Book Review - Mystical Tales for a Magical Life, Shubha Vilas

If only I could give a negative rating to this book!

Nope. Not for the contents, but for the misleading title and the writing quality. This was the same author who had given a lovable book on Shri Hanuman and hence I bought this book with a lot of expectations.

But the tales are all neither unheard nor vedic. These are but little tales found all along the Mahabharatha. Except for one or two, the rest are all tales that we Indians know like the back of our hands. Neither are they Vedic in terms of sources.

Glaring spelling mistakes all along are a pain too. The author's attempt at sharing the wisdom, which are little better than platitudes make reading a pain. So are the 'lessons' at the end of every story, which almost recount the story in brief and try to state the obvious out of it. The cursive font makes for the eyesoreness and nothing else.

Overall, if you have already read the basic versions of the Mahabharatha or a fan of Indian epics, you can safely skip this book. There is nothing new or even refreshing here.

Book Review – Amritsar – Mrs Gandhi’s Last Battle, Mark Tully & Satish Jacob

1984 is one of those years in Indian history that reek of blood. The rampant killings by the secessionist terrorists, the Indian army’s entry into the holiest of places for the Sikhs – the Golden Temple itself - to capture those terrorists, subsequent assassination of Indira Gandhi to avenge that ‘insult’, and the resultant pogroms that mercilessly butchered innocent Sikhs in and around Delhi – if all these didn’t shock the Indians enough, the year wrapped up with the Bhopal gas tragedy, which wiped out more than 2000 people overnight.

I am always fascinated by history, especially Indian history. But the problem with history is that you must view it through various perspectives in order to arrive at the real, clear picture. Identifying the correct, well-informed and unbiased sources of history is a big challenge, especially in an age where fake news and misinformation campaigns have really become a threat to the very fabric of human societies. This book by Mark Tully stands out for the very reason that it tries to bring out the facts of that time without being biased to any side. It places the blame on the culprits, gives credit where it is due and states the facts without giving us any hints to judge on a particular way.

Politicians across the globe have this bad habit of creating demons to do their sayings, but such demons have inevitably ended up haunting their own masters. The world recently, and painfully, learnt this lesson for the Nth time when Osama bin Laden, CIA’s poster boy in a cause against the Russians, perpetrated the worst terror attack on the American soil. Two decades before that, India also had such a radical, fundamentalist preacher whom the Congress politicians groomed for their narrow-minded political gains. Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was a preacher with radical notions but living in oblivion. Sanjay and his coterie brought him to the limelight in order to weaken their opposition in Punjab, the Akali Dal. But soon the sant, meaning ‘saint’, accumulated a lot of followers, grew more radical and became quite a brutal force to reckon with.

With support pouring in for him in all forms, Bhindranwale started running a parallel government, terrorizing not just the common people of Punjab but the very unity of this country. The spinelessness of the government led things to the breaking point, allowing the Sant to not just occupy the holy shrine of the Sikhs but to turn it into a fortress, amassing weapons and supplies to challenge the very might of the Indian army. The rest, as they say, is well-known history.

When I searched the web for a book on Operation Blue Star, this was one of those few that topped the list of reliable accounts. Having read this book, I could understand why. From briefing us about the early history of Punjab to describing those events that led to the crescendo that shook Delhi and caused deep divides in Indian society, it is all in here. Written in simple, flowing style, without being prejudiced against any of the parties involved in the conflict, this is a must-read for any lover of Indian history!

Book Review - 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, Yuval Noah Harari*

With the first few chapters threatening with inevitable realities of anarchy, dystopia and digital apocalypse, I braced myself for a depressing read ahead. But as the pages progressed, the book lightened up and started instilling hope within me. One of the best books to read, if you are trying to make sense of all the idiocy in the world around and the idiosyncrasies of us humans.

Beginning at the macro levels of the universe and our planet, the book signs off by bringing us to the microcosm of our minds. The author stops just short of recommending meditation and self-awareness as the panacea for the current chaos all around. An intriguing read that any thinker will relish!

Book Review - Selected Stories by Bram Stoker

It is a good idea on the part of Rupa Publications to bring out little books containing short stories of renowned authors. This book forms a part of that series. The name of Bram Stoker needs no introduction. His literary classic Dracula is widely read and adapted in various media forms. This book containing a selection of his short stories goes on to prove that he was a master in the shorter form of story telling too. Each of the eight stories in this book evokes different emotions. While some make your heart race, some make your heart go mellow. Overall, a nice collection and a worthy tribute to a master like Bram Stoker!

Book Review – Mother of 1084, Mahasweta Devi

We all have our own favorite ideologies. But then all of us face the practical realities of our daily lives as well. Despite our principles pressing us otherwise, we end up doing things that we don’t want to, living in ways that are contrary to how we wish. Few of us can claim to be leading lives in ways that are in perfect harmony with our principles. Rare such souls may be, every once in a while one such soul tries to bridge the gap between the ideal ways of life and the ground reality. Such rebels have either been revered or reviled. Either way, they leave a lasting impression on the pages of history. But what happens to those people who were near and dear to them, those family members, friends and acquaintances who could never understand what the push in the mind of the ideologues is all about, nevertheless love and support them, like those punctuation marks that silently add meaning and beauty to the literature of the lives of such rebels?

Mother of 1084 is a gripping story that narrates the emotions of a mother, who lost her son to the systematic brutality that claimed the lives of hundreds of youngsters during Operation Steeplechase in the 70’s Bengal. Brati was the ideal youngster who shunned the hypocritic ways of his family and gets absorbed in ideologies inspired by the Naxal movement that held Bengal in sway during that period. The story begins two years after his death in a police encounter, with his mother Sujata reminiscing about her son, right from the day of his birth. His mother, who couldn’t come to terms with the reason for her son’s death and the emotional, ideological bent that drove him to his death, tries to make sense of his absence by leaning on others who have undergone similar emotional trauma. She tries to do so by being friendly with the family of Somu, another youngster killed along with her son. She also meets up with Nandini, the girl who loved Brati and who subscribed to the same ideology as Brati.

With the rest of the family members all having forgotten Brati or trying to ignore their past with him, it is Sujata, as a mother, that feels the vacuum of his absence, day in and day out. The pain of her son’s death, her inability to ease the pains of other family members akin to her, the sadness of seeing lives like those of Nandini and Brati being wasted away in revolution that seemed to have changed nothing, including the hypocritical ways of her own family members – how Sujata faced them all in a single day is narrated in these pages in a riveting, deeply moving manner.

This is the first book of this author that I am reading and I have fallen in love with her writing already. The translation could have been better though. Spelling mistakes mar the flow too.

This is a book that portrays the anger that simmered through a whole generation of young minds that wanted to change the world around them. This is a book that also recounts the unfathomable anguish of a mother who lost her beloved son to the bullets, but who gets to understand him and grow close to him after he is gone. As books on one of the darkest phases of Bengal go, this must be one of the best!

App Recommendation #2 - HealthifyMe

Trust me. Not losing weight in the middle-age can cause almost equal amount of pain as losing love during the young age. Well, though that is an exaggeration, almost all of us have our own ideas about our ideal weight. Some of us want to shed some weight while for others, it is about adding. But any qualified nutritionist will tell you that the game of weights boils down to the count of calories. Yes, calories, the basic units of energy. Your weight can be calculated as a formula:

Weight Loss = Calories Intake < Calories Spent
Weight Gain = Calories Intake > Calories Spent

Simply put you spend more energy than you consume in the form of food, and you stand to lose weight. It is also the other way round. Of course, basic physical activity patterns and exercising also play a major role, but as science has proven, your diet plays a major role in your body weight ups and downs. So, how do we keep a track of our calories? There are plenty of apps available, but my favorite remains HealthifyMe. What makes this stand out from the rest is, being an Indian app, this gives you the whole list of Indian food items, which many of the other more famous apps don't do.

Not just food. You can track your water intake, your physical activity levels like workouts and steps taken, and your weight patterns - all for free. For a little premium, you can get a customised diet and weight loss plan too, though the free version itself can help you manage your weight well enough. If you have a fitness tracker, you can integrate the same with this too, which is an added advantage. 

The ranking system is quite a motivation, pitching you against fitness conscious people from around the country and, of course, from around the world. Simple interface, easy navigarion and inspiring to have in your app, provided you are really meaning to do something about your weight. Happy healthifying!

App Recommendation #1 - Duolingo:

Smartphones have become an integral part of our lives. Though there are so many complaints about how they hijack our lives, for people who know how to use them, they can become invaluable tools. The following is my little attempt at sharing information about some of the useful ways in which you can put them to use. 

App Recommendation #1 - Duolingo:

Have you always wanted to learn a new language but never had the time or resources to do so? Look no further. Duolingo is a nice app that can help you learn a new language by just spending 5 minutes every day. It is free and it is fun. You can compete with people from across the globe or add your friends and compete against them. Duo, the little owl, is inspirational too! 😛

Right now though, in Indian languages you can find only Hindi. For any other global languages, this app is the best tool. Happy learning! 😊