Ashwatthama's Redemption: The Rise of Dandak by Gunjan Porwal (Book Review: 4.5*/5) !!!

It has been a long time since I have read a mythological fiction and I miss those days when I used to receive the books in the same genre just after Amish’s Shiva trilogy garnered indefinite success. Now people have moved to other topics again and whichever book comes out under this genre tastes like a half-baked cake. I picked up a book whose cover page attracted me towards it on this Sunday and finished the book by today within a day. The book is “Ashwatthama’s Redemption: The Rise Of Dandak” written by the debutante author, Gunjan Porwal. I must say that I haven’t read more captivating and emotionally-submerging book this year.

Let’s start with the subject on which the book has been written. It is more about what happened after the epic war of Mahabharata and it discusses the character of Ashwatthama briefly and tells every detail about his past and involvement in the mentioned war. He is already living in guilt of doing some bad karma during the war time but now there is a new challenge thrown upon him where he must fight the super-devils with extra power. He comes to know about a bow which if he gets, he would be able to defeat these super-powers and there starts the whole foundation and basis of this book.

The first half is very superb where the characters and their background is introduced. Each and every character is so nicely described that you can relate with them immediately. All the kings discussed in the book, majorly, Rana and Vikram, are very nicely handled throughout the book keeping their dignity in dialogues and conversation intact. Their chemistry with our protagonist is also very beautifully handled. The love angle between Urmila and Rana is also respectfully portrayed. The second half is more about the actions involved and has many such sections where you must play with your imaginations and relive every moment discussed in the story. The anti-climax and climax are beautifully closed out which also gives hope of the sequel and I must say which I very rarely feel, that I am wanting to read the 2^nd part as soon as possible.

The mythological and fictional mixture is very perfectly handled by the author which does not insult one of our epic books, Mahabharata. Author has discussed Mahabharata in various parts as a conversation and through it, also tried to explain many spiritual and human concepts like karma, life, death, guilt, ego, mind games etc. Every instance of Lord Krishna is worth reading and re-reading in this book. Even the mention of Ramayana comes in between which is also interesting to read and how the karma of people in both the stories are connected due to being Avataras of the same God is an intriguing read altogether. Best part for which I would remember this book is whenever the Mahabharata is dictated in a conversation to any of the characters.

Talking about the drawbacks, I just felt that there was certain characteristics of each character being discussed initially but author could not do justice to everything that he mentioned about them. Except this, I believe this book is a must read for sure. I give it 4.5* out of 5. Recommended like anything.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!! 

The Heartfulness Way by Kamlesh D. Patel/Joshua Pollock (Book Review: 3.5*/5) !!!

Reading spiritual books has been my passion since last two years since I started understanding it conceptually and intellectually. It was just that I had never experienced it experientially but six months back, after I had a course by Isha Yoga Foundation, I have also started feeling the bliss that meditation and spiritual path brings with it. And post that, I do not find every spiritual book that effective as I have at least an average knowledge about the subject. But the last book that I read surely impressed me:- “The Heartfulness Way” written in a conversational format by Kamlesh D. Patel and Joshua Pollock.

Frankly speaking, I had never heard about Kamlesh D. Patel as he is popularly known as daaji so I had no expectation or perception about the person while reading the book but as the chapters kept going on, my trust in his logics and knowledge regarding spirituality kept getting better and by the end of the book, I could do nothing but endorse his idea of meditation and spiritual that he asks to do in the heartfulness way. The book is written in a conversational way which keeps on clearing one doubt after another that is being spoken by the daaji and I would like to applaud the author for asking such questions to him which made it easier for the reader to understand each and every sentence quoted by daaji.

Book is divided in three different sections: Why Heartfulness, practising heartfulness and the guru. I personally could connect with the last section so much that I felt as if I have myself written that chapter.  Book is written in a way that beginners in spiritual path will find it easy to understand it conceptually. Talking about the drawbacks, though few asanas are discussed in the book but I wished if the authors had included more such asanas and yogic kriyas, it could have helped the spiritual followers like me who have surpassed the beginning stage and are looking something which can moot them to the next level of spiritual experience. Overall, this book is basically for spiritual beginners and I give this book 3.5 stars out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!! 

The Girl In Room 105 by Chetan Bhagat (Book Review: 3*/5) !!!

I had started reading fiction novels after getting my hands upon Chetan Bhagat’s Five Point Someone as I had heard a lot about it from my friends who had read the same. I remember it was also one of the initial days in college and while an introduction session whosoever described their hobby as reading, on being asked which book they have read, everyone named “Five Point Someone”. Out of curiosity, I picked up the book and liked the fun in the story telling of Chetan Bhagat and read all his four books that had released by that time. And since then I have read around 500 books out of which 90% are by Indian authors. It is just a default setting in my reading habit that I compare all the fiction books with Chetan Bhagat’s initial books which were great combination and balance of storytelling and humour.

I am just done reading Chetan Bhagat’s latest release “The Girl In Room 105” which has released just today itself and along with office, I have managed to read 300+ pages in whatever free time I got. Such is the craze for reading Chetan Bhagat even today despite worrying about what people would say about my reading choice as most people pretend to hate CB as he has goofed up with the English language quite often. But that’s okay. He anyway does not portray or claim to be a literary expert and accepts that he is just a story teller and not an English teacher.

CB has gone the thriller way this time with his latest release and I must say, it was a fine narration throughout the book as it ensures that you are curious about knowing who murdered the protagonist, Keshav’s girlfriend. The book starts in CB’s trademark style where in the Prologue, a character meets and tells him his whole story which CB pretends to be writing as dictated to him. The book has lot of characters and author has again ensured the chemistry between each one of them is nicely described to make the background of the story clear. The bond between Keshav and Saurabh is very nicely portrayed. The tuning between Keshav and policeman, Rana, is also very intelligently portrayed. CB has again taken care that in order to sound too intellectual, the book does not lose the simplicity and hence, keeps the timeline and narrative simple.

The locality of Delhi and Kashmir are nicely described in the book and author has ensured that it is used in the story quite significantly to give the locale descriptions. The first half of the book is interesting as you get introduced to new characters and want to understand who the possible murderer of the girl could be. But it’s in the second half where the book becomes quite slow and does not give any kind of twists and turns which can astonish the reader. Talking about the climax, the way the revelation of the murder scene is introduced and described is very childish and as expected from a thriller, there is no moment where the reader would drop the book or jump out of his bed in shock.

In the sake of maintaining his trademark style of writing simple stories, CB could not do complete justice to this thriller which could have been written 5 times better. Though this book is recommended for the new readers who haven’t read great thrillers and are still stuck in the genre of college romances. But for the thriller lovers, this book is a sure-shot disappointment. The terrorist thing is brought into the picture but left just like that without going deeper into it. Similarly, the girl is shown as a Muslim whereas boy belongs from the family that supports RSS but this angle has not been used even once in the book whereas a lot could have been done with this plot. Similarly, the way police leaves Keshav and his friend in spite of finding them at murder spot is disappointing in the initial phase of the story itself. CB has also promoted many brands upfront in this book which is quite evident and sounds foolish and obvious. This could have also been handled little more intelligently. Overall, this is a light read rather than a suspense thriller as been described in the synopsis and trailer of the book. I rate this one an average 3 stars out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!