Nobody’s Child-Kanchana Banerjee

Book: Nobody’s Child

Author: Kanchana Banerjee

Publisher: Harper Collins India

Fame is something that extracts its own price, and in their quest for fame and money, a darker side of people emerges.

Nobody’s Child by Kanchana Banerjee is the story of a young woman, who is found on the streets of Mumbai, addled with drugs. As the story unfolds, she’s identified as Asavri Bhattacharya, the 2016 winner of the famous TV reality show Indian Koel. The problem, Asavri was supposed to have died in a car crash, soon after winning the show. As soon as the news start leaking, the press starts looking for answers, and questions start coming up. If the woman found on the streets of Mumbai is the real Asavri, who had died in the accident? If it was a staged accident, who was behind it, was it Tanya, the runner up, who was declared the winner after her death, or was it Rudra, Asavri’s estranged husband? Did Avniel, the film journalist who shot to fame after writing her biography after her death behind all the events that were transpiring, or had Kamini Devi, the glamorous MP who hatched a sinister plan? All this is revealed as you explore the story of Nobody’s Child.

Nobody’s Child is a story that explores the underbelly of the reality TV shows and the cost of fame. The plot of the book is racy, with twists strewn across the book. The story explores the concept of Stockholm Syndrome and how that can change a person to their core. Kanchana has taken up multiple sub plots in the story, be the basic human nature to be selfish, the hounding nature of the press and the grey area between strategy and vendetta in politics. The story has a captivating way of hooking the reader to the book and keeping him engaged. The one thing that stands out for me is that the protagonist of the book is Asavri, yet we hear her voice almost in the end, as we live her life through the eyes of others. The climax of the book was unexpected, and I loved the fact that even the minutest of details were tied up in the end.

Coming to the characters, the book rests on the way each of the character develops through the plot. The author has crafted characters which are quite unique yet finding them around you would not prove to be a futile exercise. Each of the characters has had a backstory that shows that they benefitted from Asavri’s death, as well as her reappearance. The character arc of Kamini from the bylanes of Varanasi to the power corridors of Maharashtra is amazing and was one of the ones that stood out for me. As a politician’s politician, she showed a great deal of cunningness. Coming to Avniel, this is a classic case of a boy who called wolf and it was just amazing to see how building up trust takes years and takes just one moment to break up. Other characters such as Dheeraj, Bhai, Monty etc. were great as well.

The title has a very subtle message as to the theme and the plotline of the book and as I turned over the last page, it dawned upon me. I’ll let the reader experience that for themselves.

Overall, a definite recommendation and the book scores a 4.88/5 for me.

Get a copy of the book here.

Bitter Sweet Revenge-Pragati Jain

Book: Bitter Sweet Revenge

Author: Pragati Jain

Publisher: Self Published

Stories with Crime as a backdrop promise to be something more than just a thriller.

Bitter Sweet Revenge by Pragati Jain is a collection of 8 short stories that are bound by a common thread of crime-based-thrill. This book is a collection of thriller, crime short stories which promise to take you for an exhilarating ride. The one which you would want to take again and again. The first story is Walk by Faith, which is the story of how a family member dies during a reunion and the events that unfold after it. The second story Greed is the Root of All Evil is the story of how the greed of one person in an organization can cause pain to a lot of people. Love knows no boundaries, and that is precisely the theme of the third story, It is not the Man who has little, but he who desires more, that is poor. Am I Shining too Bright for You is the story of the power of wanting someone, to the extent of destroying the very fabric of who you are. Justice is Truth in Action is the story of a man who meets the love of his life at a place no one would have expected. What Goes Around Comes Around tells the story of Saju and his quest to find the murderer of his wife. Nothing Hurts more than Knowing it was never meant to be is the story of how misconceptions and half-baked facts can ruin a relationship. The last story is of revenge and how Returning the Favour brings 2 people closer.

Bitter Sweet Revenge by Pragati Jain follows a decent storyline but fails to deliver on the thrill factor promised in the blurb. The tone of the storytelling is good but fails to catch the readers attention. for all the stories, the climax is quite drab and takes the major fun out of the book. Another thing that didn’t work for me was the pace of the stories as it was quite rushed, as if the author had a deadline to fulfill for the story. The titles of the stories are not completely in sync with the story and they should have been refined a bit more to suit the story.

Coming to the characters, none of them was notable as such to be mentioned specifically, but Pragati has duly put unique characters in each story which is commendable.

Overall, it was a decent read that can be recommended for people looking for light reads which do not require much focus or attention and can be read breezily.

The book scores a 2.88/5 from me.

Get a copy of the book here.

Charioteer Creatures in Mind-Abhishek Mishra

Book: Charioteer Creatures in Mind

Author: Abhishek Mishra

Publisher: Maple Press

Sometimes playing with someone’s mind can have disastrous consequences.

Charioteer Creatures in Mind by Abhishek Mishra is the story of Vikram Saha, an agent with the Indian Intelligence. He comes across a research centre that is doing some research on human subjects. As a side effect of these tests, the subjects acquire a mental illness and evidence shows that these people were tested with telepathy and hypnosis. He decides to investigate and comes across something really strange.

Charioteer Creatures in Mind is a book that has a very confusing storyline. Throughout the book, the plot has no solid standing and as a reader, it is very difficult to make sense of what is happening. The situations are very difficult to make out and the plotlines are extremely blurry. The storyline is set in New Delhi, Noida and Kashmir, but unless explicitly stated, making sense of the location is impossible. The storyline of the book bears a heavy resemblance to a Hollywood movie and at times, it seems that one is adapted from the other. Another thing that aggravates this issue in the story is the extremely poor editing. Not one sentence in the book has a proper grammatical structure and at places, even the names of the characters are mixed up. The climax of the book, like the whole story, is confusing.

Coming to the characters, the only character I could properly understand was Vikram Saha, and that also to the part that he was attached to his Grandmother, who was killed in an attack when he was young. None of the other characters, be it Firoz, Akira or the professor, none of them had a proper introduction which could establish them in the story and the reason for their existence.

Overall, the book scores a 1.19/5 from me, and I would advise a thorough proofreading and editing of the book.

Get a copy of the book here.

Aham-Saurabh Thakur

Book: Aham (Book 1 of the Aham Trilogy)

Author: Saurabh Thakur

Publisher: Locksley Hill Publishing LLP

Past is an important thing that can influence your present, and probably mould your future.

Aham by Saurabh Thakur is the first book in the Aham Trilogy which is based in a fictional world where Demons, Humans and Spirits live in Netherworld, Earth and Arcadia. This is the story of Vaanee, a demon who’s driven by revenge against the Spirits and is on a quest to bring them down. On the other side, Rwiju is one of the Rekhyt warriors in charge of the safety of the Earth, who has a mysterious past. The destinies of Spirits and Demons is about to collide, and it holds the power to change the order of the Universe. What happens when the people cross realms and chaos rules?

The book draws its inspiration from the mythological stories of Gods, Humans and Demons. Even the backstory of how the realms came into existence is inspired but has been told in a good manner. This book focusses on Vaanee and her quest for revenge and the parallel storyline establishes the story of Rwiju and the Rekhyts. The author has taken due care to create a world that is believable and the slow and steady pace of establishing facts, which picks up pace as one moves ahead is interesting. The storyline is engaging and captivates the reader to keep on turning the page. Light humor, like that of the dressing sense of the mage keeps the reader hooked to the story. The book ends on an amazing cliffhanger, one that makes the wait for the next book difficult.

Coming to the characters, Saurabh has created some amazing characters, each with their individual features. I loved the character of Vaanee and her steadfast attitude towards her mission. Her leadership and presence of mind gives a very different aura to her. Rwiju is another character who has an air of uncertainty yet is fearless and is quite similar to Vaanee. The author has taken his time and through the scene where the students in the Rekhyts are learning, we get to understand the world that he has created as he introduces the types of demons, transportation system, clans etc. 

Overall, Aham promises to be a good trilogy and scores a 4.5/5 from me.

Get a copy here.

4’KD Design-Kavita Jhala

Book: 4’KD Design-Journeying Through Design Thinking and Processing Output

Author: Kavita Jhala

Publisher: Self Published

Balancing creativity and logic have always been one problem that has flummoxed designers.

4’KD Design by Kavita Jhala is a short guide on how to use effective design thinking. Designing is a process that is used to identify problems and propose effective solutions, but more often than not, products fail to fulfill their designed objectives. The only way to correct this is to Rethink your design and this is precisely what this book does. This book gets you into the flow of the design process enabling you to create your pathway.

The book is divided into 10 chapters that begin from the basics of design and take you through the entire process of how the brain works, balancing logic and creativity, how to incorporate design thinking, what constitutes a good design and how to make it work. After understanding the process of designing and the art behind balancing logic and creativity, we move on to a critical aspect, which is understanding what is to be done, and the author recommends a design checklist, which leads to establishment of good design practices, which are detailed in the book and one can understand them quite easily. Kavita also gives the reader a roadmap which one can follow to ensure good design practices and maintain a healthy balance between concept and actualization. Once the process is done, the author emphasizes that reflection on your design is important by means of feedback through various means to ensure learning and improvement of one’s own process. In the end, Kavita has given some tools that can be used for implementing the concepts explained in the book as well as some good recommendations for readings on the subject.

Overall, it is a short but an effective read on design thinking and I would recommend it to everyone. Its just not about design, its about a process and how you create ideas, concepts and products that work, and in that context, it is relevant to everyone, be it a student, a manager or an artist or a creator.

The book scores a 4.33/5 from me.

Get a copy here.

Murder at the Polo Bar-Gautam

Book: Murder at the Polo Bar

Author: Gautam

Publisher: Kalamos Instareads

Who is the one person you would trust to keep your secret?

Murder at the Polo Bar by Gautam is the story of 5 college students who become friends with the owner of the bar, a peer. They get together to celebrate Aadi’s birthday, when something terrible happens. A murder in this sleazy bar, in a small town near Goa makes these 5 people suspects, and as the investigation proceeds, things start to go grave.

The story of the book revolves primarily around the 6 major characters-Rohan, Isha, Aadi, Sanam, Zoya and Tania. All of them study in a reputed college, and it had a certain class of people studying there, ones who were among the affluent ones, though we have Zoya and Sanam, two people who were in the college on a scholarship. When one of them gets murdered during a birthday party organized for Aadi, the police gets involved and each of them gets interrogated. Each of the interrogation forms a chapter of the book, and we get to know their connection to the victim. The storytelling is good, and the plot captivates you as it seems to be a bit more than what meets the eye. The one thing that I feel could have been better was the climax as the ending was quite abrupt and leaves the reader confused.

Each of the Characters- Rohan, Isha, Aadi, Sanam, Zoya and Tania are crafted quite individually and keeping such a variety of characters in a novella is an amazing feat. The background stories are believable, and I appreciate the author for it.

Overall, a decent read which gets a 3.75/5 from me.

Get a copy here.

Yours Legally -Sonia Sahijwani

Book: Yours Legally
Author: Sonia Sahijwani
Publisher: BecomeShakespeare.com

A lot has been written in and around the law in fiction, and imagining a short story to come out in a legal context is difficult, right?

Yours Legally by Sonia Sahijwani is a collection of 6 short stories which have a centre around the legal profession, and each of the story bears a connection to the 6 elements of the legal profession- The Case, The Court, The Counsel, The Complainant. The confinement and The Criminal. Another thing that makes the book unique is that all the 6 stories are connected by a single character, Sia. The first story 99 vs Ninyanve is the story where we see the concept of the complainant coming forward and how Sia realizes why her boss had taken up the case. The Kid on the last Bench was a lesson for Sia that it might be said that the law is blind, but the court takes cognizance of whatever happens before it and considers it in its entirety. Indian Justice system has a lot of pending cases, and one of which features as the third story in the book The Wait for Item No. 25 where Sia is faced with a fact, no matter how late it is, the system never fails in delivering justice. Behind Those Dark Shades is a true story encountered by the author and speaks volumes about the dedication of the counsels to their cases. Jail No. 5 and Qaidi No. 90 are two parts of a complete story where we have an inside account of the Jails in India, as well as an account of The Criminal housed inside it.

Yours Legally is an amazing read that explores the subject of law from a very fresh perspective. Being an insider’s account, the incidents are wonderfully created and as a reader, one can immerse themselves in the story, moving with Sia. The language is quite simple to understand and that is a point that works both ways for me. The story telling is engaging and Sonia has used quite a lot of legal terms which are duly explained. I loved the concept of relating each story with an element in the profession which is mentioned quite clearly with each story. Another thing that I loved was that each story began with a Latin phrase, relating to the legal profession, as well as the story.

The characterization if Sia is quite realistic and it was a pleasure journeying around her in a city in North India and learning few things about the legal system through her eyes. The character has been shown to having many facets to her personality-she is chirpy, bubbly, serious, emphatic and what not.

Overall, the book is a decent read and scores a 3.56/5 for me.

Get a copy here.

Maya-Lifting the Veil - Amar B. Singh

Book: Maya-Lifting the Veil
Author: Amar B. Singh

Publisher: Amazon Kindle

The spread of the pandemic worldwide has caused chaos and things as we know have ceased to exist. Everyone is looking at things with a new perspective.

Maya-Lifting the Veil by Amar B. Singh is an attempt to look at the situation by drawing parallels to the Mahabharata. The poem begins when Arjuna, a face in the crowd of the mass exodus of labour moving towards their home, carrying his son on his shoulder stumbles and he falls. The scene moves on to Kurukshetra where he realizes that his son has a fever and is positive for the infection with the virus. As the son passes away, the father decides to kill himself when the almighty decides to give him a sermon.

The book draws parallel with the Mahabharata at many levels. The scene is similar to that when Krishna narrates the Bhagavad Geeta to Arjun during the battle of Kurukshetra when he loses all hope. The book is written like a poem with a similar tone. The concepts are explained in a good manner and the way Amar has taken the ancient sayings and adapted them to the present time and presented is good. The way some subtle messages about topics like being sustainable have been delivered are good as well. The book has a couple of grammatical issues, but the author has put a disclaimer in the beginning stating the same, however I feel that at least 1 round of editing wouldn’t have damaged the book. The concept if drawing parallels is worth mentioning, but the same thing in a prose manner would have been better as the poetry was not able to invoke the required emotions in me.

Overall, a decent book and scores a 3.13/5 from me.

Get a copy here.

Tales of You, Me and Them-Anju Darshini

Book: Tales of You, Me and Them
Author: Anju Darshini
Publisher: Leadstart Publishing

Hometowns have their own charm, own stories and no matter how far away you move, you’ll always have the memories.

Tales of You, Me and Them by Anju Darshini is a collection of 8 short stories based in Keeladi, in Tamil Nadu. The Train Journey is the story of Sithara and her lost love, and how sometimes journeys can be fulfilling and in the truest sense, move you. Her Revelations is a story set in time of the Mughals where Kalaivani falls in love with a married man, and despite being in love, the society casts her out but her love remains eternal. Megha Tells Her Story is a powerful commentary on the sexual exploitation of women at workplace, and how the strength of one woman can power another to raise her voice against the injustice. I Chase My Dreams introduces us to Majula, who marries in a family with all pleasures of the life provided to her, yet she dreams of finding her own voice, escaping from the claustrophobic feeling she endured for a long time, and how an offspring can be a big support. The Keeper of the Light is another story that tells us the power of sibling love and how it protects us, even if they are apart.  In Confessions of a Lost Soul, we meet Kumar and are exposed to the effects of parental dependency on their children for support to an extent, where the child loses its individuality. The Siren is the story of Sarah and Jason who met under very painful circumstances yet fell in love and as the years passed by, their love increased, but they never admitted to it but one day, something changes, and a journey ensues. The Paparazzi is another swing at the omnipresent paparazzi around film stars and their families, without any regard to their privacy. When Ayaan decides to take matters in his own hands, will the paparazzi walk away?

Tales of You, Me and Them by Anju Darshini is a collection of 8 wonderful stories that goes across themes. While some of the stories talk about romance and love between partners, some of them talk about sibling love and rivalry. Each of the story has its own flavor and it is a pleasure journeying through each of the stories. The language of the book is simple and compelling. The descriptions are vivid and engaging and you can imagine the scenes as they emerge. Each story has a small prologue that adds a different sense to the story as well. The plotline is interesting and the small twists along the road just add more amazement for the reader.

Coming to the characters, each of the 8 stories has a good mix of characters, some that you would see around you. Relating to the protagonists is easy and Anju makes sure that the reader does that. The journey of the characters is wonderful, and personally, I connected with the story of Sithara, Manjula and Jason.

A wonderful read, this book gets a 4.5/5 from me.

Get a copy here.

Frosted Glass-Sabarna Roy

Book: Frosted Glass

Author: Sabarna Roy

Publisher: Leadstart Publishing

Do you believe emotions are the true drivers of one’s actions and destiny?

Frosted Glass by Sabarna Roy is a collection of 14 short stories and 21 poems that are primarily based in and around the city of Kolkata. The 14 short stories are bound by a common thread, and that is a character named Rahul, who features in all the stories. The stories are across various themes with infidelity, romance, assault etc. featuring in some form or the other. The 21 poems are on the same lines of varied ideas, but the common theme that I found was melancholy and sadness that was a common thread in this cycle of the book.

Talking about the short stories first, I loved the way the stories have been crafted and the manner in which Sabarna has treated the plot of each of the story. Even though the name of the central character remains same, each of the story enjoys an individual flavor that is the true soul of this book. Set primarily in the city of Kolkata, you come across some typical landmarks of the city like Camac Street, Victoria Memorial and it seems as if the author transported back to old times and wrote it in the truest flavor, when it was Calcutta, and not Kolkata. Out of the 14 short stories, I loved Midnight Conversation, The Reunion and The Lie, for they were very soul stirring and interesting. The one thing I found peculiar was the abrupt ending of the stories, which was a constant throughout the book. While this could be by design, I would have, however, preferred a better ending to the beautifully crafted stories.

Coming to the poems, this was where it was a miss for me. Poems like Love and Wishes worked for me, the others in this cycle were a bit confusing. Put as a part of the poem cycle, these are formatted like a story and that creates a deception for the reader. The full stops are missing, which again lead to a perception that it is a poorly edited story, rather than a poem. The emotions in the poems were raw and effective, but they missed the charm that the short stories exuded.

Overall, Sabarna has created a good piece that invokes a flurry of emotions as you read the book. The storytelling is engaging, and the concept of an open-ended story is interesting to see. The title of the book, Frosted Glass is probably a way of hinting that the stories have a hazy point of view and the reader gets to imagine as the story flows.

The book gets a 3.88/5 from me.

Get a copy of the book here.

Murder in Mahim-Jerry Pinto

Book: Murder in Mahim

Author: Jerry Pinto

Publisher: Speaking Tiger Books

Can a story have a single storyline, yet cover multiple facets of human emotions?

Murder in Mahim by Jerry Pinto does precisely this. A young man is found dead in the toilet of Matunga Road Railway station, killed in a gruesome way. Through his friendship with Inspector Jende of the Mumbai Police, Retired Journalist Peter Fernandes joins the investigation. What unfolds is not just a criminal investigation, but introduces Peter to a world of secret desire, greed and desire, and he fears his son maybe a part of this. Peter and Inspector Jende try to unravel the threads of the crime, with Leslie Sequeira, his guide into this world.

Murder in Mahim was a powerful read. On the surface, it feels like a murder mystery and that a cop and a civilian are on a quest to unravel it, but as one moves along the story, many themes emerge. The first of which is the stigma around homosexuality and how we react to it. Taking up that as the centre piece of the story, Jerry, through Peter, explores the journey of knowing about the world, initial stigma and eventual acceptance. They also explore the world where men seek out men and his exploration of the world. The investigation has been shown in detail, along with the quirks of the Indian investigation system, and how Peter’s ideas work out for it. The climax was interesting and the way the entire story ties up in the end is worthy of an applause.

Coming to the characters, Jerry has sketched very quintessential Mumbai characters. Peter and Millie are typical middle-Class Indian people, with a simple idea of life and that includes staying away from trouble. Inspector Jende is shown to be an honest cop and Jerry comments this as being an aberration, thus creating a twinge of sarcasm while he does this. Coming to Leslie Sequiera, he seems to be a wonderful character that added a different flavor to the story, and you might just find someone like him strolling down the streets of Bandra. Unit as a character amazed me because of the fluctuations in his shades and how things unfolded for him as well. Last, but not the least, Jerry has used Mumbai as a character and while describing the city, we see the city come to life.

Overall, it was an amazing read and a definite recommendation.

This book scores a 4.5/5 from me.

Grab a copy here!

Batman’s Guide to Life-Chetan Soni

Book: Batman’s Guide to Life: Breaking Myths Since 1994

Author: Chetan Soni

Publisher: Amazon Kindle

Sometimes long essays are not enough to convey your point, sometimes, it just takes a couple of lines.

Batman’s Guide to Life by Chetan Soni can be summed up in this one line. This book has around 5 dozen thoughts that invoke a range of emotions from deep thinking to laughter and each of them is quite different from the other. The book opens with a prologue, describing what is a prologue, and with that the tone of the book is set. Then we move on to the reason why the book is named so, and Chetan makes quite a convincing argument for that one, and then we delve into his mind till we reach the The Long Short Story of Kabir-Sonia.

Writing about this book is a challenge in itself because Chetan has used brevity to convey his message. Each of the quotes in the book are a story in themselves and you cannot but imagine the grey between the lines. For example, “Instagram has made more photographers than Canon or Nikon ever did.” And this is my favourite, “In India, there are two types of people-Party AND Broker”  and then it hits you, the idea behind the line and this is true for each and every line in the book. Now coming to the twist in the tale, The Long Short Story of Kabir-Sonia is a wonderfully crafted love story between 2 people who beat the odds and made distance their friend. This story deserves a special mention for the very fact that it felt real, like I am watching it unfold and it was mesmerizing.

A definite recommendation, grab a copy at the earliest!

Batman takes away 4.38/5 from me.

Get a copy here.