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There are tons of self-help books by Indian as well as International authors, but many of them dish out gyaan leaving the reader confused about the application of the tips mentioned in the book. I am sure you could easily co-relate to that ‘Never judge a book by its cover‘ scenario where the book cover looked interesting but the contents of the book were not so engaging leading to less takeaway from it 🙁

As a 90’s kid I really enjoyed the mythological series of Ramayana and Mahabharata though it was only meant for entertainment purpose. My thoughts towards Ramayana & application of learnings from it changed after I read [as well as reviewed] Shubha Vilas’s book Ramayana : The Game of Life: Shattered Dreams and Ramayana : The Game of Life: Rise of the Sun Prince. The books had stories on Ramayana with learnings that can be applied in today’s life!

Today we review another book Open-Eyed Meditations by the noted author Subha Vilas. The tag line of the book is ‘Practical Wisdom for everyday life‘

About the Author

Shubha Vilas holds a degree in engineering and law with specialization in patent law. But in essence, he is an author, a motivational speaker, lifestyle coach, and a storyteller par excellence. You can find more about him here

Detailed Review

Open-eyed Meditations is a beautiful compilation of thoughts wherein each meditation takes you on a journey to the past, bringing a secret herb to heal a problem of the present. Similar to the previous books penned by Shubha Vilas, this book also uses the wisdom of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata to solve your everyday problems!

Considering that there is so much stress in everyone’s life, one option to find peace and solace is mediation. As it is known that meditation should be done with your eyes closed but this book spells the other side of meditation that can be practiced with ‘open eyes’ and ‘open mind’. The book comprises of 64 chapters and each chapter follows a unique approach to help us address questions and issues that we have in our life, through the aid of short snippets quoting examples and behaviors from the Ramayana & Mahabharata.

Though the book comprises of 64 chapters, every chapter is kept short [keeping the crux intact] and language used for narration is simple. The reader need not be aware of the characters in the mythological series and this where lies the beauty of the book! Whether you are facing issues at your workplace, going through a turmoil in your relationship, facing problems with decision making or want to enhance your leadership skills; this book offers valuable nuggets of wisdom and action point resources to deal with it all. An ideal way to read the book is to look the Contents/Index and select a chapter that might be able to potentially address your concern.

Shubha Vilas retains his traditional writing style where he ends each chapter with a summary [or helpful tips to be more precise] that can be used in our day-to-day lives. The book is written in a very simplistic and contemporary manner, which keeps the interest alive!

Key Takeaways

Each and every page has some learning in it and that is the key highlight of the book. Below are some of the chapters that we enjoyed reading the most [Note : Choices might vary from reader to reader]

  • Chapter 3 – Do all problems have quick fix solutions?
  • Chapter 4 – Why don’t I make the right decisions in life?
  • Chapter 5 – Spirituality @ Workplace
  • Chapter 10 – Can your talent be your enemy?
  • Chapter 12 – A formula to re-brand your mind
  • Chapter 14 – Who controls my opinions and decisions
  • Chapter 17 – Are you programmed to be someone else?
  • Chapter 18 – From Information to transformation
  • Chapter 21 – Is lack of focus a disease or a choice
  • Chapter 22 – An idea to prevent hacking of ideas
  • Chapter 27 – The investment that returns hearts
  • Chapter 29 – Can your success be your failure?
  • Chapter 37 – The science of how to let go
  • Chapter 40 – A compliant against complaining
  • Chapter 42 – Art of leading leaders
  • Chapter 43 – Seven secrets of innovation
  • Chapter 45 – Indivisible leadership
  • Chapter 50 – Do ‘Likes’ make my life?
  • Chapter 53 – Leading through mistakes
  • Chapter 54 – Leading without a title
  • Chapter 55 – Making leadership last
  • Chapter 59 – X factor influencing success
  • Chapter 62 – Constructive thoughts about team building

Some of the notable excerpts from the book are mentioned below

Competition : Compete with yourself not others. Competition with self improves performance and causes no heartburn either. Further comparing yourself with others undermines your uniqueness. Gratitude for our individuality can reduce self-destructive habit of comparison. Unlike flattery, appreciation requires skills and comes from the heart.

People : People want to deal with others’ strengths and not weakness; their abilities and not idiosyncrasies. Rather than rejecting a person due to this bad side, the need is to provide emphatic assistance in dealing with the shortcomings.

Being positive : Talented people with negative attitudes are unable to cope with the ups and downs of life. Right attitude helps to move on in life. Relationships too wither away without the right attitude

Re-brand your mind : Human mind, thoughts, beliefs, values, culture, all operate through symbolism. We have bandwidth to upgrade our symbols and climb up a higher rung of the value system. We could also end up downgrading our symbols to an abyss of negativeness and anxieties.

We can choose a symbol that inspires or choose one that revives bad memories and creates self destruction.

Embrace my embarrassments : We all have embarrassments that we want to run away from. One perspective is to look at them as God’s way of keeping us grounded amid success. The secret is to handle embarrassments with dignity and humility, which is also how we should handle success.

Art of leading Leaders : The first step in leadership training is to find and hone potential leaders at the earliest. Then, shortlist them based on their ability to deal with sticky situations and take personal interest in guiding and developing young leaders, to focus their efforts on upgrading what they have.

Leadership training model can resemble Kangaroo-type, that gives protection in safe havens, or Bird-type, which gives strength to find wings.

Leading though mistakes : Leaders make mistakes too. After the mistake is made, ineffective leaders look for a scapegoat to put the blame on. By taking responsibility, a leader allows himself that scope of error.

A thinking leader considers mistakes as an opportunity. To lament for one’s mistake is important, but far more important is to learn from that mistake.

Leading without a Title : A leader wanting the support of a heavy title is bound to fail. The title can be used either to inspire or terrorize, depending on whether he wants to control his followers or make his followers achievers.

Leaders, who heavily depend on titles, bask in glory during the happy times and hide themselves during hostile times. Title-less leaders come out during challenging times and hide themselves during happy times. For a title-less leader what is more important is performance. A position is only a decoration and when push comes to shove what matters is performance.

Closing Thoughts

Open-Eyed Meditations is a book for all moods and all seasons. 64 chapters are covered over 280 pages and this is where lies the beauty of the book i.e. learnings are conveyed in a short yet effective manner.

It is a book that can be read again and again since it reveals many profound thoughts that can nurture a different aspect of your life. As mentioned by Shubha Vilas in the introduction section of Open-Eyed Meditations

Read this book the way a cow eats grass while ruminating. Chew on every word carefully till you have milky lucidity that nourishes every aspect of your life. This book will help you learn the art of meditating with your eyes wide open as you keenly observe the world around you and allow it to enlighten you.

It definitely stands by that promise since each chapter delivers a powerful learning. In a nutshell, Open-eyed meditations is a book of thoughtful sutras that can become life sutras.

You can purchase Open-Eyed Meditations by Shubha Vilas by clicking on the link below

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

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Each one of us has dreams and milestones to achieve, whether it is on the personal front or professional front. Very few of us get to that target due to various reasons since life can sometimes be topsy-turvy. Though all of us would have encountered our fair share of failures [which is very important], the learnings from those failures still remain with us and a wiser person ensures that the same mistakes are not repeated. When you face challenges and come across failures, always Raise Up and fight back.

You Raise Me Up by Arjun Hemmady is based on the same premise where Aalok Sharma, a 27-year-old Chartered Accountant falls for a girl named Priyanka Mehra. Aalok and Priyanka are two different personalities and the book highlights their respective journeys. Will Aalok confess his love and affection for Priyanka or not, the novel You Raise Me Up provides answers to these questions.

About the author

Arjun Hemmady completed his schooling from St. Mary’s ICSE [Mazgaon] and College from RA Podar College of Commerce and Economics. He is pursuing his Chartered Accountancy from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India [ICAI]. His past times include writing, reading books, and watching movies. He works in a manufacturing company. You can find more about the author here

Detailed Review

As mentioned earlier, the main protagonists of the book are Aalok Sharma and Priyanka Mehra. Aalok is 27 years old chartered accountant and is an introvert by nature. He has been through lots of ups & downs in life. Priyanka is a Dehradun born girl who stays in Delhi and works in the legal department of Mahindra & Mahindra.

The story unfolds with Aalok accidentally meeting Priyanka on a flight from Delhi to Mumbai and as shown in Bollywood movies, it is love at first sight 🙂 As it is said opposites attract and both of them get along very well, right from the first discussion they have on the flight.

But having gone through a rough patch in life, Aalok takes each step very carefully whereas Priyanka is very open about his love for Aalok. Like a romantic movie, the first part of the book showcases the feeling of love and hesitance between Aalok & Priyanka. The second part of the book takes us back in time [10 years] and introduces three more characters – Aalok’s parents, twin sister Isha & family friend Tanvi Rao. We liked that the female characters are etched positively and show a lot of grit: Isha is a kick-boxing champion and Priyanka is into wrestling.

Aalok marries Tanvi and their life goes through a tough patch since Aalok is not able to give more time to Tanvi due to work pressure. In order to release stress, Tanvi becomes alcoholic which doesn’t go well with Aalok and they file for a divorce. The third part of the book brings the story out of flashback where Aalok’s sister Isha forces him to inform Priyanka about his past which he is hiding from her. As expected, Priyanka leaves Aalok and this is where Isha decides to play the role of Cupid [and tells her brother to always Look Up & never Give Up]. Isha meets Priyanka, has a kickboxing match with her and finally manages to convince Priyanka 🙂 In spite of Aalok’s dreadful past, Priyanka accepts Aalok. Aalok’s ex-wife Tanvi also gives up alcoholism and moves with Shashank, her good friend since college days.

They then live happily ever after 🙂

Closing Thoughts

The story is written in simple English, though sometimes it becomes predictable. The reader can easily visualize Aalok’s agony in not being able to accept his feelings for Priyanka. The divorce between Aalok & Tanvi happens without much drama which was required else it would have dragged the story unnecessarily!

The author Arjun Hemmady has admitted that he has never been in any relationship nor watched any romantic movie nor read any romantic novel and in our opinion, this worked in his favor in some of the cases. Raise Me Up is a breezy read and the romantic novel is targeted to the youth. Though in some places, the storyline becomes completely flat but overall it is a story that a reader can easily co-relate to!

Final Verdict – 3.5/5

Thanks to Arjun Hemmady for sending a review copy of You Raise Me Up. You Raise Me Up is available on Flipkart and Amazon, links below


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There is a very famous quote by Plutarch – The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled and it is upto our mind on how to act in case of adverse situations! As per a recent study by the UN, there are close to one billion specially-able people  globally out of which 40~80 million people are living in India.

If you are able bodied and want to accomplish something with or without your body, achievement of the end goal only depends on the effort that you put. However for a person with physical disability, the whole life becomes a challenge though some of these challenges can still be overcome only with sheer will and passion to move ahead in life. Though specially abled people do face many obstacles, they still have the will and motivation to succeed and the very first step is to remove the specially abled tag from their minds!

There are many inspiring stories where specially abled people have achieved greater heights (that even a normal person wouldn’t have been able to do) like How Kargil War Hero Major D.P.Singh became India’s first blade runner and did not let his disability affect him to push harder to realize his potential, How Srikanth Bolla built Bollant Industries by fighting odds against his blindness and the list just keeps on growing! As mentioned by the late Stella Young – The only disability is the brain disability and disability doesn’t make you exceptional, but questioning what you think you know about it does.

Though there are innumerable stories of inspiration, Commute is one area that needs to be solved for those who are living with physical disabilities/challenges. People with disabilities have consistently described how transportation barriers affect their lives in important ways. This is where self-driving can make a huge difference and this is the problem that social entrepreneur Harish Kumar’s venture Ability On Wheels is aiming to solve (Earlier coverage here)! Ability On Wheels is an effort to encourage the people with disabilities (PWDs) to take a big leap towards leading a normal life by being able to drive on their own.

Today, we review his book Ability On Wheels which is a book that provides Hope! It is an effort to spread awareness and provide useful information on disability and driving

About the author

Harish Kumar was born with the absence of right arm. He did his M Sc from IIT Roorkee & M Tech from IIT Delhi. In 2012, he became the first physically challenged person in the country to complete a Solo All India Driving Expedition thereby creating a new National Record and one more record in the next year. You can find more information about him here

In order to go ahead with the review, it is very important to look into the aspect – Why Ability On Wheels.

Many people expressed their desire to drive but there was not even a single driving school for them in the entire country. This is where Harish fore-saw an opportunity and gave up his career in telecom with the sole mission : Provide driveway for people with disabilities. After six months of detailed study, multiple iterations, follow-ups and negotiations with the government, etc. Ability On Wheels, India’s first driving school for people with disabilities was born!

Detailed Review

Today the disability sector in India is at the stage where maximum visibility and focus on the potential of the person with disabilities is very much required. This is what Ability On Wheels caters to. The book is enriched by personal experiences of Harish in his quest to provide disability is only in mind and we become what we think.

The book has experiences that are faced by Harish Kumar and how he overcame those hurdles to learn driving. In addition to his own experiences, the book cites real life examples of the following:

Navin Gulia, a gentleman cadet who became paraplegic during a freak incident encountered during is training.

Satendra Singh, a doctor & polio survivor who has been highly vocal on barriers that plague the people with disability.

Kavita Modi & Pallav Pathak, students at the motor driving school for the physically challenged who learnt driving despite all odds!

These are just a few real life case-studies of grit & determination that have been covered in the book. It is a short read of ~150 pages and each chapter covers one specially-abled driver, his/her driving strategies, insights into traffic rules, types of vehicles, Process for obtaining a driving license, general Do’s & Dont’s for driving, driving under different climatic conditions, etc.

Who should read this book

Most of the times we are motivated by looking at other’s actions or by following their journey (and how they became successful by beating all challenges that came their way). They could be an entrepreneur, film-star, sport-star, your fellow colleague or anyone from whom you can draw inspiration! If you are the one who is looking for motivation and love reading stories about grit & determination, then Ability On Wheels definitely should be in your collection.

Ability On Wheels book would also be of immense interest to someone with disabilities, disability advocates & researchers, researchers, travel enthusiasts, car dealers & sales representatives of car manufacturers, officials of transport department, etc. It provides tips for safe driving, customizations/modifications required in a vehicle, related rules, etc.

Closing Thoughts

The book Ability on Wheels is an attempt on visualizing how society can be more inclusive to specially-abled persons by opening up driving for not just their mobility but also for their emotional, social and financial empowerment.

The intent of the publisher Artson Publishing to make a difference by publishing Ability On Wheels is also note-worthy since they are a start-up and inspite of focusing solely on monetization, they chose to focus on such social causes; kudos to them! The book Ability On Wheels is available exclusively on Amazon for Rs. 150.

I would close the review with a motivational quote by Harish

Driving requires mental strength, so use it. Forget about your disabilities – just drive

|In: Books|Last Updated: | 2 Comments

In the past, we have done many Book Reviews, thanks to the BlogAdda Book Review Program. Some of the past reviews are – Review : Best Seller she Wrote, Review : Business Sutra, Review : Shades of Life, Review: Ramayana – Game of Life and Review : Private India and we have thoroughly enjoyed reading those books 🙂 For readers who are not familiar with BlogAdda, it is a platform for bloggers to connect with each other, showcase their blogs and participate in interesting activities. The Adda has given writers various avenues to introduce their blogs to a large audience and interact with their readers [More here]. Today we review Six Degrees-Game of Blogs which is not a regular book but it is a piece of publishing history.

Six Degrees Game of Blogs : Collaboration meets Creativity

Six Degrees is a product of the first collaborative blogging effort in India. Yes, you read it right.. It is a novel that is co-authored by many writers [precisely bloggers :)] who are winners of the #CelebrateBlogging initiative by BlogAdda [that ran the first edition of Game Of Blogs in September 2014]. The objective was to write a fictional story revolving around five characters. Bloggers from across India came together as teams and after three rounds filled with it’s own set of twists & turns, three stories were adjudged winners by coveted panel of Judges.

Hence, Six Degrees is not an ordinary effort but the result of “Collaboration + Creativity” 🙂 The most fascinating thing about this book is that – Five characters are same and have the same characteristics in three stories narrated in the book.

Six Degrees Game of Blogs : Characters, Stories & more insights

As mentioned earlier, the book has three different stories with five characters (that remain same across stories). All the stories are set in Mumbai & Delhi. What we particularly liked about the book is that the language used in the stories is simple and authors (three teams of bloggers across India) have made a great effort to make the stories more engaging and keeping the readers hooked on to their seats !!

The Lead characters around which stories have been plotted are below:

  • Shekhar Dutta – A freelance writer and also a stay at home father
  • Tara Dutta – Wife of Shekhar and also a Media Professional
  • Roohi Duta – Their nine year old daughter. All the three stay as a close-knit family in Mumbai
  • Jennifer Joseph – Kochi based photographer
  • Cyrus Daruwala – Law student staying in Delhi

Three Stories that have been written by three different teams are below:

The Awakening

Team of bloggers who have worked on ‘The Awakening’ are the following-

Authors - The Awakening
Authors – The Awakening

The Awakening – Backdrop

The Awakening is about Tara Dutta, Shekhar Dutta and their nine year old daughter Roohi. They are a close knit family who stay in Mumbai. It is a science fiction story with interesting twists and turns. Thy are leading a normal life until the arrival of a surprise guest – Jennifer [Cyrus and Shekhar’s friend] after which their lives become topsy-turvy. Every day, there are new revelations and incidents that threaten to tear the happy family apart.

Just like a Hollywood sci-fi flick, you can visualize the scenes and the good part about the story is that the scenes change at a very rapid pace. This keeps the readers glued to the story. The graphical representations of the aliens and the powers they possess adds more Masala to the entire story.

Would the ‘Once upon a time- Happy Family’ succeed to find out who are the strangers that have entered their lives ? What is the secret that holds the key to their happiness ? Would they be able to defeat the super-powers and save our earth ? These are the answers that lie in ‘The Awakening’, read it to believe it 🙂

Entangled Lives

Team of bloggers who have worked on ‘Entangled Lives’ are the following-

Team - Entangled Lives
Team – Entangled Lives

Entangled Lives – Backdrop

In Entangled Lives, a small seemingly happy family is thrown into turmoil with the arrival of strangers in the house. Tara and Shekhar Dutta have similar job profiles. Cyrus is an illegitimate child of Shekhar Dutta. She studies Law. Jennifer Joseph is an over-ambitious wild-life photographer. It is an intriguing story about an out of work writer, a power-hungry media head, a wild life photographer, 9 year old child and MURDER. The mystery that needs to be solved is who has murdered the maid of the Dutta household.

There is no direct evidence to link the murder to the crime though there is an eye-witness that will help in solving the mystery. For me, it was an edge of the seat thriller and a complete page-turner. Just like a Bollywood flick, this story has all the ingredients to make a great story – Relationships, Lies, Secrets, Betrayal and Revenge. We won’t be surprised if some Bollywood Director expresses interest in making a feature film on this story 🙂

Missing – A Journey within

Team of bloggers who have worked on ‘Missing’ are the following-

Team - Missing
Team – Missing

Missing – Backdrop

As the title rightly suggests, this story is about a Missing person. Roohi, daughter of Shekhar Dutta goes missing from school. Roohi was accidentally clicked by Jennifer [photographer] when she was clicking pictures to complete her assignments. She recognizes Roohi since her parents have circulated her pictures on Social Media. So, who was Roohi last seen with ?

Missing traces the journey of love, hope, care and affection right into hatred, ego, prejudice and negativity. It beautifully etches the pain that a family has to go through since there is a fear of loosing Roohi forever. Just when hope to find Roohi starts to dwindle, journey takes a fascinating turn.

Would the family manage to find Roohi or they would loose her forever, Missing holds all the answers !!!

Six Degrees Game of Blogs : Closing Thoughts

The overall effort put by the BlogAdda team to identify and shortlist writers is commendable. Coming to the book, the stories are very captivating, we particularly liked ‘Entangled Lives’ though opinions might differ based on reader’s interest.

The thing which we really liked about the book is that same characters were given to all the teams and they came out with well-knit stories. If you like to read about different perspectives in life, love drama, suspense; than Six Degrees is the book for you 🙂

Final Verdict – 4/5

Where to buy the book

The book is available on Amazon [Affiliate link below].

Six Degrees-Game of Blogs definitely proves the point that each blogger is different, their views are different and the way they visualize things are different !!! We highly recommend BlogAdda to come up or plan with the next edition of #Celebrate Blogging so that more bloggers can embark their journey to become authors.

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

|In: Books|Last Updated: | 1 Comment

Every person in life has dreams & aspirations but many times or should we say, most of the times “Plans remain plans” & finally, things divert into an unplanned direction. Some of them can do anything i.e. virtually anything to achieve their dreams. If this sounds like an interesting plot straight from a Bollywood movie, than you should definitely get your hands on to Ravi Subramanian’s latest book The Bestseller She Wrote. It is a story about Love, Betrayal & Redemption.

About the author

Ravi Subramanian is an Indian author. A banker by profession, Subramanian has written popular thrillers about banking and bankers, including award winning trilogy The Incredible Banker, The Bankster and Bankerupt. An alumnus of IIM Bangalore, batch of 1993, Subramanian spent close to two decades in the financial services industry. After having worked with companies such as Citibank, HSBC and ANZ Grindlays, Subramanian is now the CEO of a listed Non-banking financial company [Source – Wikipedia]

Detailed Review

‘The Bestseller She Wrote’ is the latest novel in the Thriller genre by Ravi Subramanian with an interesting plot with many twists & turns. Like his previous books The Incredible Banker, If God was a Banker and many more, the main character of the book – Aditya Kapoor is a banker, however banking has no role to play in the entire story.

The story revolves around three characters – Aditya Kapoor, his wife Maya and Shreya Kaushik (an IIMB Student). Let’s get into the skin of each of these characters. Aditya is not only a successful banker but he is also a best-selling author (nicknamed the Paperback King). He has a loving wife Maya and they are blessed with a son. It sounds like a happy-go-lucky family from Sooraj Barjatya’s movie 🙂 But their lives becomes topsy-turvy when Shreya Kaushik enters Aditya’s life.

Shreya Kaushik is a beautiful and talented girl who is pursuing her MBA in IIM, Bengaluru. Shreya has another aspiration i.e. to become a best-selling author. As expected, they meet again. Aditya visits IIMB to give a guest talk where he ends up with an argument with Shreya over a particular question raised by her. The authorities at the college are not very happy over her behavior. In order to compensate, she reads a novel written by none other than Aditya.

Now comes the fourth character, Sanjay (Aditya’s colleague & friend) and to make things worsen for Aditya, they visit IIMB for campus hiring. Aditya again meets Shreya during the campus interviews and Shreya gets placed in Aditya’s company.

Like a good-old masala movie; from ‘Just Friends’, Aditya and Shreya become ‘Very Good Friends’. They both develop an extra-marital affair and Shreya aims to capitalize on Aditya’s feelings in order to get her novel released in the market. Life is smooth for both of them until Maya comes to know about their affair.

What’s in-store for Maya, Aditya and Shreya? Would Shreya become a best-selling author, would Aditya choose Shreya over Maya, would Maya continue to stay with Aditya or divorce him ? Would Aditya redeem himself & regain his lost self-respect ? This is where the twist comes in the story and the story races in the second-half.

The Bestseller She Wrote : Pros

Roles of all the three main leads – Aditya, Maya and Shreya are very well etched out though some more light could have been thrown on some of them.

There are references to real world names like Chetan Bhagat, HSBC, Anurag Kashyap, Poonam Saxena etc. that make the story more compelling since user’s can visualize the actual characters while reading this book. The story is fast-paced with many surprise elements coupled with emotions resulting in lot’s of twists in this thriller. And yes, Bangalore is referred as Bengaluru which was definitely a ‘welcome surprise’ for us.

With so many aspiring writers willing to become ‘Best Selling Authors’, this book definitely gives an insight into the Best-Selling game 🙂

The Bestseller She Wrote : Improvements

Some insights into Shreya’s life before she enters into IIMB could have made her character even stronger. Aditya’s son has no role to play in this entire thriller & in our opinion, he was only kept to inform the readers that Aditya and Maya were leading a happily married life.

Aditya’s friend – Sanjay also had less role to play in the entire story. In some cases, there were minor grammatical errors that could have been avoided.

Closing Thoughts

The book provides an “Edge Of the Seat” thriller experience & the “Plot” creates this experience !!!  The book is written in very simple language. Strong Characters are the backbone of this book. We really enjoyed the whole journey :) At around 295 pages, The Bestseller She Wrote is definitely a book recommended for readers who love the ‘Thriller’ genre

Final Verdict – 3.5/5

Thanks Mr Ravi Subramanian for sending us an auto-graphed copy of the book 🙂 This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books !

Buy ‘The Bestseller She Wrote’ from Flipkart by clicking the below link (Affiliate Link)

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I am sure that most us would have watched [if not read] the Ramayana that used to be tele-casted on Doordarshan. Few months back, we had reviewed the book Ramayana : The Game of Life : Rise of the Sun Prince which was aptly written to convey the messages from the Ramayana to the urban audience.

Today we review the second installment of the book titled – Ramayana : The Game of Life: Shattered Dreams.

About the Author

Shubha Vilas is a motivational speaker, spiritual seeker with B.E in “Electronics & Telecommunications” and L.L.B specializing in Patent Law. You can find more about him here

Detailed Review

Just like the previous book, here also the author tries to connect the learning from each instance [of the Ramayana] with real-life [through footnotes]. The book starts off with the dilemma that King Dasratha faces in deciding who should succeed him. It showcases the life of Ram while in exile. The author has beautifully taken the famous Ramayana and given it his own touch. It teaches us that “Despite all odds, how both Rama & Sita shared a very beautiful & understanding relationship with each other”.

20150309_072835-1

The author helps us visualize the beauty of “being self-less” through the actions of Lakshmana & Bharata. Through Manthara’s character, it beautifully portray’s “How poisonous instincts of one person can lead to the disaster of an entire nation [Ayodhya]”.

The author had to make sure that the reader finds the story interesting [and can co-relate to it] else it would have been “Me-Too” book on the epic. There are learnings on Leadership, Mentoring, Giving-up etc. from each chapter [or I can say from each page :)] which readers can easily co-relate to day to day life.

The Ramayana is narrated in a very crisp & simplistic manner ensuring that the epic gives out more learnings to it’s readers !!!

There are interesting lessons on Management which we would like to share in this article.

Management Mantras

Lord Rama revealed five key management concepts a good leader has to adhere to. These five tenets form the most important limbs of a leader’s portfolio.

Respect Management

The foundation of any leadership rests on respect management. A leader who respects his superiors, allows the flow of energy to descend into his life. With that in mind, Rama’s question to Bharata were:

  • Are you treating your preceptors respectfully ?
  • Are you making sure mother Kaushalya & Sumitra are happy ?
  • Is the venerable Keikeyi rejoicing ?
  • Do you honor Sayujna, the son of Vasistha ?
  • Are you respectful toward, brahmanas, teachers and ministers ?
  • Are women respected & taken care of ? Respect toward them is the root of all the good that happens in society & dis-respect toward them is the root of all evil in the society.

Decision Management

Decision-making with discernment becomes an ornament that brings respect & appreciation from followers. Rama gave Baratha some crucial pointers:

  • Do not deliberate either alone or with too many men.
  • Your decisions should not be made public before being carried out.
  • Neighboring kings should not understand your undertakings before execution.
  • Your decisions should have maximum benefit at minimum cost.
  • Do not delay decision-making.
  • Do not falsely accuse, kill or punish a noble man without appropriate inquiry. Remember that tears of victims falsely accused actually destroy justice givers.
  • Do not release a thief for greed of wealth.
  • Encourage your ministers to be impartial to both the rich and the poor.

Reputation Management

Reputation is like a glass ball. It has to be clean, but before that, it has to be in your grip. People see before they hear; they judge a leader on the basis of his actions before they get inspired by the words. The reputation of the leader imbibes confidence in the follower. Rama’s suggestions to Bharatha were:

  • Do not fall prey to excessive sleep & wake-up at an appropriate hour.
  • Contemplate about the adroitness of your action in the second half of the night.
  • Dress royally. The regal appearance of a king gives confidence to the subjects.
  • Make yourself available to hear your subject’s grievances. First hand interaction with the leader gives hope to the subjects.
  • Do not over-indulge in wealth, religion or delights of the senses. Over-indulgence or indulgence at the wrong time or place creates doubts in subjects.
  • Do not eat without sharing. Not sharing makes one hardhearted & others jealous.
  • Avoid incurring the wrath of Brahmanas by falling into wrong habits.
  • Ensure that servants are not dis-respectful toward you nor should they hasten away in fear on seeing you. Disrespect & fear are two extremes indicating barriers in connections between the leader and his subjects.

Team Management

Team management is to a leader what life management is to a doctor. When a team is managed with grace, the subjects are filled with gratefulness; the team becomes the solution to all problems a leader faces. Rama revealed these pearls of wisdom:

  • One wise man is better than thousand stupid ones; one good minister can ensure the prosperity of a kingdom.
  • Assign tasks according to the level of intelligence, ability, skill, position & status of the employee.
  • Surround yourself with ministers who are not only corruptible & full of integrity but also born and raised in a family that imbibes Vedic values & culture.
  • Train your ministers to avoid flexible decisions that makes subjects fearful.
  • The army chief should be cheerful, wise, courageous, well-behaved, loved by his subordinates, efficient, born & raised in a family that imbibes Vedic values & culture.
  • Honor courageous warriors in public.
  • The army should be paid their salary & daily provisions on time. A delay in wages & maintenance causes servants to be corrupt and infuriated with their master.
  • Select an ambassador who is knowledgeable, wise & skillful, has a presence of mind and knows how to speak to the point.
  • Though three spies, unacquainted with one another, collect all information about your important officers as well as those of your enemies. Do not place your trust on one spy.
  • Do not spy on your own ministers, your guru & the princes. Monitor their actions.
  • Do not house a physician who is an expert at aggravating a disease, a servant intent on bringing disgrace and a valiant warrior seeking kingly power. They can be the cause of your destruction.

Character Management

A leader should religiously avoid these 14 sins. By carefully avoiding these, the leader can suitably manage his character.

  • Giving the material world as much importance as the spiritual world.
  • Carelessness.
  • Procrastination.
  • Lack of appreciation of righteous people.
  • Autocracy in decision making.
  • Avoiding decisions already made.
  • Dishonesty.
  • Revealing confidential information.
  • Indulging in discussions with people of adverse opinions and thus wasting valuable time.
  • Invading enemies from all directions.
  • Respecting bad people.

Closing Thoughts

“Ramayana : The Game of Life: Shattered Dreams” is a breezy read & keeps the reader’s hooked with the learnings [documented in the footnotes]. Overall the book is a must read for all Epic lovers, Management gurus & Aspirants to get the story from an entirely different angle knitting it well with the modern era.

Thanks to Mr Shubha Vilas for sending us the review copy of this book 🙂

|In: Books|Last Updated:

Every person in life has dreams & aspirations but many times or should we say, most of the times “Plans remain plans” & finally, things divert into an unplanned direction. But, it all depends on the individual & his/her capability to bounce back !!! Well, if this sounds “interesting & inspiring”, than you should definitely get your hands on Varun Gautam’s novel “The Symbol”. Today, we review Varun’s first novel – The Symbol

About the author

Varun Gautam is an engineer [from Pantnagar University] turned author. He has brief stint of around 8+ years in HCL Technologies. As mentioned on his website, he was always interested or passionate about writing & “The Symbol” is an amalgamation of fictional & factual experiences. Varun is reachable at varungautam13@gmail.com

Detailed Review

SymbolLooking at the book cover, one might mistaken this book as a sci-fi thriller but as mentioned above it is a “mixture of facts & fiction”. The story revolves around three characters – Dhruv, Mohan & Arjun. It is very common that people or more often friends are compared with each other based on multiple factors i.e. salary, house & many other materialistic things.

Mohan & Arjun – two friends have their own plans & priorities; but as they say in Hindi “Allah Meharban to Gadha Pehalwan”, Mohan gets more than what he deserves. Arjun’s life takes a drastic twist when he fails to clear his IMS entrance exam & life becomes completely directionless !!! With life going no-where & Arjun completely dejected, he comes across a device “Symbol” & than starts a series of twists & turns !!!

Would the “Symbol” prove instrumental in solving Arjun’s problems or it would bring-in more problems ??? This is what 230 pages long power-packed novel is all about… We could draw a parallel-comparison with “Aftab Shivdasani’s short story in Darna Mana Hain” 🙂

Dhruv is Arjun’s cousin brother & he is narrating the story. It is a breezy read & it surely keeps readers hooked & also motivated !!! While reading the novel, I could feel myself in Arjun’s shoes since, failures & successes are part & parcel of “everyone’s” life.

Closing Thoughts

The book provides an “Edge Of the Seat” thriller experience & the “Plot” creates this experience !!! However, the details of the central character i.e. Symbol [whether it is a time-machine/some other gadget etc.] that changed Arjun’s life is not disclosed, it is left upto reader’s assumption !!!

Apart from this; the story, characters & perfect ending were well-thought off & were detailed to perfection. This is the first time we reviewed a book of this genre on our blog & we really enjoyed the whole journey :) At around 230 pages, “The Symbol” is a breezy read & surely provides “dose of inspiration” !!!

Final Verdict – 3/5

Thanks to Varun Gautam for sending a review copy of “The Symbol” !!!

Buy “The Symbol” from Flipkart by clicking the below link

|In: BlogAdda|Last Updated:

What happens when two authors from different genre’s & from different parts of the world team-up & come up with a book ? Well, the result would be an interesting mix of their individual strengths, story-telling would definitely be a “treat to the readers” !!!

“Private India” by Ashwin Sanghi and James Patterson is one such book. James Patterson is the best-selling author behind the critically acclaimed & best selling “Private” Series [Private L.A, Private Berlin etc. to name a few].

PrivateIndia

About the Author

Ashwin Sanghi is counted among India’s highest-selling English fiction authors. He is best known for this bestsellers – The Rozabal Line, Chanakya’s Rant & The Krishna Key. All his books have been based on historical, theological and mythological themes.[1] He is one of India’s best-selling conspiracy fiction writers and is an author of the new era of retelling Indian history or mythology in a contemporary context [More about Ashwin Sanghi here]

James Patterson is an American author who is largely known for his novels about fictional psychologist Alex Cross, the protagonist of the Alex Cross series. He has written many other number one bestsellers including romance novels & stand-alone thrillers [More about James Patterson here]

Detailed Review

The story starts off with a sequence of murders in Mumbai [none of them are related to each other] with unfortunate local bombings. A murder happens in a resort which is managed by a private agency named “Private India”. Private India is headed by an ex-cop, Santosh Wagh who is the director of the private agency.

Santosh Wagh’s team comprises of a bunch of “officers” who have the capability to crack any case; no matter how complex that case may be !!! There are a series of murders & in each murder, an evidence is left at the crime scene [whether it help’s Santosh Wagh and this team to crack the case is revealed in due course…. mystery is definitely kept intact :)] 

The number of murder’s keep increasing & there are other issues like God-men, Politics, Corruption etc. are also coupled with the murders [doesn’t this remind us of Singham Returns :)]. Some aspects of Indian mythology have also been clubbed with the murder scenes; especially sacred feminine. Just like any other Bollywood masala movie, this book packs all of it. At every point, the reader can visualize the murder & this is the main plus of the story since, it keep’s the reader thinking.

Closing Thoughts

The book provides an “Edge Of the Seat” thriller experience & the “Plot” creates this experience !!! This is the first time we reviewed a book of this genre on our blog & we really enjoyed the “murderous” journey 🙂 At around 450 pages, “Private India” is a breezy read, the credit goes to the big font-size used in the book &  “effective story-telling”.

Final Verdict : 3/5

Buy “Private India” from Flipkart by clicking the below link

Thanks to Blogadda for sending us the review copy of this book :) This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books !!!