Suvarna Mohur : India's Glorious History Illustrated through Rare Coins by Arun Ramamurthy (Book Review: 4.5*/5) !!!

 I don’t think I have ever invested my time on any Coffee Table book except one before reading this latest book named “Suvarna Mohur” curated by Mr. Arun Ramamurthy. The cover page of the book is so colourful and bright that you would keep looking at it for some time before realizing that it also has great pages embedded within both the hard pages. I have been very bad in history since childhood and always avoided reading books having any kind of historical elements until it has not been represented in an easier manner. This book talks about history of 2500 years through the coins which were used during those contemporary times respectively which really made it very easy for me to digest the facts and years.

I liked the kind of details author has managed to collate together to make this book possible. It is not an easy task to get such minute details about each era and then their relation with the coins. Even researching about all the coins mentioned in the book must have been a herculean task for the author. Many kudos to him for managing the same. The book is printed on shiny pages which makes the images of coin and other arts, paintings and pictures look very aesthetic and beautiful. The author has discussed different eras in history when India has been ruled by certain dynasty or king. The main milestones of their era have been talked about summarily to give the readers essence of their time and understand how they conquered India or the certain parts by raising wars against whom and with what kind of morality.

I liked understanding how in a small piece of coin, the basis of their whole premise is depicted either in the form of an image, scripture or art crafted on it. Author has very nicely covered many kingdoms right from the Mauryan and Magadhan empire to Sangam era to Gupta era to Mughals to Rajput’s to Shivaji Maharaj’s arrival as a ruler to British India and finally the independent and Republic India. The author has done justice to every era described in different chapters ensuring that all the important facts are covered. Author has also written separate articles on some famous incidents from the respective eras too. The map is shared with each chapter to make it easier for the readers to understand which parts of India were covered during the respective reign.

This book feels as if you have entered in a very big museum where all the historical characters are alive and are passing on their ruling powers from one dynasty to the other in front of your eyes. Also, you can imagine all these coins in your hands as author has described right from their size to their dimensions to what has been carved or scripted on it. I am glad I have this book in my shelf. I shall ensure that I manage to go through it every now and then to ensure I know everything about India and its rulers right from the beginning. This book is special and distinct for sure. I liked how author ended the book telling the readers about how time has changed where coins are becoming irrelevant and digital transactions such as cashless arrangements and bitcoins are gaining the momentum. Author should be appreciated for making this non-fiction book bifurcated into different chapters sound like a continuous fictional story. I give this book 4.5* out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA 

The Light Catcher by Sameer Chopra (Book Review- 4.25*/5) !!!

Whenever a book crosses its thickness above 250 pages, it needs to be very engaging, riveting, appealing and interesting to keep the readers excited to turn every page until the story does not end. And when the book crosses the mark of 300-pages, then it absolutely brings with it lots of expectations and hope for the reader that at the end of the story, it shall definitely give something to the life of the reader too. Not many books are able to impress the reader but one book which has recently surprised me with the way it is written is “The Light Catcher” by the author, Sameer Chopra. 

The cover page describes the whole essence of the book which shows a great city with skyscrapers staying awake all the night, the protagonist standing alone and observing the city with a camera in his hand in a hope to get famous and mark his existence in the maximum city. The tagline says “A vicious circle and a thrilling redemption”.

The narrative used by the author to tell the story is one of the bests I have experienced by a debutante. Not even once did I feel that the book is written by someone who has just come into the writing world. When I read the bio of author, I understood that most of the parts in the story must be inspired from his personal experience which is why you find the story realistic covering incidents which are full of failures, full of moments coming in the hands and slipping away, full of passion of going against the world to prove oneself, the love for mother like a middle-class boy, the frustration at office, the heartbreaks etc.

The characters are so nicely elaborated that you understand the pain and confusion of each one of them. Specially, the protagonist, Purab, becomes a part of yourself as the way his thoughts and approaches are discussed makes you relate yourself with him after every 2-5 pages. The way he faces rejection at office because of being straight-forward or the way he is ignored by Professional Photographers irrespective of the commitment he shows in photography makes us feel for him but I am glad author kept the whole thing crude and practical rather than showing unreal and overnight success kind of a fairy-tale. The characters of Trisha, Rati and Sneha fits so well in the story that you would love and hate them with times when they understand and misunderstand the protagonist respectively.

The way book displays the two world- one of corporate in the first half and then one of the art in the second half is done with such distinctness that you can feel you are at both the places with the character. The injustice one has to go through to finally land upon success is nicely portrayed for both the worlds and essence can be truly felt as a reader. I am myself been experiential of both of these worlds hence I could feel how perfectly author has woven the same in his book. The details of photography are also mentioned in a way that non-photographers will also enjoy how a photographer has to get into details before clicking a picture of yours. Talking about the climax, it is very well ended with such emotions that I wasn’t able to stop thinking about everything for at least 3 hours after finishing the book.

Talking about the drawbacks, I could feel that author ended up making the protagonist think about his 1^st love quite sometimes even after he gets into a lot of things and people which makes it little cheesy at times. Also, at few places, the details of photography are explained too much that you would even want to skip it if not interested as it does not take the story forward. The success of Purab is nicely discussed but how he takes certain decisions as an entrepreneur should have been part of the story to make it more exciting. The book could have been kept little shorter if a crisp editing could have been done. Except these few points, this book is a wonderful experience to be read. I will give it 4.25* out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA 

Travelthon Tales by Tikku's Travelthon/Anuj Tikku (Book Review- 2.75*/5) !!!

This is the 3^rd book of Mr. Anuj Tikku which I have completed reading named “Travelthon Tales”. Anuj has published it under his publishing banner name “Tikku’s Travelthon”. To start with, I must say that the Cover Page of the book is very creative and beautiful which made me pick this e-book for reading. Anuj Tikku has shared his personal experiences of Traveling through this book which either consists of his personal account and other short stories which are based upon the people, locations and the conversation Tikku had with people he met while traveling. Some chapters are written as fiction stories which are also interesting to read.

After reading this 3^rd book by Anuj Tikku, I am sure that he should move out of e-book now and start getting his thoughts published as paperback too because his books share the kind of experiences and tales I believe I have never found in the work of any other author. This book is of just 70-odd pages but at the end of it, you shall feel as if you have read a long autobiographical account of a traveller.

There are few important chapters/sections that I liked in this book such as the one where the monk and prostitute’s reference is nicely given. Another chapter is quite spiritual which is based on a popular monk and tells us about the power of within. It is very nicely conveyed. The climax of two chapters where sex gets attention is so nicely scripted that you want to learn what happened after that. Haha! The few chapters which are based on locations such as Kedarnath, Ganges, Kapil Muni Temple has done total justice to the background of the spots. Being a Mumbaikar, reading the chapter on Mumbai which is based in the old times was an interesting read. The last story which is based on thriller aspect is also interestingly crafted.

Now, talking about the drawbacks of the book, I must say that because the book has been projected to be based on traveling and because the author also owns a Youtube channel based on traveling, I had expected more about his personal experiences on traveling or the way he travels different cities differently considering the distinctness of each of them. The book is very short considering that and very less chapters express such detailing. Also, author, when, writes Hindi words and sentences in English generally does not write in the spelling which are popular in Hinglish which becomes hard to read and enjoy those sentences as they are not always translated in English by him. Except this, I must say this book is a light read between heavy literary books if you are on a reading marathon like me. I give this book 2.75 stars out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!!