Saturday, October 13, 2018

The Live Well Diet


The first and most important thing you should know is you need to trust the book more than your own thoughts and feelings, for the simple reason being, you are physically the way you are because of those thoughts and feelings you’ve trusted for so long – and probably now its time you trusted an external source.

When you set a business plan, there are number of milestones before you reach the final destination. Similarly, before you set off you need to prepare yourself for the first milestone – and remember there is no first and last failure and most importantly its not ok to extend the time limit set to reach that milestone just a little bit. Its only a book after all – you can read it, set the diet chart, bring the ingredients, instruct your cook and even go to the extent of following the plan to the last word – but if you have secret indulgences happening alongside the plan then I suppose very soon you’ll loose control and throw the book into the trash can.
You’ll probably not even realize that it isn’t the book which isn’t worthy – its you who is not of living the book!!

The writer of this book is a person who is extremely passionate about food. Generally, when one says this, the first thing the reader perceives is – “Oh! The person must be very obese and know all the goody-goody food joints in the city or in the country or the world” … Well!!! SURPRISE, the truth is precisely the opposite of that. The person is so passionate about food that he/she knows exactly how much to have, what to have and when to have – in such a manner that one leads a happy, healthy and fulfilling life. THIS BOOK CAN DO THAT FOR YOU.
I wrote a poem in honor of this book : It’s a Haiku –


Long Live Well ALL!! 

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Solitude And Other Obsessions


As the book ends its journey with me I begin to re-evaluate all those moments which held me tight as though the words hissed or screamed for love beyond the confines of the pages they were stationed.

The 1st poem of every poet was always the best. Be it - Captured Moments by Uma Sudhindra, True But Strange by Binod Panda, The Fraternal Bond by Trupti Kalamdani, The Majestic Giant by Dr. Shruti Arabatti or Solitude by Saurin Desai.

But what touched me was The End by Dr. Shruti, This _____ is Mine by Saurin
These poems were pillars of evidence to prove a point Im working on which I wish to make about my observations about the world thats evolving.

Ive hinted about it in my e-magazine, click here : Poets Choice Zine to read more on it.

I wish the poets in this book all the best and welcome them on my platform which is meant for poets anytime they like.

It was a good read .. by the way great artwork showcase by Shripad Bhalerao. Each sketch is thought provoking and emanates a story, a poem of it own.




Friday, February 9, 2018

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. 

Monday, February 5, 2018

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 !!