Book Review: Sahara: The Untold Story by Tamal Bandyopadhyay

Introduction

• ISIN: 9788184955460
• Genre: Non fiction
• Publishers: Jaico Publishing House
• Price: Rs. 450/- (I got this book for review from the publisher)

Sahara: The Untold Story is based on painstaking research to demystify India's most secretive and largely unlisted conglomerate, the Sahara India Pariwar. It also delves into the group's ongoing legal battle with the market regulator.

Entrepreneur Subrata Roy, the guardian angel of the group, whose feet are touched by everybody in the Pariwar, wants to reach out to a million lives and feels impeded and shuttered in by regulations. So the clash with the regulators was inevitable. But when a regulator slams one door, maverick Roy opens another. This play has been on since 1978, when Sahara was set up.

Roy is well known for glamour and his association with film stars, cricketers and politicians. He exudes patriotism, with a statue of Bharat Mata (the presiding deity of the group) on a chariot driven by four fierce-looking lions adorning his headquarters in Lucknow. He is the Robin Hood of a country where only 35% of the adult population has access to formal banking services. This India and its millions of illiterate poor depositors stand in awe and admiration of him. But does he also exploit them? Do these poor people actually keep money with him or are they fronting for others?

*EXCERPT FROM THE SAHARA INDIA PARIWAR DISCLAIMER*

'The book at best can be treated as a perspective of the author with all its defamatory content, insinuation and other objections, which prompted us to exercise our right to approach the court of law in order to save the interest of the organization and its crores of depositors and 12 lakh workers.

Behind The book

Source: Google Images

Lessons of Life ~ 30 June 2014

The bestest way to show your gratitude to life is to keep smiling - every moment, every day- no matter what!

Book Review: The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee

Introduction

• ISBN: 9780701186296
• Genre: Fiction / Drama
• Publishers: Random House
• Price: Rs. 599/- (I got this book for review from the publisher)

'Ma, I feel exhausted with consuming, with taking and grabbing and using. I am so bloated that I feel I cannot breathe any more. I am leaving to find some air, some place where I shall be able to purge myself, push back against the life given me and make my own. I feel I live in a borrowed house. It's time to find my own. Forgive me.'

Calcutta, 1967. Unnoticed by his family, Supratik has become dangerously involved in extremist political activism. Compelled by an idealistic desire to change his life and the world around him, all he leaves behind before disappearing is this note .

The ageing patriarch and matriarch of his family, the Ghoshes, preside over their large household, unaware that beneath the barely ruffled surface of their lives the sands are shifting. More than poisonous rivalries among sisters-in-law, destructive secrets, and the implosion of the family business, this is a family unravelling as the society around it fractures. For this is a moment of turbulence, of inevitable and unstoppable change: the chasm between the generations, and between those who have and those who have not, has never been wider.

Ambitious, rich and compassionate The Lives of Others anatomises the soul of a nation as it unfolds a family history. A novel about many things, including the limits of empathy and the nature of political action, it asks: how do we imagine our place amongst others in the world? Can that be reimagined? And at what cost? This is a novel of unflinching power and emotional force.

Behind The book

Source: Google Images

Lessons of Life ~ 29 June 2014

"I want" - The beginning and end of it all.

Lessons of Life ~ 28 June 2014

To be the reason behind someone else's happiness you first need to be the reason behind your own happiness !

Book Review: In Custody by Anita Desai

Introduction

• ISIN: 9780140238136
• Genre: Fiction / Drama
• Publishers: Random House
• Price: Rs. 595/- (I got this book for review from the publisher)

Touching and wonderfully funny, In Custody is woven around the yearnings and calamities of a small town scholar in the north of India. An impoverished college lecturer, Deven, sees a way to escape from the meanness of his daily life when he is asked to interview India’s greatest Urdu poet, Nur – a project that can only end in disaster.

Behind The book

Source: Google Images

Silent Saturday

Lessons of Life ~ 27 June 2014

Let the joy of love be more than the pain of hurt, always and all ways

Book Review: The Evolution of Gods: The Scientific Origin of Divinity and Religions by Dr. Ajay Kansal

Book Details:

• Title and Author: The Evolution of Gods: The Scientific Origin of Divinity and Religions by Dr. Ajay Kansal
• Print Length: 214 Pages
• Publication Date: August 2012
• Language: English
• Genre: Non-Fiction, Religion and Spirituality, Comparative Religion, Atheism

Blurb:

Did gods create humanity or did humans create gods? Did gods create mankind, or did mankind create gods? Why, when and how did mankind begin to worship gods? Religious scriptures the world over claim that one or the other god made all plants and animals, but science has not yet identified any supernatural power that created and governed living beings.

 

 

Was it man who came up with the idea of gods to help him cope with his own fears? Could it be that ancient people attributed natural phenomena-unfathomable and frightening to them-to the working of invisible gods? What kind of sufferings or fears made people bow before unseen powers or gods as we call them? When were these gods created?

 

Who invented morals and methods of worship? Who wrote the ancient scriptures such as the Bible and the Vedas? Most crucially, have gods and the scriptures shaped our responses to the world around us? The Evolution of Gods seeks to answer these questions, and explains scientifically how, when and why religions and gods came into being. Ajay Kansal marshals anthropological and historical facts about the development of religions in a simple and straight forward manner to assert that it was mankind that created gods, and not the other way around.



Lessons of Life ~ 26 June 2014

Let your desires be like those shining stars, so that when you are surrounded by the grey skies their twinkle helps you soar through!

Lessons of Life ~ 25 June 2014

There was a time when I used to feel that we all are incomplete and someone comes our way to complete us. In the last few years one thing I have learnt again and again is we all are complete, beautiful with our scars and injuries and it is love that makes us complete. Love for ourselves that grows on to manifest into love for others as well.

You are enough - is the ultimate truth of life!

Lessons of Life ~ 24 June 2014

Beyond a point everything else ceases to exist except the truth!~ N

Lessons of Life ~ 23 June 2014

At times it is important to let go of what's hurting you so that love has space to grow. ~ N

Book Review: Meghna by Sundari Venkatraman

Introduction

• ASIN– B00KUPUURS
• Genre: Romance
• Publishers: Amazon ( Buy the book from HERE)
• Price: Rs. 194/- (I got this book for review from the author)

The young and dashing Rahul Sinha lives in England with his parents, Shyam and Rajni. He is an only son of the rich banker. Rahul is totally attached to his father but does not care for his mother. Read the book to find out why….Rahul is exulted with his efforts at work paying off and plans a holiday with his best friend Sanjay Srivastav who lives in Mumbai with his wife Reema, kids Sanya and Rehaan and most importantly, his sister, Meghna. Rahul recalls meeting Meghna just before they parted six years ago.

Meghna works for a website and also teaches modern dance as she loves it. She’s thrown for a toss when Rahul comes visiting. She had thought he had forgotten them.But how could Rahul do that? Sanjay’s his best friend and Rahul had always treated their home as his own. Sanjay’s mother had been more of a mother to Rahul than his own. Rahul had stayed away after moving to England or so Meghna believes. 

Thus begins the story between Rahul and Meghna, the teasing, the flirting, the anger, the tears… …will they find love?

Behind The book

Lessons of Life ~ 22 June 2014

Despite all the ugliness around and harsh facts the ultimate truth still remains - LIFE is beautiful.

It's just that we choose to ignore its beauty at times.~ N

Silent Saturday

Lessons of Life ~ 21 June 2014

All this while I felt I was in love conveniently forgetting that love was in me~ N

Lessons of Life ~ 20 June 2014

It doesn't matter if you have a beautiful face or not as long as you have a beautiful heart and soul for that stays forever! ~ N

Lessons of Life ~ 19 June 2014

Let the world say a thousand things and it still remains a lie. Let a loved one say just one thing and it becomes the ultimate truth. ~ N

Behind the Book: Sriramana Muliya

Today behind the book we have Sriramana Muliya the author of Frankly Spooking- a collection of spooky stories published by Harper Collins. I have had the pleasure of knowing him not only as an author but also a wonderful friend whom I look up to in more than one ways. I have always admired the way he writes. It was long over due I got to talk to him and listen to his journey behind his fabulous debut book. and finally HE is here:

Lessons of Life ~ 18 June 2014

Life is as much about the horizons as much it is about the shores!~ N

Behind the Book : Deepak Kripal

Today at Behind the Book we have Deepak Kripal, the author of The Devil's Gate : An Impossible Journey.

Source: Google Images

Twitter |  Facebook |  Blog | You Tube

Lessons of Life ~ 17 June 2014

Saying nothing and yet being heard - that is the definition of a wonderful relationship ~ N

Spotlight Review: The Madras Mangler by Usha Narayanan

The Madras Mangler by Usha Narayanan

Book Review: The Devil’s Gate: An Impossible Journey by Deepak Kripal

Introduction

• ISBN – 978-93-83562-06-0
• Genre: Fiction/ Thriller
• Publishers: Leadstart Publishing
• Price: Rs. 175/- (I got this book for review from the author)

SIDELINED BY MAN, ANIMALS TURNED TO DEMONS. Plundered by humans of their habitats, animals take a drastic step when they decide to send a team of a cat named as Katy and a dog named as Dug, to an invisible island known, as the Island of 'Five Hundred Graves'. The island becomes visible only for a short time on the night of the full moon. Legend has it that the island is inhabited by the demons. Katy and Dug are supposed to negotiate a deal with the demons, convincing them to allow the animals inhabit the island. Majority of the animal community believe that tinkering with the other world could bring their wrath to the animals. The team is sent to the island nevertheless. But can a deal with the dead be materialized? Are there really demons on the island? Is there any conspiracy involved? Will Katy and Dug be able to negotiate, or will survival remain their only question in the deadly island?

Behind The book

Source: Google Images

Lessons of Life ~16 June 2014

Sometimes it is important to have nightmares for they tell you what you don't want in your life~ N

Lessons of Life ~ 15 June 2014

Let the world never know what you think, show them what you believe!~ N

Lessons of Life ~ 14 June 2014

Time and again every moment I was hurt I would look up as if questioning Him only to find Him smiling down at me.

I could never understand it all then. Today I realised why He created so many cracks in my heart till now.... for He wanted to make place for all the love I was going to receive.

In the last few years the love that I have received is beyond words, people who few months back were complete strangers are today wonderful friends and the most beautiful thing they bring to my life is a unique THEM that makes LIFE so live-worthy.~ N

Silent Saturday

Lessons of life ~ 13 June 2014

Pay heed when the Universe asks you to WAIT. It has valid reasons you perhaps might not know. ~ N

Lessons of Life ~ 12 June 2014

The worst battle you could ever fight in this world is the one you have with your ownself for you know the strengths, the weaknesses , also where and what will hurt and how much!

Nothing can be worst than feeling so vulnerable.  ~ N

Lessons of Life ~ 11 June 2014

In the last few days some very beautiful lessons of life got re-iterated for me. For every one person who is pulling you down, you have atleast 2 people cheering for you to try more harder.

For every 2 people who hate you there are 5 who love you ( perhaps you don't know them yet!)

For every one reason you have to not be happy, LIFE sends in a dozen for you to smile and keep smiling till you actually forget why were you sad few moments back.

For each failure there are ten new things waiting to be tried, tested and perhaps conquered too.

~ Hopelessly Hopeful

Lessons of Life ~ 10 June 2014

One of the most beautiful gifts if you can give someone then it is faith... for when one lacks his own that is when yours comes to the rescue.

I believe in YOU  ~N

Lessons Life ~ 9 June 2014

The most painful way of survival is the one that is burdened with guilt of maybes, should have & could have. Listen. Love. Laugh. Live ~N

Lessons of Life ~8 June 2014

Let the dids' always outnumber the didnots for that is what makes the darkest of the nights shine the brightest.  ~N

Silent Saturday

P.S: This picture has been published at Writer's Ezine's June 2014 issue.

Lessons of life ~ 7June 2014

Hold on to your faith as you begin your ascent for that is what will cushion your descent. ~N

 

Lessons of Life ~6 June 2014

Tomorrows are
Yesterdays were
Today is

That's the only difference between them ~N

 

 

Book Review: The Dream Catcher by Privy Trifles

Introduction

• Genre: Fiction/ Drama
• Publishers: L.I.F.E
• Price: Available for free download HERE

Dreams are often most profound when they seem the most crazy. ~Sigmund Freud

This quote held the secret of her life tightly within those words. The world is not for dreamers, it is for doers and achievers she was told. But she did not stop dreaming for she was not a dreamer, she was a dream catcher, and someone who could grab thoughts out of the imagination weaves them into dreams, makes them into a reality just in the blink of an eye. Join her in her journey to becoming a dream catcher and witness magic of LIFE unfold that will reinstate your belief in miracles.

Behind The book

Picture (C) Privy Trifles

Lessons of Life ~ 5 June 2014

It's not always about who made you cry its also about who made you smile after that. ~N

 

 

Book Review: Transactions of Belongings by Jaya Padmanabham

Introduction

• ISBN – 9789383562275
• Genre: Fiction/ Drama
• Publishers: Leadstart Publishing Pvt Ltd
• Price: Rs. 145/- (I got this book for review from the publisher)

The short stories in the collection blend emotion and introspection. Moments of urgency and sweetness are fully canvassed and explored. The stories draw out and examine the texture of emotional belonging. In "His Curls," a mother suffers the anguish of wondering if her son is a terrorist. The ending is left to interpretation and several possibilities. The reader is forced to teeter between laughter and sadness in the tragicomedy of "An Indian Summer." "The Blue Arc" is a redemptive tale of a young woman who shows enormous courage. Each story in the collection is a journey of insights. Transactions of Belonging is a unique, intense and gripping work of short fiction.

Read about it HERE


Behind The book

Source: Google Images

Lessons of Life ~4 June 2014

Sometimes it is important for dark clouds to hide the shining stars for us to look for them rather than having them look for us every night. ~N

 

 

Explore. Dream. Discover



Source: Google Images



 

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.

So throw off the bowlines.

Sail away from the safe harbor.

Catch the trade winds in your sails.

 Explore. Dream. Discover.” ― H. Jackson Brown Jr.

 

 

 

 

 

Lessons of Life ~3 June 2014

Some losses in life are also meant to be celebrated after all they made you learn some very important lessons and left you a better and smarter person. ~N

 

 

Book Review: Business Doctors: Management Consulting Gone Wild by Sameer Kamat

Introduction

• ISBN – 9789351569640
• Genre: Fiction/ Drama
• Publishers: Booksoarus
• Price: Rs. 250/- (I got this book for review from the author)

Ivy League educated management consultant, Michael Schneider, gets hired by an unlikely client – a mafia boss who wants to make a last desperate bid to resuscitate his family business that spans across gambling, drugs and porn.

 

 

 

 

Behind The book

Source: Google Images