THE IMMORTALS OF MELUHA

Book Name: The Immortals of Meluha

Author Name: Amish

Publisher: Westland Books Co.

My Opinion:

I guess I was in 9th standard when I saw one of my seniors reading this book. Since I had read all the Enid Blyton books available and some Shakespeare’s plays, I decided to read it. What I didn’t know was that there were three books which had to be read in same order. I read the second book first. I didn’t understand the story much.

After a year, I read the first book. I was blown by the thought of presenting Lord Shiva in a human form and his journey from human to Mahadev.

There were many parallels drawn from Hindu Scriptures which were used quite interestingly.

There is this emotion of love and respect every time Shiva describes Sati. It can make anyone’s heart flutter.

The author describes the picture in his mind very well. But the war scene in the end of the book was dragged, I feel.

Nonetheless, it’s a good book to read.

AHALYA’S AWAKENING

Book Name: Ahalya’s Awakening

Author Name: Kavita Kane

Publication: Westland Publishers

My Opinion:

The story starts with Menaka narrating how Indra got cursed by Rishi Gautam for desiring his wife, Ahalya. Princess of Panchal, Ahalya, is nearly perfect girl, she grasps everything she is taught in the gurukul. She desires to study further but her mother disapproves it.

Indra meets her in Rishi Vashisht’s ashram and falls for her. When he professes his love for her she gently refuses stating that she wants to go for higher studies. Her joy knows no bounds when she is sent to Rishi Gautam’s ashram which she later comes to know that it was a step taken to protect her from war. In this period she understands Gautam, his thinking, she falls for him.

After the war ends, she is called back to the palace where her swayamwara is arranged.

From here the story progresses to what we know, what we have heard. But the author presents it in a different way and it is refreshing. In this story, Rishi Gautam leaves her with a blessing/curse of finding herself. She had mediated to a stone when when Prince Ram touches and revives her for seeking her blessings.

When characters are concerned, Indra had the best one from start. Ahalya’s character at the start of the story was monotonous but develops later. Gautama’s character didn’t give much insight of his thought process.

It is very good book and many parallels can be drawn to present education scenario.

THE PREGNANT KING

Book Name: The Pregnant King

Author Name: Devdutt Pattanaik

Publisher: Penguin Random House

My Opinion:

I found there were two covers for the same book. I liked both of them so decided to include them.

Though the title of story is catchy, the way story is narrated isn’t. The story has a lot of philosophical theories that may make it a bit tiring to read but nonetheless the story has to be told.

The story is not only about the protagonist, the pregnant king, Yuvanashva but also other queer tales. It describes the balance of different aspects very well.

The characters are very relatable with the different emotions they experience. Especially the characters Shilavati and Yuvanashva.

Overall a good book to read and if you’re looking to read some queer tales, then do give it a read.

VICHHODA

Book Name: Vichhoda

Author Name: Harinder Sikka

Publisher: Penguin Random House

My Opinion:

The story starts with partition of India and Pakistan in 1947. The protagonist, Bibi Amrit Kaur’s family is slaughtered but miraculously, she survives.

Sounds familiar? Many tragic stories of families getting separated is a sad but a story used too many times.

She is adopted by a Muslim man who brings her up as his daughter. He marries her off to a good man before he dies. Due to some circumstances, Bibi has to flee to India. From here starts the story of her trying to unite with her sons in Pakistan.

Though the story was tragic and based on real life character, it is not a different plot like the author’s previous installment, ‘Calling Sehmet’.

The story teaches about love, patience and power of prayer and goodwill. The characters aee well plotted, especially of Bibi. A good book to read in one go.

KARNA’S WIFE THE OUTCAST’S QUEEN

Book Name: Karna’s Wife The Outcast’s Queen

Author Name: Kavita Kane

Publisher: Rupa Publications

My Opinion:

The title makes it very clear. The story of Mahabharata is told from Karna’s wife, Urvi’s pov. So, after reading the story it feels as if Urvi is trying to justify Karna’s actions. The people who know the actual story, know that Karna was also one of the grey characters. It would have been better to show him as he was than making him a white character.

Urvi had a good character arc in the first half of the story after which it becomes stagnant. The vastraharan scene of Draupadi was the highlight in the book. For the only time in the book it brings out Karna with grey shades.

In quest of elevating Urvi and Karna, rest of the characters have no character arc and self-respect too. Like when Draupadi forgives Karna for the vastraharan incident because she loves him. Given the character Draupadi was in Vyasa’s Mahabharata, she wouldn’t have forgiven him. (The love story of Draupadi and Karna seems to have been added later in folklores. I am not sure about this information.)

The facts are thrown in the book. Like Karna is good-natured, kind, helpful and Urvi says he has good sense of humour. Support it with some incidents so that even readers can vouch for it.

The reason I read this book was I came to know that a serial was being made on the same. Later I watched a few episodes of the serial which was not like any scenes described in the book. So I stopped watching that serial too.

MAKE LOVE NOT SCARS

Book Name: Make Love Not Scars

Author Name: Ria Sharma

Publisher: Westland Books

My Opinion:

This story is written from heart, once you start reading it, you cannot put it down. The author talks about her journey from ‘Delhi brat’ to a brave woman.

I thought I knew a lot about acid attacks and how acid affects the body. But I didn’t. I just knew only the top of iceberg.

It talks about everything – the attacks, the survivors, the minimal facilities available in government hospitals, the negligence displayed by private hospitals, the struggle to make the survivors warriors, their mental trauma – almost everything you can think of.

This book is not about collection of awards, but the journey of the author’s organization, Make Love Not Scars. The thought behind it, the motivation, the challenges of setting up.

This book moves you, shakes you yet calms you, motivates you.

CALLING SEHMET

Book Name: Calling Sehmet

Author Name: Harinder Sikka

Publisher: Penguin Random House

My Opinion:

(I watched the movie, Raazi, first before reading this book.)

The book is not like any spy thriller. It is more like a summary of events spun in a story. It is the story of transformation of Sehmet from princess of Kashmir to queen of Maler Kotla.

The story has a segment of love story between Hidayat Khan and Tejashwari Singh which is like a classic one. They are blessed with baby girl, Sehmet. She was born and brought up in Srinagar and later moves to Delhi for higher studies. She falls in love with Abhinav and then comes a call of duty. For her to choose between her country and her love.

She chooses her country. She is married into a military family in Pakistan. Not much is described about her in-laws or their characterizations. So I just referred to the characters in the movie while reading it.

There are descriptions of naval operations during Indo-Pak war of 1971 which add to how the information sent by Sehmet was put to use.

The story ends on a philosophical note.

It’s a good book to read in one sitting.

EVERYONE HAS A STORY 2

Book Name: Everyone Has A Story 2

Author Name: Savi Sharma

Publisher: Westland Books

My Opinion:

When I had admitted that I fell for the marketing of the book, I meant that I bought both the parts at once.

Though you can see there is concept of fate punishing four of the characters from previous book, you cannot see major character development. The thing is when you try to spin a narrative which is supposed to motivate and inspire readers, your characters have to do that from their actions. But here, it is just some monologues that are bombarded on the readers.

There is slight improvement from previous part, no doubt about that, but the ending was a typical Bollywood movie type ending.

The thing she does is tries to boast her success story as an author through her character Meera. See, I have no problem with that but it didn’t fit the narrative. Then there’s that interview which was… not interesting.

Whatever positives the first book had, this seemed to turn them negatives. Not a book I would recommend.

DIVAN OF SHAH

Book Name: Divan Of Shah

Book Author: Shah Asad Rizvi

Publication: Self-published

Author requested review

This book comprises of 50 short poems; each poem is around a page long. Before each poem there is a thought printed, giving a gist of poem topic that will be conveyed.

I am old school types, so I always look out for poems that have a rhyming scheme. This book didn’t have that but altogether it was good read.

The language of poems are simple. The theme of this book is about love and its types. So the first poem is about mother and her love. Consequently follows the other types of love.

EVERYONE HAS A STORY

Book Name: Everyone Has A Story

Author Name: Savi Sharma

Publisher: Westland Books

This book was a little difficult for me to review because it has both equal positives and negatives. I can’t put this book into a bracket of good book nor a bad book. I suggest you to read this review and then decide if this book suits your reading interests.

The reason I bought this book was, honestly, I feel for the way it was marketed.

The first thing I liked was weaving a story with inspirational stuff.

The second thing would be names of some characters suit the story especially, Meera and Radha.

The third thing I liked was both plot and characters are given equal importance. Usually you will find a character driven story or a plot driven story. Very rarely you find a story that balances both.

But till the end of the story, there is no major character development in any of the characters. I felt the book might best be suited for teenagers than adults.