Reviews & Musings

Source:  SAGE Publications

Source: Feminism in India

From the Blurb Indian women are taught to put others before themselves from an early age. This book aims to change that. Boundless is a powerfully honest collection of poems that encourage a young India to find its own identity. The last ten years for the poet, Natasha Malpani Oswal, have been a journey in experimentation and self-discovery. Natasha has tried to capture her exploration of the idea of home and identity over this time frame through these poems. In the recent times, poetry as a medium of expression has been widely celebrated which only means more to love for poetry lovers like me. With poets like Rupi Kaur, Harnidh Kaur, Rochelle Potkar we have been introduced to new forms of poetry which is poignant and relatable at the same time. They seem to pick up extremely relevant themes from what is happening around us and weave the emotions around it to create poems which leave a deep mark on the psyche of the reader. Natasha Malpani Oswal is a big believer in the...

This blog, previously known as “ Reviews and Musings ” has always been my neglected child. I always put more effort behind my creative writing blog till last year when I shut it down completely. On the hindsight it wasn’t a bad decision at all. It helped me complete my own manuscript, research for the second one and finish a short story collection. It also helped me stay sane in the periods when I couldn’t write because “ not updating my blog ” was no longer killing me. Lastly, it also helped me focus on this baby of mine which was a little lost till then. It had a niche, sure, but it didn’t have a direction. 2017 was the year I gave it a concrete direction.

I am sure there is nobody who hates travelling. But recently I came across a guy who gave me serious travel goals. Now it is one thing to keep wishing and sighing looking at the various road trips people take and another thing to actually experience one. So, this man went on a 30 days trip travelling across India from tip to top recording his experiences with the people he met on the way. Just the idea itself sounds so thrilling on paper but it is much more than just that. So much hard work, meticulous planning, unplanned roadblocks, language barriers, extreme weather climates and all that can be considered a road block is also a part of this trip. But as they say, all's well that ends well. The trip is a lesson waiting to be learnt for all of us in the form of these videos. 

Introduction ISBN: 978-819-3391-204 Genre: Non-Fiction/Self Help Publishers: Books that Inspire Price: Rs. 299/-  ( I got the book for review from the author ) Sammy is an 80 year old billionaire, who finds himself at the peak of his success built on a mountain of sacrifices. He decides to participate in a life he missed to live. Eleven months in a year he leaves behind his identity and money and allows his curiosity and his willingness to experience anything - death even, to take him on life changing adventures and experiences across the world. Loaded with wisdom, surprise, humor and an eagerness to embrace life, The Wise Man Said is a collection of twelve such adventures of Sammy, where his journey becomes his greatest achievement - a life well lived. Behind the Book Source: Goodreads.com

Source:  www.murtylibrary.com

Introduction ISIN:  9789352589708 Genre: Non-Fiction / Self help Publishers: Books that Inspire Price:  Rs. 125/- ( I got this book from the author for a review ) The Calling is a spiritual adventure. It is an encounter with the truth, the wisdom and the force that is innate to us all. At the brink of a divorce and personal breakdown, Arjun took a trip into the heart of the Himalayas, on the insistence of a sadhu, who predicted that the journey up to Hemkund Sahib would align him to his purpose and change his life forever. At every turn the mountains holds secrets and tests that urge Arjun to evolve into the person he had denied to be - himself. Pretenses, falsities, confusions and untruths fall apart as Arjun is forced to confront the mess he had created in his life. What started off as an opportunity to escape reality, turned out to be an opportunity to escape from the dwindling spiral of self-created misery. Filled with spiritual insights and sprinkled with ligh...

Introduction ISIN: 978-0-670-08705-1 Genre: Non fiction Publishers: Penguin Price: Rs. 499/- ( I got this book from the publisher for review ) For the immensely popular column ‘Zen Garden’ which he published in Forbes India for over three years, bestselling author Subroto Bagchi cpoke to some very interesting people. Many, though not all, of the visitors to ‘Zen Garden’ were, like Subroto himself, high-performance entrepreneurs. But the one thing that was common to every guest was that they were pathmakers – rather than choosing to follow the well-trodden path, they had charted new paths that other could tread on. This book features the very best conversations from ‘Zen Garden’, including those with the Dalai Lama, Sadhguru Jaggi Zasudev, Nandan Nilekani, Aamir Khan, Dr. Devi Shetty, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Ekta Kapoor, social entrepreneur Harish Hande, Sanjeev Bikchandani of naukri.com, Deep Kalra of makemytrip.com, Café Coffee Day’s V.G. Siddhartha, Vikram Bakshi (the...

Introduction ISIN: 9789384030872 Genre: Self help / Business / Non fiction Publishers: Westland Books Private Limited Price: Rs. 200/- ( I received the book for review from the Writer’s Melon ) Arise, Awake is the story of young entrepreneurs who started a business while studying in college, or right after graduation. turning their backs on lucrative placements, to pursue dreams of their own. The ability to start a business is not defined by age or education. It takes energy and passion, an idea and an internet connection. Your first ‘office’ could be your very own hostel room. Behind The book Source: Goodreads

Introduction ISIN: 978-81-291-2369-5 Genre: Non-Fiction/ Self help Publishers: Rupa Publications Price: Rs. 250/- ( I got this book from the author for a review) In any business, it’s the entrepreneur where the proverbial ‘buck’ stops.Yes, it’s a cliché, but that is what it boils down to. When things go wrong, it’s your responsibility; when they go well, you get to enjoy the benefits. Ashutosh Garg was a high-flying corporate honcho who decided to quit and pursue his dream of becoming an entrepreneur. But just having a dream is not enough, he discovered; one needs to be resourceful, pragmatic, weigh the pros and cons and, most of all, have the will to keep going in the face of all odds. In The Buck Stops Here, Garg compresses the key learnings and experiences from building Guardian Pharmacy, India’s second largest chain of wellness, health and beauty stores. He reveals the realities of running one’s own business and dispels some myths along the way. Learn how to sourc...

Introduction ISIN: 9789382447924 Genre: Non-Fiction/ Self help Publishers: Notion Press Price: Rs. 375/- We are all connected on a divine journey… a journey meant for spiritual growth and evolution! Are you curious about your existence in this physical plane? Have you experienced unresolvable conflicts in your life and thought where it all came from? Do you believe that your journey is beyond this life? Do you know that your mind has the knowledge of all your existences and it has the power to resolve the blocks? And the help always comes from beyond; all you need to do is ‘ASK’! It’s on this divine journey that you will meet Bandana and Arjun. They take you through an eternal journey of love and life, and Aadyot would teach you the little lessons of life. If you have faced internal battles of rejection, confidence issues, abuse, depression, voids, emotional and physical blockages, this book is an internal journey for your mind. Your mind will experience em...

Introduction ISIN: 978-81-8400-519-6 Genre: Memoir Publishers: Random house India Price: Rs. 399/- (I got this book from the publisher for review) As a young girl in Bangalore, Gayathri was surrounded by the fragrance of jasmine and flickering oil lamps, her family protected by Hindu gods and goddesses. But as she grew older, demons came forth from the dark corners of her idyllic kingdom--with the scariest creatures lurking within her. The daughter of a respected Brahmin family, Gayathri began to feel different. "I can hardly eat, sleep, or think straight. The only thing I can do is cry unending tears." Her parents insisted it was all in her head. Because traditional Indian culture had no concept of depression as an illness, no doctor could diagnose and no medicine could heal her mysterious malady. This memoir traces Gayathri's courageous battle with the depression that consumed her from adolescence through marriage and a move to the United States....

Introduction ISIN: 978-93-84030-30-8 Genre: Non-fiction / Cinema Publishers: Westland ltd Price: Rs. 250/- ( I got this book from Writer’s Melon for review ) Some like Farah Khan and Zoya Akhtar had sterling antecedents but it took a tough childhood and intermittent assignments on film sets to win the box office with Om Shanti Om and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, while Ashutosh Gowarikar auditioned for folk dances and failed with his debut film, Lagaan created cinematic history and Anurag Basu had to first dance as a background extra and later overcome cancer to witness Barfi win hearts and awards. These and other hitherto unfamiliar stories of directors belonging to the "100 crore club" like Rohit Shetty and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, the adventurous Kabir Khan and the maverick, Mahesh Bhatt take us through the unusual lives of 15 filmmakers of extraordinary films. Sonia Golani achieves the incredible by sitting each director down to candidly discuss the hype arou...

Today's Whispering Wednesday word is LOVE. With age, the definition of love also keeps changing for us, what is important is that the people remain the same. We might love them for different reasons every day, but we must keep loving them.

Introduction ISIN: 978-93-84030-44-5 Genre: Self-Help Publishers: Westland ltd Price: Rs. 350/- ( I got this book from Writer’s Melon for review ) In early 2008, the author AVIS Viswanathan and Vaani his soul-mate, friend, wife and business partner were staring at a bankruptcy of their Firm. A series of business decisions had literally brought them to the brink of penury, This book is their story, it captures learnings from this excruciatingly painful, Life-changing, phase that they are still going through. It also explores the nature and continuum of Life. There is no beginning to the story, There is no end either, There are simply experiences, of hopelessness, of fear, of insolvency, of pennilessness and also of faith, patience, love, companionship, abundance and soul, of integrity and of leading a principled Life, despite temptations to take the easy way out of painful or messy situations. This book has been written to share how AVIS and his family have learned t...

There are moments in life when you should be dreaming and then there are times when you should be living those dreams. The last year in particular has been one where I have seen a lot of my dreams come true , the recent one being: You can buy this book from HERE Yes! My first official project as an editor. Ghost editing projects and then doing it officially where you are duly credited for the work in public domain are two different things and for me this is one such beginning. a small, humble one but one that sets the ball rolling for me.For me my blog has always been the place I share everything my laughters and my tears. So how can I miss out on sharing that is something so precious a milestone for me. Cheers to this one and here's hoping for many more to come!

Source: Google Images As I child I remember learning in school – eyes are to see, ears to hear, hands to do, legs to walk, heart to pump blood and mind to think. I grew up believing it to the eternal truth of life – heart pumps blood and mind thinks. It took a series of failures, fall outs, heartbreaks, tremendous breakdowns and worst nightmares coming true to realize that whatever I learnt then was so wrong. Apart from pumping blood heart has its own way of thinking and giving us different perspectives in life. And I learnt the biggest lesson of life. FOLLOW YOUR HEART- 99.99% of the times it knows exactly what you want. And the remaining 0.01% times when it doesn't mostly means you don’t want anything! ~ N When you decide to listen to your heart there will be many instances where you will be termed an emotional fool, a person who is not rational enough in life to accept the harsh realities around. But what these people will never understand is that it is not ...

Introduction Genre: Fiction/ Drama Publishers : L.I.F.E Price: Available for free download HERE Dreams are often most profound when they seem the most crazy. ~ Sigmund Freud This quote held the secret of her life tightly within those words. The world is not for dreamers, it is for doers and achievers she was told. But she did not stop dreaming for she was not a dreamer, she was a dream catcher, and someone who could grab thoughts out of the imagination weaves them into dreams, makes them into a reality just in the blink of an eye. Join her in her journey to becoming a dream catcher and witness magic of LIFE unfold that will reinstate your belief in miracles. Behind The book Picture (C) Privy Trifles

 Source: Google Images    “ Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore. Dream. Discover.” ― H. Jackson Brown Jr.