Learning to Make Tea for One-Andaleeb Wajid

Book: Learning to Make Tea for One: Reflections on Love, Loss, and Healing
Author: Andaleeb Wajid
Publisher: Speaking Tiger

I was provided a media copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

How do you deal with grief?

In the summer of 2021, India was throttled by the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospitals were running out of oxygen and the daily news recorded the soaring death count. Families were torn apart as beloved ones were quarantined or confined in intensive care units and lost to the deadly virus—leaving survivors without even a chance to say goodbye. In that cruel summer, Andaleeb Wajid lost her mother-in-law, and then just five days later, her husband, even as she was hospitalised with COVID herself. Wajid’s grief struggled to find words as she returned to a home that was shorn of the love that had once inhabited it and was now empty, but for her two children. Wajid finally turned to her writing to make sense of it all. She found herself wanting to tell the story of her life and her loss. She chronicled her family life, of growing up as a cherished daughter of a father whom she lost too early. She wrote about her marriage, the happy companionship that marked it, and the many ways in which her husband and she looked at life so very differently. She described the incredible joys and the unbearable pain of motherhood too. Learning to Make Tea for One is Andaleeb Wajid’s journey through her grief. She tells her story with truth and courage, looking at death squarely in the face as she learns to make tea for one. It is a story that will deeply touch anyone who has faced loss and pain.

Andaleeb’s memoir tells us the story of how she lost two of her family members during the Covid wave of 2019, and how she dealt with the loss. While that is the central idea of the book, Andaleeb explores something even more visceral in the book. It is not just about loss and changes in her life, but she explores how she felt during that time, shuffling between hospitals, dealing with all that was happening around her. Andaleeb tells us the story of how she dealt with grief when she lost her father too early, or the pain of motherhood. While reading the memoir, you almost feel that she is telling you the story sitting next to you, and some of the moments are so visual that you feel the same emotions that she must have been feeling. She also chronicles the story of how she started writing and her journey of becoming an author through her experiences as well as of those around her. As her reader, you also come across some instances which inspired some of her stories which she has published.

I really liked how Andaleeb maintains her storytelling prowess while narrating some of the lowest moments of her life, and some of the high points as well. Outlining the importance of the support of family and friends, you realise that as a social animal, you need the people around you to be your pillars of support. Her narration of small things that remind her of her father, her mother-in-law, and husband was quite vivid, and the moment where she is preparing tea after coming home was something that will stay with me for quite some time, and this is also the place from where the title comes from. The book moves in time as she tells the story, and just like a memory, it flits between time and instances where one memory leads to another and just like that a chain of moments are revealed.

This is a memoir that should be read not just because it presents a perspective on how to deal with grief, but also chronicles the story of a person who moves ahead with life, despite the setbacks. The book scores a 4.88/5 for me.

Get a copy of the book on Amazon India or a bookstore near you.

Haadsaa-Vish Dhamija

Book: Haadsaa
Author: Vish Dhamija
Publisher: Bloomsbury India

I was provided a media copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Have you ever played snakes and ladders?

Beautiful young Anushka Khan is a privileged South Delhi wife. Her perfect world turns upside down when she awakens in the hospital, beaten and bruised, her body overrun with prescription drugs and alcohol. Her husband, the nawab Akbar Khan, is missing, suspected of murdering their friend Rajiv Pant at their palatial home in the swanky Sainik Farms. As Anushka makes a slow recovery, trying to piece together her memories of the haadsaa that fatal night, she must contend with ACP Kamala Jha, a diligent young police officer. Jha is focused on uncovering the truth hidden in a web of misleading theories and dirty secrets. Was Anushka having an affair with Rajiv? Was Akbar involved in shady hawala dealings? Was there another man present that evening? What really happened that hot July night in Sainik Farms? Bestselling author Vish Dhamija's latest thriller, Haadsaa, is a maze of deception, leaving you questioning whom to trust.

Vish’s writing is wildly misdirectional and every page attempts to throw you off course. The book is a simple whodunnit and each chapter takes you that much closer to finding the killer. Easy right? Unfortunately, with Vish, this time the book is placed on a hypothetical snakes-and-ladder board, where the moment you are close to 100, you get bit and you start at the very beginning. The writing in the book is easy to read, but the complexity of the story is par excellence. The plot is very well planned, and along with ACP Kamala Jha, even you start racking your brains to find Akbar Khan and I must say I came very close to the truth, but alas the curse of the 98 bit me again. The storytelling is powerful and the plot twists are quite interesting to read. The visual aspect of Vish’s writing comes out very nicely and a good example of this is the clock in Anushka’s room. While inanimate and stationary, the mere mention of it becomes a part of the storytelling. Every time you get to hear the events of the fateful night, you try and figure out the reason why and then you come to the climax, and suddenly it is not just the characters, you realise that you’ve been misdirected as well, and it is not just the people in the book, but by our very own storyteller in his signature style using the very elements he has included to help you keep on track in the story. The climax is something that some people might not agree with, however I feel that given the core idea of the book, it was a perfect way to close the story.

Coming to the characters, ACP Kamala Jha is a tenacious investigator and I loved the way she has been integrated into the story. Even in the face of the strongest challenge, she strives ahead in the face of truth. With the stories that are being told to her, she takes her time and separates the chaff from the wheat. The other characters-Anushka, Aanya, Siddharth, Monica, Piyush and Dr. Aryan-each of them are a part of the story, whether knowingly or unknowingly and after a point, you are not sure whom to trust because of the secrets that are coming tumbling out. I loved how each character gets their time in the story and then gets a graceful stage exit until the spotlight remains on the key characters.

Haadsaa is a book that stupefies you, thrills you, confuses you, but at the same time puts up a question-do we really know the people around us. The book scores a 4.94/5 for me.

Grab a copy of the book on Amazon India or a bookstore near you.

Daughter of Two Rivers-Arun Krishnan

Book: Daughter of Two Rivers
Author: Arun Krishnan
Publisher: Penguin India

I was provided a media copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Do you ever look back and think how the people in the older civilizations would have lived?

Undergoing a ravaging drought, the riverside settlement of Rohitaka is at odds, struggling to recover from their losses. When a request from Babylon to trade weapons arrives as a blessing in disguise, a trade delegation, headed by prince Arjuna, and the grizzled veteran, Shrutasena, sets off for the faraway kingdom. An encounter with Lilith, the fierce bodyguard to the Queen, and more importantly, a woman who is hell-bent on despising Arjuna, leaves him flustered. But there’s more to Lilith than meets the eye. The woman is a formidable soldier, but something about her reminds Arjuna of home, Bharatavarsha. But as fate would have it, Arjun and Lilith find themselves entrenched in a political ploy to overthrow Babylon’s King, Sin-Mubalit. Will they be able to stop the usurpers to the throne? And can they trust each other to have their backs as they do so, even as they’re uncovering new secrets on the go? Inspired by the twentieth century discovery of a Sumerian tablet off the coast of Mumbai, Daughter of Two Rivers is a homecoming story. And like all good homecoming stories, it’s a story of learning what home means―across countries, and across time.

Arun uses an interesting real-life discovery to weave a story that seems quite plausible. The writing is very visual and you are transported into Babylon as you start reading the story. What I liked was the fact that the plot is simple, and Arun has used the entire plot to show the importance of the discovery off the coast of Mumbai and only when you finish the book, that you go back and read the part of the discovery again to understand the core of the story. Another interesting aspect of the book is that Arun has not taken too many liberties while crafting fiction from fact and the plot does not seem outlandish. The idea of home is explored in a multifaceted manner and you keep revising the definition of home. Through the idea of family, culture, friends and the basic idea of survival, the author has presented this question many times as to what we call home, and what does it truly mean to lose a home. While the book is well-done, I did feel that the plot was a bit flat, considering the tone of the book. The first half of the book does set the tone and you expect some fireworks in the second half, you are left disappointed because things happen too fast, too easily. That part of the book I believe could have been improved a bit. The climax almost makes you pray for a happy ending, and as soon as you release your breathe, you realise that Arun has pulled one on you, and then the realization of something important, something that the author mentions in the beginning comes on to you. For me, that was the mark of a good storyteller.

Coming to the characters, Arun’s character development is quite imaginative, and I was impressed by the way he uses Arjuna and Lilith’s characters as a mirror of the pairing from the Mahabharata as a symbol. The way Lilith’s character develops in the book was fun to read. The two sides of her character, feisty and a fighter, and on the other hand, this soft-natured woman have been wonderfully balanced and written. Arjuna’s character was fun to read however I felt that a bit more of nuance in his character was required. He came across as a character who is a soldier, but then the other aspects of his character were very much hidden. Shrutasena, on the other hand, impressed me quite a bit, right from the first page to the last, especially his love and devotion.

Overall, this is a nicely written historical fiction that presents a nice interpretation of our ancestors might have lived. The book scores a 4.69/5 for me.

Grab a copy of the book on Amazon India or a bookstore near you. 

History Unpacked-Saisudha Acharya (Illus. by Rohit Bhasi)

Book: History Unpacked-The Why, When and What of Ancient India
Author: Saisudha Acharya
Illustrator: Rohit Bhasi
Publisher: Duckbill

I was provided a media copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Do you think reading History can be made fun?

Does history leave you scratching your head? Does the endless parade of kings, battles and dates make you yawn? Well then, this is the book to change that! It is full of amazing, often hilarious and sometimes baffling stories from ancient India. From the Stone Age to the Golden Age, India's past is full of interesting people, mad antics and unbelievable connections. From central Asia to Kanyakumari and ancient Rome to southeast Asia―ancient India was linked with the world in ways you wouldn't expect! With quizzes, timelines and maps, and laugh-out-loud funny cartoons―the book truly unpacks ancient Indian history and tells you what we know about names, places (as far as we can decipher inscriptions), events and motives (as far as we can figure out!) and of course the strange things that humans do, whether back then or now.

History Unpacked is a wonderfully written book that teaches you the History of our country in a fun and engaging manner. The book spans the Stone Age to the Golden Age, and covers the various people who ruled over this land. Saisudha’s writing is quite interesting and keeps you turning the pages. Most of us have felt sleepy while reading History in our classrooms, however this book does the opposite. Each section of the book is very well written and reads like a story. Aimed for a young audience, the storytelling method of the book would certainly garner attention from the target group. The 10 chapters in the book are clearly segregated in specific timelines and talk about very specific aspects of History. Apart from the facts and history, there are maps, quizzes, and activities. This part of the book is something I enjoyed (even being out of the target audience), specially because it helps you connect with the facts as well, at the same time have some fun, reliving history. I would like to specially mention about the last chapter where the book explores the history of the North East, and the fact that the author admits that there is not much facts to develop this part of our history.

Coming to another aspect of the book, the illustrations complement the book wonderfully. The illustrations are not just some pictures. Each of the illustrations is wonderfully thought out and equally fun-filled as the text. Rohit has blended contemporary aspects with history with elements such as hashtags, selfies etc., somethings that the target audience would be able to relate as well. Each chapter is preceded with a timeline that summarizes the chapter and its illustration adds a wonderful layer to the storytelling.

Overall, this is a book that tells our story in a fun manner, and a definite pick if you are looking for a book to gift someone in the age group 10 years and above. The book scores a 5/5 for me.

Grab a copy of the book from a bookstore near you or on Amazon India.