Right Under Your Nose by R. Giridharan (Book Review: 3.5*/5) !!!

  

23^rd Book of 2023

I wanted to read a short crime thriller and found another lost book in my bookshelf named “Right Under Your Nose” by R. Giridharan. This 234-pages book is published by Rupa Publications in 2020. The book starts with narration of few murders in the initial few pages itself. Thereafter, it is all about how the police gets involved with the same and starts cracking down one murder after another by targeting few people and finally, finding the main culprit. I liked how author has narrated the events which keeps you on toes while reading. The book is fast-paced which helped me finish it within 4 hours itself.

 

The research work of author is evident from the fact that the story consists of characters from different professions like scientists, magician, snake-catcher, teacher, godmother, ministers, pharma etc. It is similar to the web-series that we watch these days where initial few episodes are about one event after the another which aren’t linked with each other but the 2^nd half of the show brings all of them together in a chain and explains how the events are inter-linked with each other.

 

The narration is powerful as author doesn’t get involved in useless description of unwanted or unrelated scenes. The writing is crisp which makes the book a perfect page-turner as every sentence takes the story forward. The book does get boring in between when the two police officers and a journalist is discussed more than the plot but still, author is able to bring it back in focus. The characterizations are nicely worked upon even in such plot-based story as we are able to relate with characters of Vijay, Padmini and Dalvi very easily. The chemistry between Vijay and Padmini is nicely mentioned in the first half of the book. Similarly, the camaraderie of Vijay and Dalvi is also articulated well which helps you understand how police professionals interact with each other.

 

Author does justice to the city of Nagpur as it has been mentioned specifically wherever necessary to help readers understand the locale of the city. Author has also spoken about the plight of men about how they are being charged for dowry cases which makes them hide until their bail application isn’t accepted. This is one thing about which India rarely talks where men are falsely charged because of gender-biased laws.

 

Talking about the drawbacks, I must say that the main culprit is recognized far too early in the book. Author doesn’t even try to confuse readers by making them think among 3-4 suspects but directly pinpoints at one obvious individual who even turns out to be the real culprit in the end. This was quite disappointing. Similarly, the way Vijay is able to crack the finale sounds unrealistic in terms of how he tracked and reached something which was completely out of zone throughout the narration.

 

Overall, this is a fine short read if you love thrillers with Indian setup of policemen and investigation. I give this book 3.5 stars out of 5.

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Thanks!

 

WRITING BUDDHA

Sugar: The Silent Killer by Damayanti Datta (Book Review: 4.5*/5) !!!

  

22^nd Book of 2023

Well, in the series of reading books that are sitting in my shelf since a long time, I picked up another such book named “Sugar: The Silent Killer”. It is written by Damayanti Datta in around 200-pages. I remember it was around 2019 when I thought of getting a full medical check-up done for my family and I. The report showed a completely different picture about what I assumed about my health. It had many parameters which weren’t in the healthy range. After few years, the report showed that I even reached a stage where I can be termed as pre-diabetic. My mother is already a diabetic patient since a long time. Hence, I was quite curious to read this book and know how has author dedicated a whole book on this food-item which we consume abundantly without thinking of its consequences.

 

There are many health and diet related books in the market out of which I have read couple of them. They are quite straight-forward in terms of what foods are healthy and unhealthy for our body. The USP of this book is that author doesn’t directly start speaking about ill-effects of sugar and creating a panic about it among ourselves. She has tried to go back into the history and understand how the diet and eating preferences of human beings changed over the time.

 

She starts with discussion around how humans found their love for sweetness for the 1^st time when honey was generated with the help of bees. Over-the-time, humans progressed and found sugarcane as another source which helped them fulfill their sweet-cravings. Gradually, sugar production began but along with time, commercialization came into the picture which gave birth to the refined white sugar – something that has been a source of worry since its effects have been identified.

 

Damayanti discusses the book written by Dr. Yudkin around 50 years back where he highlights the danger that sugar brings with itself. Unfortunately, everyone started protesting him which resulted in the book ban. But decades later, when diabetes started becoming a common factor in the regular patients, people acknowledged the words of Dr. Yudkin. Datta discusses many of his theories in the initial chapters which helps us understand how he studied sugar and what were his findings about it.

 

Authoress, then, further progresses and talks about how the human body functions. She explains how dopamine is generated not only through the activities we love doing but also through consumption of sugar which makes us eat more of it. Similarly, she talks about all the other chemicals that gets generated in the process which makes our addiction with sugar stronger and inseparable. She gives glimpses about the role of insulin and glucagon in terms of maintaining sugar-levels in our body.

 

Her research is quite evident in the way she explains about how sugar-levels can be identified and measured in our body through different parameters. Similarly, she has dived deeper into other factors such as what amount of sugar is needed in our body and if there’s an excess, along with diabetes, what kind of different diseases get associated with us such as high blood pressure, cholesterol, heart diseases etc. She helps us understand how sugar is named differently in the ingredients list of the packaged products which we purchase without even thinking of the amount of sugar we are supplied.

 

In the last few chapters, Damayanti emphasizes on the various methodologies and substitutes that can help us control our sugar levels. She speaks about the ketone-diet and intermittent fasting which can help us achieve our goals. She also discusses how carbohydrates are being excluded from our diets whereas why it is as much necessary for our system as much as proteins. She then takes a very interesting turn and starts quoting from our religious texts regarding what it suggested thousands of years ago and how its relevant even today regarding our eating lifestyle. Similarly, she talks about the kind of prasad which has been associated with major temples and shrines which doesn’t include sugar but still helps us with our quest of sweetness. It tells us about how health-focused they were/are in their conduct.

 

Overall, this book is not a piece of work which will scare you right from the first page. It doesn’t talk about the facts that you already read regularly but gives you completely new insights about sugar. It gives you a very balanced perspective of how diabetes is becoming cruel and why we need to take it seriously. The book is also not written like a dieting guide but as a finding of a very long experiment and analysis of sugar and its impact. It is recommended for everyone to read as most of us have already fallen into the trap of sugar-love and we need to come out of it as sooner as possible. I give this book 4.5 stars out of 5.

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Thanks!

 

WRITING BUDDHA

Living Spirituality by Meetu Bisht (Book Review: 4.5*/5) !!!

  

21^st Book of 2023

I don’t know why is this a phenomenon that few good books keep sitting in your shelf for months until you pick it up. This has been happening with me since last few years. One such instance is with the book named “Living Spirituality” written by Meetu Bisht. I had got it right when it released but due to some or the other reason, I always kept it aside to be read slowly at the right time in my life. I don’t know if this is it or not, but I have finally completed reading it within 4 short reading cycles of 1.5 hours each. This is a short book written in 200-pages and published by Hay House publication.

 

The book tries to defy some myth regarding spirituality which has become quite a confusing topic these days because in the age of Internet, we have ended up following multiple spiritual and yoga gurus online. Meetu tries to make us understand how simple being spiritual is. She tries to explain that there’s nothing that we need to do beyond our limits to call ourselves spiritual. She has divided the book in 28 different chapters where each of them tries to speak on one perspective of Spiritualism. There are instances where we get to know about the new perspective whereas there are moments when you completely disagree with the author’s point of view. The goodness in her writing style is that you still don’t hate the book and continue reading it with the same charm and curiosity.

 

Meetu’s intent is very clear that she wants human to understand that they just have to be their natural inner-self rather than trying to do something extreme in order to be called spiritual. She has been focused on the title of the book and I am amazed how she could talk about it without failing or dwindling even once in 200 pages. Her writing style is very simple which will help even beginners to understand what she is talking about – something which is very difficult for beginners to grasp when they read books on spirituality or philosophies.

 

Because this book tries to give a new concept of spirituality, it becomes quite difficult to accept few of Meetu’s point of view but I am sure author knew about it while writing. Like, for example, I still don’t agree with her point that meditation doesn’t lead us towards spirituality. I believe it helps us lot in understanding silence and calmness which eventually changes a lot of things within us. Meetu tries to explain us how spirituality is all about our inner-self which already exists. We just need to maintain a lifestyle which helps us understand our core. She emphasizes that no external activity or achievements are needed to unlock spirituality in our life.

 

Author gives a nice insight upon why we have certain relationships in our life because we have certain Karma to be dealt with. Hence, escaping to some spiritual recourse in a different place does not serve the spiritual purpose as the Karma does not get settled because we don't engage in these karmic transactions. Similarly, she gives a very meaningful aspect of why we need to keep working like a regular person and earn for our bread-and-butter rather than thinking of being at a safe place like mountains etc. She explains how we can be spiritual even while pursuing our regular life.

 

Author also talks about the fact that until we don't learn from our mistakes, there are certain patterns that will keep repeating in our life and we’ll keep on suffering difficult situations until we don’t learn from it and complete the karmic cycle. By the end of the first half of the book, I was little frustrated regarding author continuously trying to tell us what living spiritually is but not telling us how but the way author has documented her second half of the book – took away all my complaints in a moment. She gives us insight into the detailing of how we can become spiritual by sharing elements like essentials when seeking spiritual growth, hurdles to self-awareness, A-Z of self-transformation, 99 traits of a spiritual person etc. I wished highlighting all the sentences written in these chapters. The 2^nd half of the book definitely has repeat-value and everyone should go through it periodically to check if we have improved lately or not.

 

Overall, this is a light book but with intense capabilities of bringing change within us. I give this book 4.5 stars out of 5. I recommend it to everyone. Meetu Bisht has done a phenomenal job.

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Thanks!

 

WRITING BUDDHA