A JOURNEY CALLED LIFE

 I just finished reading a really interesting book...a topic on which hardly anyone had threw any light before. I have always preferred memoirs over fiction and this book is a perfect example how a collection of real life events can be more entertaining than some imaginary tale. Book title: The Great Indian Tamasha Author: Rasika Bhatia Publisher: Om Books International Paperback 170 pages Rasika Bhatia is a bespoke wedding planner based in Delhi, who has been in this business for the past 20 years. She not only executes weddings all over India, but abroad as well. So when she decides to compile many of her wedding planning stories together, you know that you are in for a crazy ride. Because face it, no one is crazier than a would be bride, more anxious than the father of the bride, more apprehensive as the mother of the bride and the list goes on. In a nutshell, the families getting married belong to a different dimension altogether. These stories are absolutely hilarious; most of...

  Our children need to learn and imbibe the rich culture of our Indian heritage and roots and books are the best and easiest way to do so. Hitopdesha and Panchatantra bring up wordly wisdom, political affairs and maxims in the most entertaining and simple way for children. 'Hitopdesha' meaning beneficial advice is a compilation of fables having human and animal characters, originally in Sanskrit. These fables have been written by Narayan Pandit. 'Panchatantra' meaning Five treatises is also originally a Sanskrit text, widely translated in a variety of languages. Authored by Vishnu Sharma, these fables have mainly animal characters. I recently got these two books by Diamond Publications for my kids. These two books are an absolute delight! They are hardbound with colourful pictures in every page. The pages are of high quality and so is the printing. Each book contains 16 stories in English. My kids love the attractive illustration and its simple language. The Hitopdesh c...

Title: Little Me in Everyone Author: Eddyee Siingh Pages: 265 Genre: Non fiction, Motivational We all need motivation in life. What we feel and learn after reading a book by the learned and wise clears our head. But that's not enough for a happy living. What I want to say is that we humans need a constant push to do well, stay motivated and have a clearer headspace. If you have read the Bhagwadgita and its various adaptations, then it's great but that should not be the end of reading. One has to read motivational and inspirational books regularly and this book fulfils that role very nicely.  The last 14 months have been challenging for the entire mankind. As days are getting tougher day by day, we need positivity and gratitude on a daily basis. One thing that I have started believing in recently is 'manifestation'. That's why this book rang a bell with me. If you are the one with self doubt, you really need to stop doubting and start believing in yourself and most i...

 Title: Jasmine Builds on Shifting Sands Author: Sanjay Desai Genre: Motivation, Self Help Number of pages: 134 Do you believe in Law of Attraction or Manifestation as some say? I got drawn to this book as I have developed interest in designing my own life; which can be called manifestation. I never believed in it until I actually saw people around me deriving great benefits. I am a very practical and scientific and methodical person by nature (a surgeon after all which means no place for imagination). However there are some things which are beyond explanation. I really liked the fact that the author Sanjay Desai hails from a practical background as well; hence I decided to give this book a read and found it enlightening. About the author: Sanjay Desai is a Chartered Accountant, an ex banker and an IIM alumnus. He combined spirituality with his material pursuits to achieve immense success in his career; something which we all yearn for. The book has three parts. The prologue a...

 Title: Finding your Way Author: Drake Taylor Genre: Self help, Motivation Rating: 5/5 2020 has been hard on everyone. It has taken real courage and patience to deal with the adversities. For some, the negatives have been way too much; resulting in depression or even worse; self harm. Although I am not a person to fall victim to such things, but the past 10 months have really been trying; to say the least. This is when I found to this book to start 2021 on a fresh note. The author has done an incredible jo in helping us all. It's a quick read and we all should go through it because it's such a great motivational book. Following are the main takeaways that I noted and would help you too. Life is not all magic as television and books. It's more like a horror movie that we feel is not real Sometimes the hardest thing isn't to begin the journey, but to accept why you must begin the journey. You have to accept the responsibility. You will not change your life or rid yourself...

Title:  The Art and Science of Real Wealth Author: Bollachettira Dhyan Appachu Genre: Finance, Non fiction Pages: 103 This is my second book by  Bollachettira Dhyan Appachu after his 'Arya Dharma'. This is about finance with some really eye opening advice. I think of investing money from time to time and I feel almost everyone does the same so this is a must read for all. To start with do you know the difference between an investor and speculator? To become good in speculation, one has to overcome 4 things: ignorance, fear, hope, greed. e only way to conquer fear, hope and greed is by the sincere and sustained practice  of Dhyan to achieve Samathvam. Speculation is a continuous learning process. It's both an art and science. Even after 26 years the writer is not perfect. He has seen downfall till the recent past until early 2018.  He figured if even a world class speculator like Jesse Livermore did break his rules and make mistakes, he ...

Title: Arya Dharma The Nobel Dharma Author: Bollachettira Dhyan Appachu Genre: Non fiction Pages: 610 This book is very different as to what all I have read in the past. I am usually a reader of fiction and self help books but this one is of the most meaningful reads of my life. If you love your country and make some difference to the world, then you should definitely try reading this. This book is not easy, it's 600 pages but it is definitely a fast read. The author has tried to find a solution to every problem of today from our rich heritage. The ancient texts of Upanishads, Manusmriti, Arthashastra, Neetishastra etc seem to have the key for the questions of today. They may have been written thousands of years ago, but are truly timeless in their content. Why the name Arya Dharma? Arya means nobel. God hasn't created any religion or rift. It's us humans who have dissected the society. The author is highly against FUKUS (France, United Kingdom and USA) which he believes ha...

Title: The Mummy Bloggers Author: Holly Wainwright Genre: Fiction, Humor Coming to the book this is a story of 3 mothers who happen to share their lives daily online ie they are bloggers. Although they are very different from each other and have a niche and an audience of their own. The stylish mumma is a mom of two boys. She is rich and sexy and married to a man way older to her. The green Diva has two kids from her earlier marriage and is now in a lesbian relationship, whose partner too has two kids from before. She hs moved to the countryside and homeschools her kids and deapises everything that is non organic. The working mumma has three kids and slogs hard everyday to balance her job and motherhood. The blog is an outlet for both the working mumma and green diva but it's actually a business venture with lofty goals for the stylish mumma.  However when an award with a huge financial perk is announced for the best mummy blogger, everyone becomes ambitious and dive into the proce...

Title: Trending In Love Author: Pankaj Dubey Genre: Romance, Fiction No.of pages: 210 Format: Paperback We all know that cracking the IAS exams is one of the most gruelling tasks in India. The achievers are worshipped literally like Gods. However when does one know to enter this Herculean race? Some youngsters know from their childhood that they want to become a bureaucrat (whether family history, family pressure or ambition) while some are motivated into acquiring power because of certain circumstances. This story is about a pretty girl Sanam (a Delhiite although hailing from Madhya Pradesh) and a Kashmiri boy Aamir, who hails from the politically unrest Kupwara. Sanam gets into a fight with a minister's son in her carefree days which pushes her into becoming an IAS officer so that she can teach such hooligans a lesson. Aamir on the other hand is leading his daily life in the valley amidst regular firings, unrest, tension and a 'Jihadi' environmen...

Title: Irrationally Passionate Author: Jason Kothari Pages: 244 Genre: Autobiography, Motivational, Personal Hardbound Who is Jason Kothari? Honestly speaking, I did not know him as a person before I picked up this book to read. However what attracted me to read this book were the subtitles on the cover: Former CEO Housing.com, Former CEO Freecharge, Former CEO Valiant Entertainment, Former CEO Snapdeal. Now my eyes got wide. So Jason Kothari is the man behind the turnaround of crumbling biggies like Snapdeal and Housing.com. I have read so much about him in the newspapers that I definitely needed to know more about this Midas guy.  I immediately picked up this book and started reading. Honestly it's so engaging that I could not keep it down. Every single page is awe inspiring. Jason was born in Hong Kong and he grew up there. He had been a rebel in his childhood and teenage years. However there is a saying 'Morning shows the Day' or how a child wo...

Title: A drop of you Author: Krishna Chhetri Genre: Romance Pages: 271 Before starting this book, ask a few questions to yourself. Do you believe in love? Do you believe in unconventional love? ie falling in love blindly, without thinking of the repercussions? Does love only mean marriage to you? Do you swear by 'and lived happily ever after?' As the name suggests, this book is a love story. The tagline says: Loving, with or without you. But hold on, you don't need to be a hardcore romantic to enjoy this book. This is a very practical story which revolves around millenials. Karma and Ghazal (the protagonists) are in love with each other. However it's not an ordinary love story. They belong to different religions and don't actually believe in conventional norms like tying the knot and all. They are in a live in relationship and their closest friends think that they are real #couplegoals . But when Karma professes his concerns about his '...

The protagonist of the story is a very young multi millionaire Gyan but he doesn't believe in the Almighty. This story is about the journey of Gyan to self realisation. This story is especially worth a read because it shows how a person who just doesn't believe in anything metaphysical undergoes a transformation. The author Pankaj Rajput is a financial advisor by profession but his interest lies in metaphysics and spirituality. No wonder he has ventured into the world of Vedic fiction penned down such a mystical story.  The narration starts with the protagonist Gyan, looking at the pictures of a recently excavated 4000 year old fort. He is one of the most successful and youngest start up guys but is a historian at heart. His company imparted education at very affordable prices. His heart lies in the excavation site and waited  for everyone to vacate it. They thought the discovery to be a fort but folklore believed something else. They said that it was a temple and it...

Title: Sometimes it happens Author: Karan Sharma Genre: Romance, fiction Pages: 167 This book is about Gautam, the main lead, Rohit, his best friend and Roshni, Gautam's boss and love interest. The twist in the story is that Roshni is 12 years senior to Gautam (she is his boss after all) and Gautam is head over heels in love with her. When Gautam professes his love to his best friend Rohit, he is ridiculed and put across a series of tough situations... Which are very true and practical. The society doesn't accept such inequal relationships and even if they don't care about the folk lore, they themselves would have a tough time in dealing with the stark differences. After weighing the pros and cons, Gautam develops cold feet towards his relationship and leaves for Singapore for a year for work, leaving Roshni high and dry. However the love story does not end here. He develops feelings towards his pretty colleague Payal (who always had a soft corner for her) whi...

Title: Heartquake Author:  K.Vijayakarthikeyan Genre: Fiction This book is about Vikram who is a newly recruited IAS officer in the district of Laxmipur. However things are not easy as Vikram had an ugly face off with the minister during his training days.  As if his previous tete a tete with the corrupt minister was not enough, the district starts witnessing heart attacks one by one. Now heart attack can not be an epidemic but it seems to affect the people of that region only, with similar symptoms. Meanwhile Vikram falls in love with the doctor of the district hospital who happens to be the cardiologist too. Together, they try to unravel the mystery behind the scary heart attacks. Who could be next? The story is a faced paced thriller with layers unfolding page by page. Turns out it's a big racket involving corruption, personal gains, vengeance, etc etc. However the most interesting twist comes in the form of science fiction dosage. Have you heard of tele...

Title: Myth of the Entrepreneur Author: Ravi Kailas with Cathy Guo Genre: Biopic Number of pages: 193, hard bound We usually have a particular definition of entrepreneur when we come across this word...smart, wealthy and ruthless..don't we? However this is a myth or you would realize after reading this book. The author and the protagonist, Ravi Kailas is truly an inspiration. He had been ambitious right from childhood; when his family conditions were not so favourable yet always a philanthropist. He is a man of real values. His father had given him basic education to lead a good life. But he always had vision for something higher. He was an entrepreneur even before he became one. The route he took to pave his way in the Oberoi Hotel Mumbai is something absolutely unimaginable. No one would have ever thought that such revenue/rent extrapolation of 6 years could actually make his 'residing in a five star hotel' dream true. And that was just the b...