Hats & Hoots and Humiliation - Book Review

Hats & Hoods and Humiliation is an interesting book written by a child prodigy named Hiranya Verma. My first reaction after reading the book was impossible, a ten year old child cannot write such a book that offers a plethora of practical insights into dealing with daily problems.

Given the age of the author, the book concentrates on the issues faced by young children and even adolescents. The book offers practical advice on how to handle bullies, crushes and heart breaks.  The ten years old author is a highly matured person. She says, ‘Someone wants to ruin your day, but don’t let them. Simply laugh. But don’t bottle up your feelings either. Remember, the balance between your emotions.’ She offers relationship advice too.  She offers solutions to most of the problems. She reaffirms that your joy is not dependent on what others feel about you. At the same time she emphasizes the importance of apology and confession.

I have been living on this planet for thirty-six years, and obviously, I am senior to the author by many decades. Yet, let me candidly admit that I have learnt a lot from this child author.

The book is extremely well written. It is edited professionally and has an attractive layout. Buy this book, it will cost you less than a coffee, but enrich you by many bounds.

Alex - book review

Alex by Simon Prathap is a thriller. It sits comfortably on the shelves of thrillers as well as horror genres.

The protagonist Alex gets a series of dreams where he is asked to murder one of his family members. While his friends try to help him, a child with super natural powers creates problems for him.

What I liked about the book is its intriguing plot. What needs improvement is editing. There are numerous typos in the book. With another round of editing, the book will be a page turner for sure.

Realization during Lockdown

What an irony it is that work is always valued, but household work is not only grossly undervalued, but even looked down upon. Fortunately, I was not the one who underestimated the household work. I have lived alone for a considerable period of time and have done all the chores by myself. Yet, it is equally true that post marriage, most of the household work was taken up by my wife. While I would be watching TV, she would be frying fresh batch of pakodas for me in the kitchen. While I would be surfing the net, she would be feeding the baby. Occasionally, I would help her out. But doesn’t the word occasionally say it all.

This lockdown changed the things for good. I was at home all the time. For the first time I saw all the effort that my wife undertook for the house. No selfish motives, no salary, no promotions, yet she continued to do the dread, uninteresting work every day and night. For all those men who ask their wives, what do you do the whole day, I ask them to give their wife a day’s off and do all the work by themselves.

Secondly, the house-help had stopped coming. The gym was closed. One fine day sitting with the calories counter in my hand, I calculated the calories burnt in doing all the household chores. They were far more than those which I would burn lifting the weights or running on the treadmill. ‘I will do the laundry and cook the dinner’, I said. ‘Thanks, but I will do it myself.’ She said. But I did not stop to listen to her. I was already picking clothes from the laundry bag.

As I did those manual chores suddenly my heart was filled with joy. Yes, I was providing the family with finances. But the joy of contributing to the family with physical labour is something which cannot be described in words. At the same time, I must also admit that the initial joy soon faded out, and the work became a routine, monotonous and boring activity. My wife was doing this for all these years. My heart was filled with gratitude and tears welled up in my eyes.  I committed to myself that I would continue doing these two tasks even after the lockdown was lifted. I promised myself that I would make it a lifelong task.

P.S. I don’t have a washing machine, so I manually wash the clothes. If I win this contest, I will wash in the machine.

ShareTheLoad  #ShareTheLaundry  #ShareChoresMultiplyLove

‘I will #ShareTheLoad and help in household chores in association with Ariel India and BlogAdda‘

Editing Bootcamp - Book Review

Editing Bootcamp by Dola Basu Singh  is a book of great help for newbie authors. The book explains the various types of editing – developmental editing, line editing, copy editing and proof reading.

Though the book is titled Editing Bootcamp the book deals with various stages of creative writing. It explains the common structure formats of creative writing. The book also explains the various point of views from which a book can be written. The book also gives insights on crafting of characters and plot. Setting, conflict and dialogues also find explanation in the book.

If you are a new writer, I am sure this book is a must have for you. The book is simple and error free. Honestly speaking I was looking for errors. Afterall this is a must for a book on editing. But I couldn’t found a single error. That speaks volumes about the book.

Amarkantak

The last Zone

Sulabha was speaking. Vinay was listening quietly. There were still many questions which remained unanswered. But now that Sulabha was revealing everything to him, he withheld them.

‘Abhaya was Satish’s half-sister. Satish didn’t know she existed. When Satish was young, his father had walked upon his mother and started living with another woman, which happened to be Abhaya’s mother. The family had fell on hard times after Satish’s father deserted them. Obviously, Satish developed a resentment towards the other woman. It was only when Satish’s mother with the help of her brother, sued Ram that she got a share in his property. This is how Swarg Sadan came in their possession.’

‘Satish lost his senses on hearing that the woman whom he had picked up from the bar was his half-sister and the cause of his suffering. In a fit of anger he stabbed her to death. That’s what Satish had told me. Further, he had said her ghost continued to haunt him. In a bid to help him, I started to clandestinely learn the techniques to tame a ghost. For I believed that the ghost was causing trouble in our lives too.’

Vinay couldn’t control his curiosity at this point and he asked, ‘Since when you started believing in these things.’

‘We all change. Life, its twists and turns change us Vinay.’

‘But why didn’t you tell me about it earlier.’

‘Would you have believed me if I had told you.’

Vinay had no answer to that. So, he kept quiet. Sulabha continued, ‘But what Satish had told me was half-truth. That day the woman had not died.’

Vinay’s eyes shone with excitement. Sulabha said, ‘Satish had thrown the body into the valley. But the woman wasn’t dead. She remained suspended from a branch of the tree and was miraculously rescued by a goat herder. She recovered and told her father about everything. Enraged, Ram entered Swarg Sadan and confronted Satish. I feel one murder, even unsuccessful, emboldens a person to commit another. Vinay killed Ram and buried him in our kitchen garden. He didn’t wish to commit the same mistake again’

‘You mean to say that the skeleton which was found in our garden was of Ram?’

‘Yes, the forensic reports have confirmed that it was of Ram. Satish didn’t stop at that. He eliminated Abhaya and her mother as well. This is how Ram Madhvani and his family entirely disappeared. No one was left even to enquire about them. Soon, Satish sold off the bungalow. But the spirit of the young woman continued to haunt him.’

‘What about the murder case in which Ram was involved, for whom Mrs. Shah’s husband was surety?’

‘Some village folk was murdered and his body was thrown into the forest. Neither Ram nor Satish had anything to do with it.’

‘How do you know about all this? Did Satish tell you?’

‘I learnt it from the police. They are filling the final report today.’

The final report was filed. Sulabha was acquitted of all charges.  The couple didn’t want to have anything with Swarg Sadan. They sold the property and moved to Pune. They had bought an apartment near Nisha’s. While they were moving out of Swarg Sadan, Vinay looked back. Swarg Sadan was enveloped in the morning mist, and the mystery woman stood on the terrace, with her hands folded. Finally, justice was done.

Your past haunts you

That day I was convinced of how bad my choice was. Meeting of the eyes, the heart skipping a beat are all signs of love at first sight. The heart knows it all. At the same time, it is equally true that the heart makes bad choices as well. I wondered at what my plight would have been, had I been married to Satish.

Satish ensured that I reached home safely after the incident. He had almost threatened me, when he had said, ‘Don’t tell about it to anyone.’ I had just nodded my head in fear. That day I resolved that I would have nothing to do with Satish. He was a nightmare, which I wanted to forget. He was a thing of the past now.

I told my parents that I was ready to get married. My father was relieved. My mother said, ‘Hadn’t I told you before. Our sanskars won’t go in vain.’ Soon my parents started looking for a groom. Even I wanted to get married at the earliest. I felt a new person, a new life would help me to detach myself from a chance murder that I had encountered.

Then I got your proposal. There was nothing to disapprove of. We liked each other, and got married. I am speaking the truth when I am saying that I gave hundred per cent to this marriage. I wanted to be an ideal wife, the way my mother was. But I failed in one department. I couldn’t become a mother. After some time, we accepted the fact that we were going to be a childless couple. No matter how educated and independent a woman is, ours is a society where her inability to produce a heir, is publicly discussed and looked down upon. I was no exception to it.

Until then I was a rational. I brushed aside the theory of karma as non-sense on the stilts. But at that point I wondered if my state of childlessness was linked to my past. I had been a part of the sin. Even I had no active involvement in its commission, I had certainly aided in its concealment. Yes, I was scared, but I could have informed the police after sometime at least. But I didn’t. Neither did the police reach me. The murder was concealed from the law. But there is yet another law which governs the past and future of us mortals and no matter how much I wanted to disbelieve it, kept on staring at me, mocking at me.

Many years passed and one fine day I received a friend request on facebook from Satish. My first reaction was to decline it. Yet, for some strange reasons I kept it pending for a week. Unsure, whether I should accept it or not. Everyday, I would open it and stare at the screen. Should I accept or not. Satish had messaged me saying that he had something important to discuss with me. I wondered what it could be. After much deliberation I finally accepted his friend request.

‘Thank you,’ was what the first message that I received from Satish after I accepted his friend request. After casual banter Satish came straight to the point. He apologized for embroiling me in a mess. ‘It was not about you. It was just a case of bad timing. I was left with no other alternative,’ He said.

His life had been tragic. He had lost his parents and could no longer live alone in the big mansion. So, he shifted to a small place in the city of Kolhapur. He believed a change of place would make him feel better. But misfortune was on his prowl. He suffered heavy losses in his business. The girl whom he married, eloped.  He was devastated and had taken to drugs and alcohol.

One day when he entered his house after a heavy drink, he found a lady dressed in white waiting for him. He thought it was the alcohol that had reach his head was creating all the shapes. The lady didn’t speak a word. But she kept on weeping. He sighted the lady a couple of times more, and got an opportunity to study her face closely. She was the same woman – Abhaya, whom he had killed.