their relationship but instead of wallowing in sorrow, they free themselves and dare to find someone who understands them, reciprocates their love and stands by their desires to follow their passions.

The story is of Naina who gives up her passion of having her own restaurant to plunge headlong into taking care of family in the process losing the vivacity of her marriage and is betrayed by one whom she loved most. This is the story of Ayesha who never got an equal commitment in her marital relationship yet kept trying to find sanity in her marriage. This is also the story of Kavita who despite being a successful working woman could not find enough love and respect within her marriage. And story is about Kajal who dares to break the society’s rules by desiring a married man, fighting for her love and yet choosing to not tie herself up in a marital bond.

These women walk out of their marriages to find a new love and follow their dreams. Their lives are entwined. They realise the futility of hanging on to a dead relationship which binds both the partners.

I will not deny that marriages do not go through a rough patch when you doubt whether there is anything left worth saving but honestly speaking I haven’t yet met women who have dared to give up on marriages… May be there are women in similar situations as the characters of the story in reality too but who still are afraid to call their marriages a farce…. Or it is possible that real women have not met a character like author’s ‘Pinky’ who sets up the situations and fixes the meetings and forces the person to behave in an out of ordinary way when they are at their emotional lows.

The  bold step taken by the women of Madhuri Banerjee seems like a fantasy among the women I know. The story has a little glimpse of “Desperate Housewives” with the wives here being Indian.

I stopped being an active architect since the birth of my daughter and now I am a ‘housewife’ since last twelve years. Do I miss being a working woman? Yes I do…sometimes… Has it changed me into a wife with suppressed desires? I don’t think so… Most of the time I am pretty happy being at home indulging in my writing, painting, cooking and other house chores…. Has it driven away my husband to a more younger carefree woman for a wilder sex… Well I can safely say an emphatic no…you see he too has grown older and calmer and his physical fitness has also taken as much beating as mine ;p 😉 But then the book is not about my story!

The book has forced me to think what if I face any of such situation…What would I do? I believe women should take charge of their lives and not suppress their dreams but in real life how many women take any drastic steps? It is not easy to break the shackles of society and swim against the flow. And more importantly is it always right?

Madhuri’s women want more magic and more romance in their monotonous life. There are small snippets from life of each character which many of us might relate to in small doses. The book makes for one spicy mix of stories so well woven that I found it difficult to put it down. As they say gossip about other people always make for an interesting topic…and I enjoyed peeking into the juicy life of the four women and their affairs(now I understand why women are crazy about Ekta Kapoor’s serials and their hideously painted women)

Being a screenplay writer for Hindi Cinema, the author has belted out a crowd-puller of a story. It would not surprise me if the book becomes one masala movie.

Read it if gossip is your tea…

http://www.flipkart.com/reviews/RVI614XCSI2EVNJKD

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1515019823

https://www.amazon.com/review/R1M0EAD4XWWZHM/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

Book Review: Shakuntala, The Woman Wronged

Book: Shakuntala

Genre: Fiction/Mythology

Publisher: Rupa Publication

Author: Utkarsh Patel

Shakuntala_CoverI have been reading a lot of fiction based on mythological stories  these  days. A few days ago I finished reading about love of the most beautiful celestial nymph Menaka and sage Vishwamitra. Their love came to fruition with the birth of a beautiful daughter Shakuntala. And the love story of this fiery daughter with Dushyant, King of Hastinapur  is what that has kept me busy these last few days.

The author, Utkarsh Patel, has astutely observed the different moral yardsticks of our society which still remain unaltered:

“A man was seldom blamed for his sins and if at all he was, it was passed off as an oversight. But a woman was blamed, shamed and made to suffer for the misdemeanours of men around her for no fault of hers”

Because of such double standards, almost all stories revolving around Dushyant have depicted the king as an upright man of high morals who becomes a victim of some strange curse and forgets about his love and marriage. He was hardly ever shown as one pleasure-seeking wily king…

But here in this story, author has dared to call a spade a spade….King Dushyant engaged in a one night stand with the a virgin woman on false promises of marriage and that makes him one of those vain men who consider women an object to play with and discard at convenience. His morals and intentions are questionable and the story does not sugar-coat the character of the mighty, used-to-getting-his-way king.

The demure Shakuntala of Kalidas, the great poet of all times, who pines for her beloved and is dependent on fate for reminding the King of Hastinapur of his marriage and promises to her, is nowhere to be seen in this story. This Shakuntala, based on the original characterization by Sage Vyasa, does not wallow in pain of abandonment but takes matter in her hands and questions the society and its different rules for men and women. She is fierce, fights for the rights of her son and asserts her importance as a wife. She is independent woman who does not need the crutches of wealth and a label of queen to survive in the world.

I loved the book through and through not only because it is very well-knit and to the point but also because author has subtly raised certain issues that still need to be addressed and debated over; the difference of reactions meted out to men and women for craving physical gratifications, the unnecessary emphasis given to virginity of women, freedom of women to choose their partners…

I am quite impressed by Vyasa’s and Utkarsh Patel’s Shakuntala for being brave enough to stand up against an hypocritical society and silence it with her uninhibited logical reasoning. Such strong women who believe in equality of men and women are need of this nation and more so today because men have taken enough advantage of the love which a woman has to offer.

We need more such men too who respect and honour women; who believe that future of such a nation, that does not respect its women, where women shed tears and are treated like objects, is doomed.

The chapter ‘Time’ however seemed little out-of-place because it reminded me of the opening scene from the mega serial “Mahabharat” with voice booming out of the idiot box “Mai Samay hoon….” Story could have been taken forward by prose within the chapters instead of ‘Mr Time’ speaking up suddenly and then keeping quiet during rest of the story!

But this hardly anything to hold against because the book has a wonderful prose that is apt to be read even in modern context.

Review also on :

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1484621949

http://www.flipkart.com/reviews/RV3UQVSF3OTMB8F0R