The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga

This Booker prize winner was on my bookshelf I don’t for how long. Attempted reading it before, but then dumped it because the content grossed me out. I kept thinking all the while:” is there anything more to this book than ammonia leaks, fucking jokes, and scratching groins.”

And, then one fine day, when I had forgotten about all these nitty-gritty I thought of picking this book once again, with a do or die attitude. “I am gonna finish it this time, no matter how taxing it proves on me,” I told myself.

HOOYAH! The White Tiger?  Done and dusted! Finally!

And, here’s my take on the same: 

India, at large can be divided into categories of people.  People who Eat or get Eaten Up.  The book precisely revolves around this concept. The India of Darkness comprises of people who let themselves be eaten up by people belonging to India of Light.

Though India is known to be a growing economic superpower, the majority of them live in darkness. The conflict between these two India’s is what forms the foundation of this book.

Balram Halwai, the hero of this story, is born in Dark portion of India. He’s is a bright student and nicknamed as the White Tiger, the rarest of the rare animal, that appears only once in a generation. But then, born in utter poverty, the only thing that he dreams of becoming is a bus conductor. Why? It’s because it’s the best way to escape poverty in his village and enter the brighter portion of India.

Escape, he does, but then he carries an eternal wound in his heart - the death of his rickshaw puller father because of tuberculosis.  From then onwards his journey toward the light is laced with harsh and selfish incidents. From being a human spider at a tea stall he eventually becomes the driver of a Honda city car that belongs to the U.S returned guy Asoka. He manages to kill Ashoka and take all the cash from him to set up his own cab business in Bangalore. The police fails to catch him because the most-wanted poster they have come up with could easily match with any other random guy you could find on the street. And, maybe because, he had managed to fill the police commissioner’s pocket with loads and loads of cash. 

So, now Balram Halwai is a known businessman who runs maybe…what, 16 cabs and is in hand-in-glove with the police. Any accident his cab drivers commit is cleverly covered up. But the worst part is that he really doesn’t know what has happened to his people in his village after he committed that murder. Probably his relatives were skinned alive by Ashoka’s family.   Who cares? Balaram cares. But doesn’t care enough to really find out whether they were dead or alive. But then, it was expected. To escape The Great Indian Rooster Coup he had to sacrifice a few lives, what if they were his relatives. People of The Great Indian Rooster Coup allow their rich butcher masters to slaughter them one after the other.  Given a chance, they won’t want to leave the coup. Servitude is inbred in them. Breaking the coup means paying with the lives of your people at home.  Balram was not ready for this servitude. And he was ready to pay the price as well.

This Book Review is part of The Write Tribe Reading Challenge 2019.   

Lobo's Howlidays - Picture Book Review

Folks, it’s Christmas time.  And, I tell you, no other time could be better than this, to catch on C.L Murphy’s ‘Lobo’s Howlidays’. The story is all about Christmas, Santa and his troupe of good-hearted artic friends.

Santa has screwed up this time. His misjudgment while charging his modern sleigh has led to major power outage in the northern hemisphere. (Yes, Santa is no longer using his old means, the reindeers, to pull his sleigh. In fact, he has switched over to new-age technology to power them. But the outcome is disastrous.) Consequently, the area is left with no lights. So it has become a major cause of worry, for he won’t be able to deliver Christmas gifts to children in northern hemisphere without lights.    

But we all know Santa well enough to know that he could salvage the situation quite easily. Santa immediately shoots a letter to Lob, the wolf pup to come to his aid. In no time, the Arty, the artic mouse, Roxy, the raven and Lobo are on their way out to help Santa. They are supposed to follow the rainbow sky (northern lights) and rainbow trees to reach their said destination. Once there, Santa shares his plan-of-action as to how reach the children in the extreme darkness. Enough of spoilers here. 

So, come on, get howling …ho…ho…ho. What's that?

Go ahead, read the book for your kids.

Lobo’s Howlidays is a colorful picture book and is sure to leave a lasting impression on the minds of young readers. I am yet to share this book with my elder one. But, I know for sure, the pictures and the narrative are sure to take his breath away and is will surely stay with him as well for a long, long time. 

Children's Book Review: Isabella Babysits Baxter

Good Books can be great emotional anchors for your life.  And, believe me, I telling you this from experience. But despite knowing and experiencing the power of magnetic books, I’ve miserably failed to influence my nine-year-old son to do the same. That is to read and get inspired from books. He dislikes them like bitter gourd…bitter and utterly distasteful. You need to literally pin him down to read a few pages of any book. Maybe, the books that I give him are not his type. But give him any book on dinosaurs and he will devour on it, day in and day out. Not to mention the book on sea monsters. But for me these dinosaur books are like bitter gourd…the less you read them the better.

So finding this picture book ‘Isabella Babysits Baxter’ by Merissa Perry Moraja was like an oasis in the desert. The colorful pics and the short descriptions did for him, which my volley of verbal confrontation didn't. Fully mesmerized, Aryan, my son, went on to read it a record two times. (Initially, we both got together and read it out aloud and that got him going, or so it seems. So it brings the total to three times.) Yes, the descriptions are super short and to the mark. Most importantly, you can read it one sitting. In fact, I’ve inspired Aryan to write a book review as well, which he will post on his blog as well as on Amazon.  

I am happy, for I’ve successfully inspired him to take baby steps toward reading non-dinosaur books.

Story In A Nutshell

Isabella is a sweet like kid with working parents. She has a pet dog Baxter for company. Baxter is mischievous and left to its own devices he’s known to wreak havoc in the house. So Isabella’s artist’s mother who works from home, requests her daughter to babysit Baxter for sometime. However, instead of keeping Baxter in leash, the mischievous duo got together and brought the house down.  However, Isabella’s mother is patient enough and doesn’t lose her temper when she sees the house is in a mess. Instead she takes both her daughter and dog for a walk.

Children from 4 to 9 years are sure to enjoy this book. Highly recommended.

The new words Aryan got to jot down in his dictionary are:  Enormous, Strolled, Cuddled, Curious, and Siblings, apart from Yikes and Yipppeee.

 This book review is part of motherdaughterbookreviews.com

A Goldmine of Books

I need two shots of energizing prose, early morning, everyday, to get that evasive blood coursing through my brains... and I am set for the day. For those additional kicks, I manage to steel some moments for more of those seductive shots during the office hours and then later in the night.  

And my go-to place for these adrenaline pumping shots are www.bestlibraryspot.net and www.ebook2u.org

No more shelling money on library registrations and flipkart for books

The site is a literally a goldmine of books, from romance to thrillers, from YA to sci-fi, from crime to chick-lit, you just name it. And more importantly, all the books are from very popular writers - right from Stephen King, John Green, John Grisham, Jeffery Archer to Suzanne Collins - can be easily found here.  

Currently I reading Gabriel’s inferno here by Sylvain Reynard. It falls under the romantic genre and I am lovin’ it. In fact, I am so consumed by it that I end up thinking of it day and night.  Some reviewers even consider its writing style better than Fifty Shades of Grey.(Now that's a hook for you to latch on.)

Coming back to where I started, both the sites are a Treasure Island for books. And it won’t be wrong to say that these sites are the best thing that happened to me this year. If it were not for these sites, I don’t know how much would i have missed on the literary front? I would never discovered Reynard and his works. And yes I am really excited to familiarize myself with other authors as well.  

Besides all these very no-nonsense points, the other important fact about these sites is that you don’t have to spend so much on books anymore. If you’re already spending thousands, a few hundreds would do from now on. Or that what’s I believe. In fact, when I found John Green’s ‘Fault in our stars’ here, my heart skipped a beat. In fact, it slowly leapt out from its place to shout “Eureka. Eureka, i’ve discovered something". 

A thousand thanks to all the authors who had the heart to give their books absolutely for free here.

Only meant for your ears: I steal every idle moment in the office to catch up on my reading here. (Books are not allowed here. I hate my office people for introducing such nonsensical dictum.)

Are there other sites for online reading? Do share them in the comment box.  

How About Maintaining a "Gratitude Journal?"

Drinking Coffee with Malti Bhojwani!

My 2 cents:

#1 A brilliant, breezy read.
#2 A must-have book for self-help book addicts, quote addicts and super cynics.

# Keep your highlighter ready. It's an inspiration loaded book. In fact, positive thoughts and quotes ooze through the entire book.

Book review: 

If ‘The Secret’ is one of your all-time favorite books then you are sure to enjoy ‘Don’t Think of A Blue Ball’ by Malati Bhojwani. “Plug in” is the word for this book. Plug in with the universe, she says, to manifest your dreams. Plug-in to small pleasures of your life: don’t rush through them; be it bathing, gyming, yoga, etc. Even while getting a hair-cut done, you can be plugged-in. Instead of getting impatient and looking at the watch again and again, plug-in to relish the experience, she says. Now you may ask how do you actually plug-in? You can do it through different ways: through prayers, meditation, centering, and grounding and even by just connecting, shares Bhojwani.

Plug-in with complete trust.

Give up how and the when, trust that what you desire is magnetized towards you.

The Universe is never late, but generally, not early either. Why not early! To test our implicit trust, perhaps. If everything you asked for came to us immediately, you will never grow and develop.

Insightful lines… Yes, the book is peppered with such strong, thoughtful lines.

No doubt the book deals with the much-talked about concept of “Law of attraction.” But let me tell you Bhojwani handles the oft-repeated topic in a refreshing new way. This is one thing that drew me to this book. She says, if you only think of the negative and the bad, then you are definitely attracting all the bad and negatives in your life. For instance, when you start assuming that your spouse is in an extra-marital affair and start nagging about it, he/she may literally start cozying up with a colleague just to prove you right. When all relationships seem fake to you, even true relationships may turn their back toward you. Our negative mindset on different things, attract only negatives in your life. So, the author asks us to have implicit faith in the universe. Believe in the Law Of Attraction and think only positive to attract positives in life. The Voltaire’s quote in the book aptly echoes this philosophy: “Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe”.

The only way to have what you want is to trust that you will have it and to expect it without a doubt.

So you got the premise!

The book revolves around beautiful concepts of Thankfulness, Appreciation, Gratitude, the Power Of Declaration, Universal Abundance and much more.  In fact, the book has inspired me so much that I decided to maintain a Gratitude Journal. Plus, the pithy catch phrases, analogies, anecdotes, quotes by famous authors and of course, the exercises given at the end of each chapter makes it a very interesting read. More than anything, the author’s habit of maintaining a Daily Gratitude Journal is my best take away from the book.

Final take: 4/5. Go for it.

A Perfect Book For Daily Dose Of Positive Thinking

I thank the author for a copy.
[This review is part of Reader Cosmos Book Review Initiative]

Woe to those who see no sense in re-reading books!

Books breathe a fresh new life into my breathless world. It sends my imagination on a flight of fantasy in seconds. But what peeves me off is the fact that once the freshness of a new book fades off, it becomes a thing of the past. Yes, I have developed this utterly disgusting habit of tasting books, much less devouring them or digesting them.      

Sir Francis Bacon may have rightly said: “Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly." But so far for me, first time read becomes the final read. No looking back. And by the way, isn't this the stereotypical norm with every regular reader. Am I any different!

And, tell me one thing, why in the world should I re-read books. When the plot is etched very clearly on my mind, when the characters are there on my fingertips, when I am fully aware of what’s going to happen in the next bend, then why re-read at all? This thought has crossed my mind a thousand times, when I comb through those countless books adorning my book shelf.

Yes, not long ago, the books piled up on my book-shelf were anything but a millstone around my neck. In fact, I even thought of trading it off for a few bucks. But couldn't bring myself to doing it, until I came across this thoughtful quote from Oscar Wilde: “If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use reading it all."

My books have found a new life now. I gonna re-read them, one day at time 

The quote has struck a perfect chord with me, so much so that I started pulling out the best books from my book-self and started re-reading them once again. Before this, I used to wonder what I would do with all these old books, crowding my book-shelf. If Aryan doesn’t read them (in case, he has his own choice of books), who’s is going to read them? But now I know what I’ll do with them. Re-read and re-read them, over and over again, till the book becomes a part of me - the characters, the plot, anything and everything. And once I am done with them, I’ll lend them to other book lovers. Of course for a price. (First-hand books don’t come cheap, by the way.)

Thanks to Oscar Wilde, I believe, most of the books we love, and the authors we admire, should be read again and again. Of course, I’ve heard authors harping on the pleasures of re-reading books a couple of times, but during those times, I wondered, how could they? Now I know why, once I started reading 'Man’s Search for Meaning' by Victor Frankl. 

No doubt, my book-shelf is half-empty today. Now I won’t mind filling it up to the brim and then add some more. The process of filling up my book-shelf is though  damn slow: but I won’t stop. 

Raise A Toast to Re-reading 

Jini Maxin 

The Secret Wish List

I took a reading and writing hiatus for about three months or so. On hindsight, I do think, "how could I've done that?" But, the fact of the matter is I did distance myself from books; when your body and mind is busy working toward another important goal, you can’t help, but give in. Yes, I am all set to enter my fifth month of pregnancy; so the bodily changes kept him away from books.

But, I happy to be back with Preety Shenoy’s books in hands . I kicked off with her first book, '34 Bugglegums and Candies', and immediately moved on to her latest book ‘The Secret Wish' list in a jiffy.  I was looking for something light and fluffy and these books definitely don't disappoint. They keep you hooked throughout and you can be done with them in no time.

Coming back to the book, “My Secret Wish List,” it had all the masala of a typical Indian household. Dikhsa − the protagonists’ early marriage and motherhood, her choosing domesticity over professional life, her underplayed but simmering anger towards her insensitive, authoritative and conservative husband, her eagerness to break free from the shackles of marriage, and so on. I assume every Indian woman could relate to the story, specifically those homemakers who are taken for granted in quintessential Indian households. And, indeed, the book comes as an eye-opener for all of us.

Diksha, at sixteen was punished by her parents, because she made a mistake of kissing her senior in her school.  Naturally, she is forced to leave school in Chennai by her conservative parents and return to her native place in Kerala and finish her studies there. And by the time she reaches nineteen, she is married off to Sandeep, and for 15 long years she stays and makes her marriage work, raising her son Abhay and taking care of household chores, at the same time, ignoring her husband’s taunts and rapes.

On the one hand, if she hates her husband, on the other, she shares a lovely bond with cousin Vibha. She is also overjoyed to renew her long-lost friendship with school friend Tanu, and forms a new bond with salsa instructor Gaurav. Plus, her 9-year-old son Abhay, is always on her side. These friends insist her to come out of her wreaked marriage.  In fact, Vibha prods her to come up with a ‘Secret Wish List’ as an escape from her marriage, and goes all the way to ensure that she fulfills them. The wish list is interesting. She has six wishes in mind and has put them down on paper on Vibha’s insistence. Not surprisingly, Vibha has okayed all of them, except the last one − sex with a stranger.  But Diksha ends up doing it and this brings a wedge in their relationship.

Tanu, on the other hand, comes across as a big supporter of Diksha, and even inspires her to walk out of her hapless marriage. But will she or won’t she? This one question keeps the readers hooked till the end.