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Review: Seduction by Truth

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Seduction by Truth by Mukul Kumar My rating: 3 of 5 stars The title of book is half true. It is about seduction -yes, but truth is a grey area here. It is true that adultery has become common in this day and age. Or maybe it was common since time immemorial. However, the easy access of opposite sex has made it more prevalent. Reasons of this are manifold. Is it right or wrong or somewhere in between? What is the mythological and historical perspective on this? Do the people who are adulterous have no conscience? Do they feel remorse? This book tries to answer these questions. Shiva and Aakriti are a upper middle class couple. He is handsome and she is beautiful but the fizz is missing in their marriage. It has become a sexless marriage and there is no romance left. Shiva has doubt that she is having an affair. So, he decides to start one of his own. Her beautiful assistant Sana is right in front of his eyes. She married early and have a young daughte

Satrangi Syahi

Satrangi Syahahi can be translated as Rainbow ink. It is about various emotions in poems. Two poets, Surendara Gupta and Neha Jindal contributed the poems. Sh Surendra was a teacher on Jhansi. He retired and now writes poems. Ms Neha is a poetess. Here debut book was “Phases of Moon”. The book is divided in five parts: 1.        Vyangya (Satire) – These poems are about politics and life in general and take a satirical look. “Sharafat ke Pujari”   by Neha is about how the society has become corrupt and the gentleman is left behing in the race. 2.        Bundelkhand ke Gaurav (Gaurav of Bundelkhand)- Poems about Rani Jhansi, Maithili Sharan Gupt and Dhyanchand. 3.        Deshprem (patriotic) - “ Pak teri akal Baurai” is about misadventures of Pakistan. 4.        Bhav Bhini (Emotional)- “Priyatma Tum to Badal Gaye” is about various phases of love. 5.        Chhanikaye (momentary) – These are short poems. The poems are good and struck a chord. The language is s

Review: Satrangi Syaahi

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Satrangi Syaahi by Surendra Kumar Gupta My rating: 3 of 5 stars Satrangi Syahahi can be translated as Rainbow ink. It is about various emotions in poems. Two poets, Surendara Gupta and Neha Jindal contributed the poems. Sh Surendra was a teacher on Jhansi. He retired and now writes poems. Ms Neha is a poetess. Here debut book was “Phases of Moon”. The book is divided in five parts: 1. Vyangya (Satire) – These poems are about politics and life in general and take a satirical look. “Sharafat ke Pujari” by Neha is about how the society has become corrupt and the gentleman is left behing in the race. 2. Bundelkhand ke Gaurav (Gaurav of Bundelkhand)- Poems about Rani Jhansi, Maithili Sharan Gupt and Dhyanchand. 3. Deshprem (patriotic) - “ Pak teri akal Baurai” is about misadventures of Pakistan. 4. Bhav Bhini (Emotional)- “Priyatma Tum to Badal Gaye” is about various phases of love. 5. Chhanikaye (momentary) – These are short poems. The poems are good and

Review: Tarikshir: The Awakening

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Tarikshir: The Awakening by Khayaal Patel My rating: 4 of 5 stars Fantasy makes good stories. In India the fantasy genre draws a lot from mythology and Puranic tales. Khayal Patel wrote a decent story. Ramayan is the greatest story ever written. It is source of inspiration to countless poets/ writers. This story also takes inspiration from Ramayan. However, I want to make it clear at the outset that the story is original creation and only some things are borrowed from Ramayan so as to start the tale. In the very beginning Valikesh, a simple foot soldier in Rama’s army goes to Ravana’s palace after the war. There he finds an evil stone whose power is difficult to contain. This stone is a gateway to evil Tarikshir. Then the story comes to British India where Prince Rudra Pratap Chauhan of Devangarh is confused about war or peace with the British. The shrewd Britisher Walken is on the heels of Raja Ravindra Pratap. Ravindra is totally against of succumb

Review: Key to My Soul

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Key to My Soul by Probal Mazumdar My rating: 3 of 5 stars Book cover tells that Probal Majumdar is “The national first prize poetry winner” of Year 2014. Key to my Soul is essentially a love story. Sample this poem from the book: “Something has grown wings at last And was flapping within my rib cage. I tried to hold on to it fast But it found its way to this page”. Sidharth and Hazel study in school together. They are opposites and opposites attract. Sidharth a loner and introvert. Hazel is star of the school. As happens in love stories they come close. Then some tragedy sends them apart never to meet again? Or will they meet? The story starts in the steel town of Jamshedpur. The town life revolved around the plant. Sidharth is a poet and painter. He has a collection of Indian poets. He was known as a prodigious painter in school. Hazel is an athlete. She won trophies as well as hearts. The book recollects the famous events from Indian and world hist

Interview of Devika Das author of "The Mind Game"

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Author Bio in first person: An eloquent writer whose words pour out naturally. That’s me, Devika Das. My first encounter with literature happened at the age of 13 when I explored various paths of poetry. Later, I started blogging in 2008 and stepped into novel writing in 2016. Writing is like my second skin.  The poem that I’m really proud of, and which has received a lot of recognition is “For Those At Kargil”, a tribute to all those martyrs who have laid down their lives while serving the nation. Writing gives me a sense of freedom and takes me into a zone where I’m stress free. Creative writing liberates me and is a medium that allows me to be myself. Another reason why I chose to write is because I wanted to express my opinions and voice my thoughts to the public. It’s often noted that a person is not expressing himself/herself clearly when he/she talks to someone; however, writing is a medium that gives that person the liberty since there is less fear of bein

Review: The Mind Game

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The Mind Game by DEVIKA DAS My rating: 4 of 5 stars Our emotions play a big role in our life. According to Dr Daniel Goleman, ’emotional intelligence is defined as a set of skills or competencies, which provide human resource professionals, managers, and anyone in the world of work, with a comprehen­sive tool to define, measure and develop emotional skills’. Emotional intelligence can also be defined as the capacity to recognize our own feelings and those of others for motivating ourselves and managing emotions well in our social interactions. This book about recognizing our emotions and controlling them to our advantage. The book is divided into six sections which are interrelated. Section 1, 2 and 3 deals with mastering emotions, living with less and analysing people. What is the need to control emotions? This is essential for our wellbeing and cordial relations with others. Looking ahead, knowing ourselves, learning from others, guiding emotions e

Review: Rebirth of Love in 2060

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Rebirth of Love in 2060 by Vignesh S.V. My rating: 3 of 5 stars Love in future will be torrid. It will be like Maggi 2 minutes noodles. But earlier it was not. Inter caste or inter religion love was a big deal in today’s time. But when you look at it from future it looks very insignificant thing. Karthi lives in 2060 and was attached to his grand father Bala. When he dies Karthi tries to know about his love story. Ramesh and Sharaz are his friends who joins him in this expedition. He finds out about 6 friends of his grandparents. His grandmother Keerthi was very beautiful and shy. How they met and fell in love is the journey of the book. The book looks back from future to today’s world and customs. Religion is for uniting us and not for divindg. Bala is a hindu and Keerthi is catholic. Religion is just a set of rules to keep us on track. Changing religion for marriage is a terrible idea. People are the way they are because they follow their religion.

Review: Because I love You

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Because I love You by Pradip Chauhan My rating: 3 of 5 stars एक राधा, एक मीरा दोनों ने श्याम को चाहा अन्तर क्या दोनों की चाह में बोलो इक प्रेम दीवानी, इक दरस दीवानी There is a devotion line in Hindu religion which follows the path of love. Krishna and Radha are the epitome of pure love. It is almost platonic. Love is also a medium to each God. But is it happening in modern India? Now a days love means live in relationships or one night stands. Where is the space for that pure platonic love? Kanaji is like Krishna- lover’s king and a perfect flute player. There are Radha and Meera too. Radha loves Kanaji. They work at a construction site. Then some tragedy strikes and seeds of suspicion are sown in Kanaji’s heart. Will the cosmic lovers unite again? Kanaji is like Sri Krishna who can die for Radha. He is from a village and is innocent and pure. Radha is also pious and totally devoted to Kanaji. There is a Gandharva Vivah (love marriage in front of God

Review: The Gift

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The Gift by Sourabh Mukherjee My rating: 3 of 5 stars Does live in relationships work? Is it a modern phenomenon or an age old thing. Aarav’s live in GF gets pregnant and he is confused what to do. She leaves him in a rage. He goes to Mussorie to his old home and complete the novel. His uncle was a successful businessman who withdrew to that home later on. There his uncle met a mysterious woman and fell in love. The story is simple but tugs at your heart. It is olden days live in kind of thing. Is love name of sacrifice? This is fort part of the series and was very good. 3/ 5 stars. View all my reviews

Review: Daredreamers: A Start-up of Superheroes

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Daredreamers: A Start-up of Superheroes by Kartik Sharma My rating: 3 of 5 stars A startup is defined by Wikipedia as: “A startup or start-up is an entrepreneurial venture which is a newly emerged business venture that aims to meet a marketplace need, want or problem by developing a viable business model around products, services, processes or platforms. A startup is a new business venture designed to effectively develop and validate a scalable business model. Start-ups do have high rates of failure, but the minority that have gone on to be successful includes companies that have become large and influential.” There are many tech startups in all over the world. But a startup of super heroes? This is certainly a novel idea. The book is divided into parts and action starts from part 3. In part one RASIQ joins an investment form in Mumbai. There he works 24x7 without breaks. His girlfriend of college days leaves him because he cannot devote time to her

Review: Heart Quake

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Heart Quake by Ishita Deshmukh My rating: 3 of 5 stars Natural disasters are unfortunate. These cannot be prevented, averted, predicted with certainty. Only thing we can do is minimize the damage or do better post disaster relief work. One of the most devastating earthquake in the history of independent India hit Bhuj, Gujarat in 2001. There was a colossal loss of life and property. Jagrut Samaj, an NGO under Doctor Shah is working tirelessly for relief work. Soanl also joins the camp. Tejas also joins the NGO and relief work. They come close and then…. The book brings to fore the horrors of devastating earthquake of Bhuj. Natural disasters bring the best and worst out of humans. On one hand there is Jarut Samaj which work for relief and on the other hand there is a gang in Rajasthan which deals in spurious drugs. They use this disaster to slip in their fake medicines in relief camps. 3/ 5 stars. View all my reviews

Review: A New Dawn

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A New Dawn by Kamini Kusum My rating: 3 of 5 stars “Stop it right away. I will never allow you to marry a rickshaw puller’s son whose father was locked up in a police station. What would you say to the whole world? Your Father in law was a thief, your mother in law cleaned utensils and the whole family lived in our servant quarter. Have you cared about my prestige? Now that you are learning a lot, do you think you can do whatever you like?” The above quote sums up the story of “A New Dawn”. Love doesn’t know the boundaries of caste, creed, society, financial status and religion. Shivaynath is an honest and upright high ranking official in Indian Railways. He has two daughters- Mughda and Vibha. Mugdha is elder one. He gives shelter to Ramlal, a Rickshaw puller in his servant quarters who has two sons- Shravan and Ganesh. Shravan is the elder one. Ramlal worked hard to give his sons the best education. They got admitted to Mughda’s school in EWS categ

Review: Punk Sunk Love

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Punk Sunk Love by Dhirendra Tiwari My rating: 3 of 5 stars “feeki syahi se bana na silvet Waqt ka dhoka bana de naa kahin sarhad Bani sarhad to thanadar bana chahat mayoosiyat mein ro dega” This modern-day love story is hip and happening. This has everything from romance, sex, heartache and triangle. Roy is an MBA graduate and in a high profile job of investment banking. Monica is his colleague and love interest. Shammi is a rich spoilt brat who is in and out of relationships. Love doesn’t exist for him and sex is his only goal. That changes when he meets Sona. These four people paths cross and then everything jumbles up. The feel and lingo of the book is very hip. Setting is also posh and modern. There are many Hindi and urdu shayaris written in roman English. Love prevails in the end or is it not? The book is for young generation and will surely appeal to them. However the concept of love is treated very lightly. 3/ 5 stars. View all

Interview of Preetika Mehra author of "Let You Be My Puppet Once"

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  A brief Bio of Preetika Mehra: MBA from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) Delhi, Economics Graduate from the University of Delhi. Currently working with an MNC. Since childhood, have been passionate about social structures, economic policies and philosophy, analyzing and finding connections in all of them. In free time, love reading and learning about Zodiac signs, practicing yoga, and cooking. Website https://www.facebook.com/letyoubemypuppetonce/ Twitter https://twitter.com/PreetikaMehra Interview 1.    Tell me something about yourself. How does your personality affect your writing? Ans: Being an economics student, I have always been passionate about analysing economic policies and social structures. There are many observations we make on daily basis on these subjects and consciously or sub-consciously we have opinions about them. I felt like writing on these subjects and simultaneously gave it a shape of a story to make it interesting

Review: Work, Workers & Workplaces: Using space as the starting point of innovation.

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Work, Workers & Workplaces: Using space as the starting point of innovation. by Parthajeet Sarma My rating: 3 of 5 stars “Mark Twain is credited to have written his books while pacing around and dictating. Charles Dickens went for walks in the middle of his work to distract his mind, and the most brilliant ideas came to him during walks. Even if the conscious mind stops working the sub conscious mind keeps working on it.” With the IT revolution everything changed. Now instead of manufacturing and agricultural society the focus has shifted to knowledge society. Traditional system of work and workplace has to give way to new systems. New workplace should be a blend of workspace, infotainment zone and recreational/ play area. Humans seeks constant gratification in this age of materials and constant information overload. There is a sense of FOMO (Fear of missing out). Hence the workspace and HR has to accommodate the changed paradigm. The book is val

Review: The Last Attractor Of Chaos

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The Last Attractor Of Chaos by Abhinav Singh My rating: 4 of 5 stars “It had been two years since India had conducted its second nuclear tests in Pokhran and one year since the Kargil war. The Indian leadership had declared that its weapons were a deterrent, a way to avert a nuclear war instead f starting one. The Indian government had stated repeatedly on various international platforms that it was following a policy of “NO first Use”. A spy thriller with supernatural elements is called “The last attractor of Chaos”. India, China and Pakistan and neighbour for forever and enemies too. All three are nuclear powers and the situation is tense all the time. Pakistan is a rogue state and China uses it to its advantage. Pak leverage the situation by taking arms from China and money from USA. A weapon is stolen and it can cripple an entire city. Shruti is an retired agent. She marries Ashwin Rathore, a civilian and settles for a domestic life. She become

Review: Let You Be My Puppet Once

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Let You Be My Puppet Once by Preetika Mehra My rating: 3 of 5 stars I am your elder brother, but I have no problems in working as your junior, trust me. Having the elder brother take the throne has caused many younger one’s plan and kill them. Our Indian history is full of such examples. So, I am making it clear to you. I know you are smarter than me. You work harder, and you are more ambitious. I am completely okay being your right-hand man provided we stick together. I love you and my wife much more than any powerful position in the party. If you don’t believe me, then I can resign tomorrow. But, please don’t repeat the bad Indian history in this house and this is my earnest request to you. Politics is a dirty game. Brothers killed brothers for the crown. Can four persons can do something about it? Karan, Saima, Josh and Vedica takes up new job in Mumbai. They live together. Saima and Josh are dating and Karan likes Vedica. Saima is sister of Meghn

Interview of Neena H. Brar, author of Tied to deceit by

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A brief introduction of Mrs Neena Brar Neena H. Brar lives in Edmonton, Canada with her husband, two children, a highly energetic German Shepherd, and a lifetime collection of her favorite books.  A hermit at heart, she's a permissive mother, a reluctant housekeeper, a superb cook, and a hard-core reader. Tied to Deceit is her debut novel. Website http://neenabrar.com 1.        Tell me something about yourself. How does your personality affect your writing? Answer: I was born and brought up in a small town in Punjab and moved to Canada after marrying a second generation Canadian Punjabi. I’ve two children: 11 and 9 and live in Edmonton, Alberta. I’ve a Masters in Business Administration. Nature-wise, I’m more of a feeler and that enables me to put myself in characters’ head and do the thinking.   Also, as a feeler, I can easily grasp the context of big picture without being aware of its various details. That helped me work out various detai