Purrfectly Ridiculous Tales by Karina Pandya

 How I came across this book?  I invited a friend over home for Holi, and she turned out to be the author of this wonderful book. 

She surprised me with a copy of her book and I was speechless. How cool is that!! 

Cats are in vogue and her book is primarily about having them as pets. 

They are smart, can defeat people with their adroit skills hidden behind their meow!! 

The author is clearly in love with cats and loves giving them the podium, to uplift her own spirits and feel the feelings of a parent. Her words flood the book with what a mother could do for her child and gives the reader that feeling - how the art of parenting can bring meaning and pleasures into ones life - where you realize the moments are valuable above all. 

The era we live in, embraces loneliness as a trend spreading all over. With live-in relationships, situationship and so on -- the author gives a reader an insight about an alternate way of leading a life - without children. By treating your pets as if you don't need any other in their life. This is an unspoken message. 

Other than that, I found this book to be a pseudo biography. There is nothing more intriguing and gripping for a reader except a pseudo biography. With everyone wanting their life story getting out there, this genre is shelved and lies unexplored. I think the writer has been smart enough to add this genre in her list of publications. 

With that said, I wish the author - all the best!! 

May you touch the skies with your work and receive the praise and love. 

Journey From Guwahati to Macchiwara

 So, its been a while I wrote a blog post, never mind but this book deserves a word. I admire persistence and determination in a person above all. When I read the name of the book, I had a curiosity within me, whats a life of a banker like? As I drove through the book I found bites from the lives of many people, I had to make many assumptions in order to understand the whole idea about why that story was there in the book. My expectation was to get a sneak peak into the life of a banker, all the stories in the book had everything but that. Most importantly, the title of the book misled me. 

However, the good part about the book is that the language is very simple. A person who spent their life in service will relate with the feelings of the author. The take away are memories, which probably a person not belonging to the service class community will never have an opportunity to collect. 

Most importantly, its the first book of the author, and an amateur writers first book I know is never his/her best work, its the second book which kicks off. I suggest the writer looks up characterization to refine his work. 

The cover design of the book is interesting and intriguing. The designer whoever that is, needs to be given the credit in the book, he'll get lots of work. He/she has done a great job. I'm familiar with the publishing house, Notion Press publishes good work - and this one is no exception. 

Banaras And The Other By Ashwani Kumar

There is nothing lecherous about it(the book)... in fact Banaras is famed to be the city of salvation - where people come to die. I met Ashwani Kumar sir and his fun-loving personality coupled with his zestful frivolity immediately brought a connect.

His soul drives the wheels around(in the book) in different directions as it strives in search of meaning, it takes past nuances of great men and history and mythology and many such other works to derive and gain a sense of contentment and peace.

As I open the trench of knowledge, I'm embraced by the winds - influential and seductive as they appear to be, seem to tempt me to dip into the ocean and experience the impressions that Banaras has made on the poets senses and expressions.
In his book, Banaras and The Other - I not only visited Vara Nashi but also learnt the soul of the poem - " Anatomy of Baranassey" depicts a melodious Karuna - inflicted upon a life having smelt, seen, heard, touched and tasted the vibes of zillion deaths.
The morbid reality, which the city thrives upon that people from all over the world go there to die - to attain moksha - created (a serene polished illusion in the minds of visitors to the city ignorant about) the scars of undoable marks upon its inhabitants - one of which perhaps has been the poet.

Its beautiful!!
I learnt a lot from the " Saturn in the Sixth House" to the meaning of the words like perineum to waning moon 14th night of the Waning Moon to "spewed lies, more lies - until they became cobalt truths."

The quotes in the blank pages in this book is very thought provoking.

The poems breathe life into you as their groundedness bleeds out moments frozen that are 'dead' todayand yet due to the desirous hearts wanting that those moments be never forgotten create history books merely for awareness.

The phrase " Spat a mouthful of tobacco" was eye catching on page 17.

The "spirit" in the Lemonade B**ch (poem)

The thought fragrating mixed cultures and blurred identities in the "Second Portrait" is commendable.

The poems have a very vivid visual narrative too that turns the ignition of visual memory on.

Eye catchy as the visuals describe a ' moon lit darkness' with a ' hunt for dragonflies' in The Last Poem.

I adore the thought of " researching the DNA of our parents" the thought behind these words is very sharp in many selves.

Superb poem as it ended with  - I resembled you, I me and my many selves.

I learnt a new word today called Palaeontology, a branch of science studying fossils to learn about history of life on Earth.

A beautiful dedication made to Alan and Ghalib Khurdi, may their memories remain timeless within the pages of the book.

The feelings a reader voyages through whilst reading the poems in the book truly puts them into your element or your element into them.

I taste the playfulness of life, smell the frivolity in the words and I hear the living beats of your heart distinctly as my eyes read and browse further on.

The movement named 'Femen' is very provocative and interesting to hear about as people make their own life's purpose this one certainly goes back timelessly back to the ancient days.

Most of the poems in the book are of 'past time' thus setting the undertone as seemingly factual and incontrovertible.

There is a motley of lot of things put together in the book. The good part I'm pointing at is- it does not drill into or let the reader stay or even for a moment attach themselves to a belief or feeling.

'Eating Fathers Flesh' rebels a notion into a poem with life nuances that are dews of momentary experience.


With this I come to the end of my review. 

The Catcher In the Rye By J.D. Salinger

So, what the hell!! I must've lost it to go by the 'words' of other people to actually sort of even waste my time reading this holy crap. Now, first of all, the thing is the 'buzz' about the book is far better than the book itself. I mean come on, is Penguin really short of good manuscripts or did the editor fall in love with the ADHD language and call it a 'big sellout' ..

Actually the thing about this book is that its become passe as the concepts in the book are obsolete in today's world. So for one thing, it ended up missing the bus of being called " Timeless" coz if anyone reads it in todays era not knowing the book was published in 1951 will surely spell - YACKY .. all over the amazon reviews.

Now, you can't expect all my reviews in this blog to blab positive stuff, there is something about my life that is very valuable to me above all and I'm sure its the same with others so I'd rather save that valuable element .. its called TIME.. this book spells crap to a completely new grade. I mean come on, I've got better things on my plate to do.. if the writer can't keep me interested and glued to the book the author has not just lost me as a reader but a whole lot out there who I would've gone upto and recommended the book to.

Except the unusual aspect about the protagonist being kicked out thrice everything was so  picky that I literally pushed myself to read on for a while, optimistic, things would get better but then finally I decided to drop it and watch the movie that was made of it someday when I'm feeling upto it. Perhaps the movie would instigate me to read where I left off from in the future.

The book is freaking slow, well thats ok you know, it really is!! As long as you keep out the dumb things that are as good as not stringing in to lead on anywhere except simply just stalling the movement of the story with words, expressions, emotions and all the tosh that one's psyche can pump out of their system.

One thing that the book is good with is atleast it defines the framework within which it is operating, in other words it captures the heart of the time and thoughts of the bodies which existed then quite well.

I swear!! I really found the facts that came up about the protagonist very interesting and I was really pumped with the curiosity to KNOW what he makes out of it and fish into his 'sense of being' but somewhere down the line the writer just grinds it for too long into you, wherein after a point you decide - OK! So now lets move on to the next book and let this piece of shit fizzle away coz .. Goddamit!! Whats the whole point the author is trying to make?? Perhaps what the character went through was quite extraordinary in his time but now its a universal phenomenon. It ain't anything elusive that one would actually invest into reading it.

Is the author sort of challenging the reader.. can you get till the end of this book??

I think I've given a fair idea about the book to those of you who were highly recommended but paused a moment to look up some reviews on the pages filled and bound that they hold in their hands or were thinking of holding in their hands.

Now you've received a fair warning, you choose whether you'd like to grapple with the risk.

ALL THE BEST !!

Eternity And A Day

The first most striking aspect about the book is its presentation.. its done in a way which is sensitive to the moods of a reader, realizing the ability ( testing their patience)  of a reader to dwell on a single page - depending on the thoughts that that page is carrying the burden of.

The cover design, pardon me, for my nonchalance in leaping into the book directly before commenting on the cover -  is so perfect that drove me ecstatic to see what lied within without a moment wasted.

The title of the book : Eternity And A Day - when I read it - came across exactly the opposite of what the poet meant as he verbally expressed its meaning inside. Where the author implies to add a day  after eternity has passed... to me, it came across as - a comparative where ... eternity conflicts with a day as though a day can hold within itself eternity and vice versa. 

I simply finished the book in full within an hour literally. I think the poet mutely expresses his respect for the readers time and values it heavily. He understands his poems are such that they simply need a touch, that's all, for the essence of his thoughts and motives to spread afar.

I attended the book launch too of the poet. It was at Thackers in Mumbai on 29th October 2017 Sunday  and was eloquently done gracing the guests with an enjoyable evening with exchange of muses.. his mother who is a singer also performed melodiously in the show despite her sore throat.

I'd like to quote few excerpts of the book :

"Man aches when he learns -
he is a slave to nature

A mere vessel in the scheme of eternity... "

Expresses the poets surrender wherein elsewhere in the book he himself speaks of -
one knows grief due to having tasted laughter and joy in the lap of sorrow.

Another  such quote is  -

"woman is the best thing that happened to man.
she speaks and soon,
how soon he forgets the boredom of work
and takes pleasure in gazing at cows"

this one taps the wit of the drunken poet who uses a simile, wherein,
he is associating a woman to a cow.

hats off to Kartikey for gauging the flow of the emotions within the reader
 and inserting perks of jokes
to keep the reader going..

Few other words that will string a chord within you can be found on page - 52, 54, and 58.


With this I end this review and wish the poet the very best!!

Songs of a Ruin By Scottshak

ISBN : 9781946641304 

This is a poetry book published by Notion Press. 

It is always a soulful experience to dive into another's baggage of feelings. This one takes you to moments which describes a phase in a persons' life which one always holds dear and spends time remembering in latter years. These are times of confusion and mixed feelings where a person is high on curiosity, questioning every aspect of life that went by and that is is follow onwards. 

There is a motley emotional flow here, where the reader is swung to awaken and thrown into another emotion the moment a person starts enjoying and going deep into feeling a particular emotion. It is difficult to time the moment right and this book achieves that. 

The cover design looks like a guitar is disparaged by a storm or crushed into a scintilla. The title appears to warn the reader that what one is about to read is brambles left over where once a forest farm existed. 

some of the poems I liked include : 

1. Tears of Earth

2. Curses of a Faineant Lover

3. If You Were Everything 

There were poems which I liked and then there were poems I didn't understand. There wasn't anything in between.At the outset, I was on a lookout of a theme or message that the book might be putting across but I think there is none. The book is simply a compilation of work which the poet has experienced or penned down and wishes to share with the world. 

Having known the poet briefly, I'd add a personal touch by saying the poet has voyaged a long journey before being labelled as a published author. His path was strewn with many obstacles that his emotions triumphed over  which were kept shunned in a treasure chest but now that they are out they seek solace, acceptable, appreciation and love.  

The work gone behind the first book is most crucial. Sometimes, the extra time that goes before entering into a new stream  may appear harsh and brutal and frustrating and impossible and extremely challenging but in the end - it pays a lot more than the counterpart. 

The book overall is a good read. 

To encourage the poet, click on this link and purchase their book : 

http://www.amazon.in/Songs-Ruin-Scottshak/dp/1946641308/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489053102&sr=8-1&keywords=songs+of+a+ruin

Into My Heart By Kartikey Sehgal

The hard work which pores through the writers' pen and transcends through the readers heart, elevating the interpreters' sense of vision, to a level where there is no higher place to be or go - is extremely clairvoyant in these pages. 

The reader enjoys getting mesmerized by the sheer selection which the poet has made.  Above all, the writer inspires the reader to such lengths that they, even if its for a mere second, will have this thought cross their mind - "I too should pen a poem, perhaps!" 

I ask all my friends and followers to go ahead, pick this up and elude themselves into being sensitized for those few moments for the journey this book will take thee. 

Link to the book :https://www.amazon.in/Into-My-Heart-Kartikey-Sehgal-ebook/dp/B01N9WFWYO?_encoding=UTF8&deviceType=desktop&keywords=Into%20my%20heart&qid=1488461207&redirect=true&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1#customerReviews