Tales of Different Tails - Introduction by Annant Mittal/Surbhi Mittal (Book Review: 4*/5) !!!

 7^th Book of 2024

 

It has been a decade in our Indian literature set-up where we have accepted the books written in the form of series- duology, trilogy etc. When I went to a bookstore and found that the same concept is present in the world of children’s story books also, I thought of purchasing it for my near-and-dear ones. I found Sonalika Publications’ initiative of a series named “Tales of Different Tails” which is inspired by the authors’ regular visits to zoo and observation of animals. They felt that even though the humans have evolved a lot in 1000s of years but there’s still a bit of monkeyness in each one of us.

 

The first book in this series is named “Introduction” as it is literally the introduction of this series on how the main five characters of this book came together. One thing that I must mention is the amazing concept of writing story side-by-side on the same page itself in two languages- English and Hindi. This is definitely going to be a great way for making your children learn both the languages and how the same things can be written in both languages using the right vocabulary.

 

The authors of this story are Annant Mittal and Surbhi Mittal who are son-mother by relation. They have also added the name of 3^rd author as well- Diya Mittal. This book is again heavy with illustrations which are contributed by Sachi Shukla. She has given an animated feel to the book by sketching animals the way we see them in television which shall help children to relate and identify the animals immediately while looking at the images.

 

Authors have very intellectually named the animals giving them a human touch. How one can add friends in their life is properly narrated in the book where two friends start their journey for attending a fair and keeps on adding more animals in their group to finally becoming a group of 5 friends. The title of the series is inspired by the same concept – Tales of different Tails.

 

The story also tries teaching how even when one is not your friend and joins you due to loneliness, rather than avoiding them, you show a sense of inclusion and involve them in your activity as well. Similarly, when you find someone wanting more members to play a game, you can yourself give them an offer and help them play the game enjoying the same yourself as well. Similarly, author also emphasizes how we should be appreciating strength of others and acknowledging it rather than becoming jealous of it. This quality ensures that all these 5 animals get together without any ego clashes.

 

The book ends with certain exercises which explains the tough vocabulary used throughout the story. It has a drawing activity which will help young readers in drawing one of the main five characters. They shall also be able to portray their intelligence by connecting the name with the respective animal and showcase their alertness while reading the story. Similarly, they get an option to analyze which animal eats what for their survival.

Overall, this is a good start to the series of the book and I give this book 4 stars out of 5.

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WRITING BUDDHA

Happytual: The Non-Pursuit of Happiness by Pawan Kumar Mishra (Book Review: 3*/5) !!!

  

6^th Book of 2024

 

There are times when you need a spiritual book to make you understand the basics of life to balance and manage your emotions. As I was facing some issue due to certain unwanted aspects happening in my professional life and I sensed that I am not able to manage my mind, I thought of picking up a short book which is semi-spiritual without going much into minute details. This made me chose the book named “Happytual” written by Pawan Kumar Mishra. The book also comes with a tagline that says “The non-pursuit of happiness”. It is published in around 120 pages by Rupa Publications.

 

As the title of the book suggests, the prime focus of the author while writing the book is to narrate it to his readers about how to be happy in a spiritual context without doing much about it but just analyzing yourself. Author’s intent is very evident right from the first instance when he dives into the topic that he wants us to understand the benefit of going within and finding peace somewhere there rather than trying too many things to achieve it from external sources.

 

Author has chosen the very same narration methodology of conversational tone where a younger character is asking questions about life to an elder mentor and he is answering and guiding the character with the insights that can change the course of their life by just tweaking the way they look at things. Author has used very easy language while writing the same which ensures that readers of any age group shall be able to go through it easily. Author has blended the ancient wisdom with the modern context by giving some new examples to explain the theories and explaining the old concepts in a new tone.

 

The concept of Fourth which is almost a reference to soul is nicely explained which makes it easy to understand where do we need to hit within to fix things in our life. The main USP of the book is the chapter named “The Lotus Flower” where author discusses about 24 petals of the flower by naming each one of them on an area that needs to be managed to lead a happy life. Later on, the way author comes to the conclusion of how happiness shouldn’t be a pursuit helps us understand how we can achieve it without actually chasing it.

 

Author also touches upon yoga and meditation and teaches few deep breathing techniques which shall turn out to be essential for beginners in this area who haven’t tried anything before. Along with such insights, the way author has also tried taking through the arc of each of the characters involved in this keeps you interested in the book.

 

Talking about the drawbacks or shortcomings, after reading almost 900 books, I must say that I couldn’t find anything unique in the book. Definitely, author has tried to speak the same thing in a new way but it doesn’t teach you anything new. This shall be a fine book for beginners but if you have already gone through a spiritual kind of a self-help book, this one might not sound new or unique to you. Hence, I rate this book an average 3 stars out of 5.

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WRITING BUDDHA

Masala Chai for the Soul by Jairam N. Menon (Book Review: 5*/5) !!!

  

5th Book of 2024

Reading books since more than a decade and half and I never thought that a funny and satirical book can play the part of a very well-written self-help book in my life. I was recently going through a tough phase but reading a self-help book seemed boring hence I picked up “Masala Chai for the Soul” written by Jairam N. Menon and published by Rupa Publications in around 200 pages. I didn’t know that the book is not only going to be satirical but it shall help me see small and usual things of life in a very different light.

 

Jairam Menon has a very beautiful way of saying things which makes you see both the facets of it- the one being said in a lighter tone with an intention of making us laugh and the other which is trying to teach us about how to enjoy life rather than finding concerns in almost everything that gets thrown upon us. If author has based few chapters completely from an intention of displaying his prowess in humor, he ensures that he is balancing the same by actually getting serious and giving us some really good advices like a senior in a tone that makes us feel better and rejuvenated.

 

As the book title says, this is definitely like a great beverage for our soul. While reading it, you would want to re-read many of the chapters because of their simplicity in the way tough topics are presented with a flavor of simplicity in them. Another good addition by the author are the illustrations in the beginning of the chapter which reminds you of the childhood-days’ newspapers. Similarly, there’s a quote by few of the popular personalities related to the chapter at the end of it which sometimes are such a divine experience reading them that we start repeating the whole chapter again in our minds trying to establish the fact that the chapter wanted us to learn such a deeper insight.

 

There are few one-liners which really makes you laugh out loud. They are enough hilarious for us to stop at the sentence, highlight them and share with everybody on our social media statuses and stories. There are few moments that I would really like to highlight which made my reading experience wonderful:

 

·         Author keeps quoting other authors to ensure that we also learn the real thing as well. Haha!

·         He also himself gives advices in the chapter “Envy- Proofing your Life” to help us understand how not to become jealous.

·         The part about vision mission statement that copying from one is plagiarism whereas copying from multiple is called research talks about the hypocrisy we have created in the professional world.

·         Chapter on superstition is so funnily written giving the context of why we should believe it. For e.g. if we dont how will we justify the success of people we dont like. 😊

·         The chapter on overthinking is so rightly executed where author again uses humor throughout the chapter and in the last 3 paras, gives us a good message about what we need to teach our children about the topic.

·         The chapter on small talks is so beautifully written that author almost gets into the mode of a self-help writer and tries to explain the importance of it in a very interesting manner.

·         The chapter on religion is written very maturely trying to explain how we are comparing Gods and ruining d relationship among ourselves.

·         The description of potholes by meriting them with the quote "The road to success is always under construction" written by Steve Maraboli is so aptly included. Similarly, describing trucks to be doing item dance is another ROFL moment.

·         The description of procrastination and bosses made by the author can fail all the LinkedIn posts.

 

Overall, this is a superb read and I am desperately wanting author to write part 2 of this book and make us learn small joys of life which can give great happiness through his cheeky style by making everything an entertainment for us. Hats off to Jairam N. Menon for writing this book so beautifully and making it an easy read. Along with that he ensures to use good vocabulary which will also help new readers learn great words in the process. I give this book 5 stars out of 5.

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WRITING BUDDHA

Ravan's Trial- The Naraka Cycle : Book 1 by Sundar Nathan (Book Review: 3.5*/5) !!!

  

4^th Book of 2024

 

Well, I have finally read my first proper fiction this year and as my interest goes, I always pick either a romantic/character-based story or a mythological fiction. This time, I chose the latter considering that it has been long since I have picked this genre. On this weekend, I completed reading “Ravan’s Trial” written by Sundar Nathan in around 200-odd pages. This is Book 1 of the trilogy named “The Naraka Cycle”. I am glad the way author has kept this book a short-read which helps you go through the book in 2-3 sittings itself.

 

The book talks about its protagonist, Ravan, in detail. All of us know Ravan mainly from his old age when he appears for the 1^st time in Ramayan during Sita-abduction scene. Author tries to help us understand Ravan’s teenage year through this story. It helps us learn the becoming of Ravan into one of the biggest negative characters in our Hindu mythology. The book describes about his trial of 7 days in Aranya jungle which is supposedly believed to be tough for anyone to go through. Author prominently describes each day with separate headers to make us understand the curve of his experience with every passing day.

 

To the reader’s surprise, more than physical challenge, this turns out to be a mental game for Ravan. He goes through multiple emotional breakdowns. Ravan has to go through this pain which starts preparing him into a strong character. It is great to read this section of the story as it tells us about Ravan’s vulnerabilities through the emotional challenges that he goes through. Even after he returns back from the trial to his kingdom, the new-found facts about his family doesn’t let him be a steady person. His arc of character keeps on shifting its base with every chapter.

 

Along with Ravan, author has also given a good space to his siblings, Surpanakha and Kumbhkaran. The sibling love and care for each other is beautifully portrayed and reading these scenes makes you feel fresh as it gives a completely new perspective about Ravan’s life. The book also takes a spiritual tone as it’s not only about the revelation of past and truth but also about Ravan’s self-discovery and realization of many facts which were always around him.

 

I liked the Sanskrit shlokas that kept coming in between the story along with their translation. The geographical map of the contemporary time with the story helps you understand the travel of the characters based on the timeline. All the negative communities that we heard are brought together in some manner in this book such as Nagas, Asuras, Rakshasa, Kinaras etc. Their relationship among themselves makes the story development more exciting and mysterious.

 

The climax has an open ending to take us ahead with the Book 2 of the trilogy later on. The segment where it ends is nicely executed by the author as it keeps the excitement up for the next part. Author’s writing style is easy to read as he is able to blend philosophy, religion, history, geography, mystery, thriller etc. with the story seamlessly.

 

You won’t get overwhelmed with the kind of imaginative set-up the story has. It’s just that the initial part of the story is tough to comprehend due to its slow-pace narration. It becomes boring at several times. Similarly, I feel author should write in a bit more modern conversational tone to make it an easy read for the readers. Overall, the book is a fine read and I give it 3.5 stars out of 5.

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WRITING BUDDHA 

The Mystery of The Missing Dog - Snowy by Swati Sinha/Sachi Shukla (Book Review: 4.5*/5) !!!

3^rd Book of 2024!

 

The days of childhood when I used to read comics and children’s books are back for me. For a change, I got my hands on the books published for children these days, and I thought of trying them to understand how are they written for these Gen-Z kids. As always, I chose the books published by Sonalika Publications with no doubts and purchased 6 of them from Amazon. I know it might sound a bit strange for someone at the age of 34 reading books meant for school kids. Haha! But then a reader within me wanted to explore this section of books and live in nostalgia for a bit. I just finished reading the 1st book of these 6 named “The Mystery of the Missing Dog- Snowy” written by Swati Sinha.

 

I think not mentioning the name of the illustrator at this very moment would be an injustice, as this book is incomplete without Sachi Shukla’s illustrations, which bring life to the story. The cover page and title of the book themselves are attractive enough for anyone to pick it up for their child. Even children would get attracted to it. This 44-page book is simply a delightful experience to read. The way the whole book is designed with art and text over it makes you feel that you are in the same world as the story itself.

 

The author talks about the story where a dog has gone missing in a society, after which the team of Super 5 is called upon for the investigation. This team of 5 consists of 12-year-old kids, but despite their age, they are known to investigate things and provide the results. Their introduction part with the society president is so interesting to read, where the names of every child are related to their personality traits. Similarly, making it in the form of a riddle tickles readers’ curiosity and makes the book much more interactive.

 

The story also tries to teach children compassion for animals. From my experience, I can say that this sort of attempt to foster constructive and sensible engagements between children and others is completely in line with the publications’ objectives. The way emotions portrayed by children are conveyed makes you feel as if you are around them, observing everything. The book also tries to provide insights into different occupations, such as society president, policeman, etc. At the end of the chapter, there’s another exercise where more professions are represented with animated characters, expecting readers to identify them.

 

Similarly, there are other exercises at the end of the book that will definitely help children develop their skills. All the good vocabulary used in the story, along with their meanings, are also mentioned in the end, signifying its intention of helping young readers learn new words and use them in their daily interactions. The kind of thrilling angle given to the story also makes it exciting as well. Even as an adult, when I was reading it, I never felt it was childish or boring. I think doing that is not an easy task.

 

Overall, this is a perfect book to gift to your younger ones. I recommend it to everyone. I give the book 4.5 stars out of 5.

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WRITING BUDDHA

Slower But Not Over by Paritosh Sontakke (Book Review: 4.5*/5) !!!

 

2^nd Book of 2024

 

This year has been like no other year in terms of my reading journey. We have entered 6^th month and I have just finished reading the 2^nd book of the year. It’s enough evident that I was going through some testing times and thankfully, the book I picked up has been a self-help book with lots of amazing insights and valuable guidance. Paritosh Sontakke’s “Slower But Not Over” is his first book which has been published in around 300 pages. While reading, you shall never be able to judge that he is a first-time author as his intent and clarity towards every topic that he talks about is very focused and on-point.

 

The book “Slower But Not Over” is very intelligently divided into 32 chapters where each of them is for around 10 pages which makes it easy for a reader to follow through the book even with multiple sittings. I completed this book with very slow pace in around a month and I was never confused regarding where did I leave it last. It has been executed very well ensuring that readers enjoy the book as and when they pick it up. This book is one of the perfect selections for your coffee table. One can even choose to read it in non-linear manner i.e. reading any chapter you want.

 

Author talks about very important elements that can help us make our lives happy, easy-going, positive, growth-oriented and spiritual. I liked how author started the book explaining about his background so that we can understand the mindset from which the book has been written. After giving a context on his middle-class upbringing and then his motivation towards doing something bigger and better in life, he followed certain books and advices which helped him achieve his goals. The whole book is then based upon the same where it includes author’s version on different self-help topics along with knowledge shared by other esteemed personalities.

 

The book consists of topics such as Rejection, Self-belief, aspirations, Leadership, Investment, Health, Integrity, Ego, Discipline, Courage, Focus etc. Author has nicely narrated many topics in terms of his own life experiences, his friend’s examples or by sharing a life incident of a popular figure. Apart from this, every chapter consists of a section named “Life Nuggets” which has multiple one-liners or quotes related to the topic which further stems the concept and its importance in the minds of the readers. To ensure that readers doesn’t end up reading and forgetting the principles, author has also added an exercise lesson in the end which consists of few questions and also spaces for us to write our answers which helps us in understanding how to apply those concepts in our life.

 

As I was currently going through a tough phase in my job, I was able to relate with the chapter in which author nicely describes the difference between a boss and leader with multiple illustrations and explanations. I was also able to learn so much through Pareto principle which author has gone ahead and explained the same with multiple examples of 20:80 rule.

 

Paritosh has provided very great and relevant tips on how to maintain good health where he has written everything that can be executed at the ground level. His narrative and seriousness while writing that chapter helps us understand the cruciality and importance of keeping good health. His perspective on how good health gives us hope which is the biggest thing for anyone to move ahead with life helped me understand that it’s not only about fitness but a mindset as well.

 

I have always been very clear and open about one of the major concerns of ego in my attitude towards relationships. Author has compiled such quotes on Ego on a chapter dedicated to this issue that each of them were extremely effective and moved me much; ending me taking screenshot of the same for referring it as a daily reminder and shredding it as soon as possible.

 

In another chapter “Encouragement”, author shares words spoken by one of his acquaintances, Darrel, which speaks about Passion. That one paragraph is enough for anyone to understand why self-motivation is necessary. As mentioned above, author shares real life stories of personalities like Abraham Lincoln, Rowan Atkinson, Colonel Sanders, Michael Jackson etc. reading which makes the book more interesting as we get to know about such inspirational accounts which excites us to augment our own life.

 

Overall, Paritosh Sontakke’s first book is a perfect go-back book whenever you need motivation in life. It has caliber to bring a lost person back on the track. It is also a book that you can blindly gift to anyone. It is for people of all ages and background. I recommend the book to everyone. I give it 4.5 stars out of 5.

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WRITING BUDDHA 

Ayodhya Ram Mandir: Bharat’s Quest for Ram-Rajya by Swadesh Singh (Book Review: 4.5*/5) !!!

 

1^st Book of 2024

 

I remember reading about Ram Mandir in 2011 descriptively in the newspapers when one of the prominent hearings in the court was going on. That was the first time when I understood the prominence and controversy around Ram Mandir and why it has become so important for certain section of our society – surprisingly the section which counts as majority in our nation. 4 years back, I turned into a Vishnu devotee. At this point of time while I was reading about Lord Vishnu and his avatars and the most famous one – Lord Ram, I realized the importance of Ram Mandir which was due to be built at his birthplace. Luckily, the Bhoomi Pujan happened just after.

 

Since then, I wanted to know all about its history etc. which I got a great opportunity to finally learn when Swadesh Singh released his latest book this January named “Ayodhya Ram Mandir”. I must applaud Rupa Publication as well for publishing this book as it might have turned into a controversy and despite howsoever secular our nation is, whenever it comes to such sensitive topic, it is objected by certain section of audience whatsoever might be the case. Anyway, talking about the book, it helps us understand the whole history of the establishment of Ram Mandir and its multiple destruction by different rulers of India. It helps us get into the past and know about the psychology of people towards this temple and why it is so prominent even after centuries for the Indian civilization.

 

The 1^st chapter discusses the significance of the land of Ayodhya. Author delves into explaining us about the Ikshvaku dynasty and all its respective kings. It tells how Ayodhya has always been a major part in the history of India. Along with it, author discusses about the different set of rules under which temple and its existence suffered right from Mauryan, Gupta, Mughals and finally, Britishers. The 2^nd chapter finally brings us to the modern India where the first case gets filed in the Indian judiciary in the year 1822 and how it kept on struggling in court until 2019. I was surprised to learn how intellectually and smartly Supreme Court rejected the judgment of High court which gave three different parties equal land at the birthplace. It is also a proud moment to learn how Indians accepted the Supreme Court judgment and there was no major case of any violence across India.

 

In the latter part of the book, author moves towards the current scenario where the construction of Ram temple has begun in Ayodhya and is ready to be open for its devotees to worship Lord Ram in his childhood avatar proudly standing at its rightful location – Lord Ram’s birthplace. Author gets into details and gives an overview on the design, architecture and the whole insight on how the whole temple and the premises will look like. The way author has written the whole part actually makes you visualize the whole temple in front of your eyes. It will make you impatient as the construction of whole temple premises will take some more years for us to view what it is actually planned and aspired to be.

 

Swadesh also discusses how the development of modern Ayodhya is being planned along with the temple because it becomes very necessary for the whole locality to have different tourist spots for the devotees to enjoy as people come from faraway places and expect every lane to give an essence of Lord Ram’s presence. I am glad the way author narrated about all the existing attractions around Ayodhya such as Sarayu River, Hanumangarhi, Kanak Bhawan, Shri Nageshwarnath temple, Sita ki rasoi etc. Along with this, author also talks about how these attractions shall be further beautified after the temple gets opened for its devotees.

 

Along with the importance of Ayodhya for Sanatan Dharm, Swadesh speaks about how it is also equally worshipped by other religions such as Jains and Buddhists as well. I wasn’t aware about Ayodhya’s relevance as a spiritual fabric of the nation for multiple religions which the book made me decipher in very easy language. Swadesh has divided the chapters in a manner where each of them talks about a topic specifically which makes the interest alive for the readers and keep them focused towards the subject.

 

His research and efforts are visible in every sentence as author has deep dived into the subject. He could have made this book difficult for all of us by getting into the legal aspects in the language of our Indian law but he keeps it simple for all the audience to understand and learn from an overview aspect as to how the whole phenomena around Ram temple kept disturbing the emotions of the people aspiring to pray their Lord on his birthplace itself. Also, the book is of around 160 pages hence it becomes easy to go through it in few sittings itself.

 

Overall, this book is an excellent read specially at this point of time when Ram Temple is already open for all of us. It is going to be a very different experience while visiting Ayodhya after reading this book hence I would recommend everyone to read this one before planning an Ayodhya visit. It will also help you understand when is the best time to be there on the spiritual land based on the development that has been planned by Government along with its timelines. I rate this book 4.5* out of 5.

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WRITING BUDDHA