Book Review: Romi & Gang

Book:  Romi & Gang

Author:  Tushar Raheja

ISBN:  978-81-926810-0-9

Genre:  Fiction

Price:  149 (I got it from Author)

Pages:  237

Publisher:  Pirates

 

Introduction:
 
Going by the general consensus: Let me first begin with a question- what’s the most cherished moment of your life.  I am sure without much discrepancy memories of our childhood stands out tall amongst all the reminiscence.  Its right we all wanted to grow up at a certain point in time but there are instances when we all wanted childhood to stay forever.  Romi & Gang is a fictitious tale of such an evocative narration which claws us back to our childhood days, to all those memories we wanted to stay lifelong.

Cover Page & Title:

Romi & Gang is ably depicted through the cover page and any onlooker can visualize through the cover page  i.e.,  it’s a fitting story of school going chaps from the hills who form a group and the title concedes a conform to be partners through all ups and down in line with those of a gang. What is conceals is worth pondering as it encompasses all the passion and those childhood dreams we all want to accomplish.

About the Author:

Tushar Raheja’s first book was the popular comedy, Anything for you, Ma’am. At the moment, he is a doctoral candidate at IIT Delhi in the field of Applied Probability. He can be contacted at tushar@raheja.org


Compositional Report:

Romi, one of the members of York, a cricket team perceives it’s upon him and his team to restore the long lost pride of their School by conquering the Eagles (a cricket championship) after a mysterious disappearance of his proficient brother Kim. Romi is moved by his brother’s skill and more often than not comprehends he has to win the championship for his brother.  A team which could make Romi’s dream into reality includes Versatile Sunny, Dodgy Sukhi and blunt Golu.  Romi considers his team along with Kim’s inspiration is enough to revive his fortunes but is always circumspect about Sunny edging over him in terms of his abilities. 

As it’s said will and determination can follow suit only when it gets the adequate guidance required. No doubt Romi and his group had the caliber but they need to last and there Victor sir came along with timely counseling from Romi’s first coach, his Dad. Coupled with the moral and mental support provided by Romi’s dad and victor sir’s physical forbearance Romi and his gang were up for the grabs first to impress their school as they could compete with the seniors and then challenge five time winners St. Martins for the Eagles.

Characterization of the passion for cricket for me is the highlighting part of Romi and Gang and it does take the center stage as whatever is followed up in the story has a direct impact on the lives of each and every person involved. Victor sir’s note to Romi, Romi’s Father’s inspirational tips as well as sunny staging ahead of Romi even at the end needs a special recognition as far as the story is concerned.
As far as the loose end is concerned it would be Kim’s absence. There was no reference of any whereabouts of Kim which was carried in suspense all throughout and it ended in suspense. Ending also showcased unfortunate partition of Romi’s kingpin Sunny because of the mishap which was again a mystery to seek.

Over all Romi & Gang is an effluent story of Romi, a story of a teenager chasing his dream.
Tushar has efficiently delved into the characterization of Romi along with his other gang members Sukhi, Golu and Sunny. Plots and subplots were carefully fed to bring out the essence and it never did diverted from the theme and thus we get to read a vibrant story of teenagers is aptly conceived and then portrayed through a mesmerizing story line where a reader can connect vividly.  

Rating:  I would Rate Romi & Gang 4 out of 5

Life Adjudication of the book:

A Book where you can go back to your past and relive those dreams with a penchant  smile…!!!

Book Review: Billionaire Boy-Mark Zuckerberg in his own words

Book:  Billionaire Boy: Mark Zuckerberg in his own words

Author:  George Beahm

ISBN:  9789350298909

Genre:  Business/Inspiration

Price:  199 (Received from Indiblogger)

Pages:  184

Publisher:  Collins Business

Introduction:

We all have dreams and a successful person is not the one who realized his/her dreams but he/she is the one who has the tenacity to continue to ameliorate by probing dreams.  This also goes on with - ‘Success is not measured by your achievement but how you hold on to your priced possession’. ‘Billionaire Boy: Mark Zuckerberg in his own words’ isn’t a biography or an autobiography but an insight to mark Zuckerberg’s rise to glory through Mark’s quotes and from various other dignitaries and organizations. It’s a sheer inspiration for all those aspiring Entrepreneur as it’s an action from behind the screens. 

“The Biggest Risk is not taking any risk… In [a] world that changes really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks”- Mark Zuckerberg

Cover page & Title:

If there’s a punch line that can stir up your senses it is –‘Hacker. Dropout. CEO’ and it’s been optimally used along with Mark’s cover Page photo. It’s a depiction of a success story inspired by determination and will up against degree or certifications.  In short it’s a portrait of a thinker at work.

About the Author:

George Beahm, the editor of the internationally bestselling I, Steve: Steve Jobs in his own words, is a former army major who served on active duty in the National Guard, and the army Reserves. He has published dozens of non-fiction books. Beahm lives in Hampton Roads, Virginia
                His website is www.georgebeahm.com

Compositional Report:

George Beahm  with his magnanimous prowess of describing his thoughts through structured detailing has again turned the tide on his side with ‘Billionaire Boy: Mark Zuckerberg in his own words’.  We all know how boring a non-fiction business oriented book can eventually become but this is indeed a trademark distinguishing feature of George , he not only makes it interesting but also persuade people who are least interested in reading business,  pouch on it. A word for those who have read George before this is as inspiring as it can be.

‘Billionaire Boy: Mark Zuckerberg in his own words’ set forth with the present scenario, citing about Facebook’s current worth and it’s brief history  referring to its evolution followed by Mark’s letter to his investors.  It wasn’t a letter to beckon with but an entire propaganda of Facebook. A letter where Mark with his sheer brilliance pulled of an attire which would be woven across the globe in the years to come and this letter was only a prologue of it.
Instead of the life history of Mark Zuckerberg, George focused on describing the working notes in inspirational lines and the quotes from the emergence to feast were just exemplary. In short and simple words through quotations we came to know about the transformation of a programmer to world’s youngest billionaire.  We can call it a journey towards bloom.

As Far as the lacuna's are concerned it would be the connection of events as the story wasn’t sequenced as such the events were taken at random.  No doubt it was inspiring but the motivational part would have been further enhanced if it were on succession of events.

The best part according to me was the citations of dignitaries where focus was on both the pros and cons of being a billionaire boy. Yes he was named ‘Person of the year’ in 2010 by Time and vanity fair magazine rated him #1 of the top 100 most influencing people in the information age (ahead of Steve Jobs) but also adduced for the challenges faced where a single dodgy move could shamble like that of the Facebook IPO.  Collapse of Facebook stocks and the character personification of the Movie –‘The Social Network’ everywhere Mark was on receiving side. But he bludgeoned all these with his proactive thoughts which were viable when he denied selling off Facebook to yahoo and Microsoft. His determination and willingness to improve was also visible when he withdrew the news feed from the Face of Facebook on users’ disapproval.

With Great powers comes great responsibilities and Mark has portrayed all that in his 29 years of his life and going by his views –‘Fail Harder’, ‘Move Fast and Break things’ and ‘Keep calm and Hack on’ certainly goes off from the normal conventions and this is the reason why this book falls in the category of inspirational books where the emphasis is not only on the goals but how to achieve, To Retain, To move forward with innovations, To Fight out of troubles and To keep motivating  oneself and the group . This book is certainly an epitome to delve into where you can safely lose your senses to find the zeal to succeed.



Rating:

I would rate ‘Billionaire Boy: Mark Zuckerberg in his own words’ 4 out of 5

Life Adjudication of the book:


 
This book is best read to derive the hidden potential within you… ‘Everyone has in them what it takes to be successful all they need is to be proactive’
 

A Confession …!!!

 Before I go into the story at hand I would like to ask everybody…How do you look up to someone who confesses you something that’s confined in his/her heart for a long time?  Would you be angry on a genuine confessor for confessing in public or would you be proud that yes the confessor has the guts to speak about his feelings in public without any fear?
Think about the answer… this story will give you ample insights of facing such a situation.
You know there’s a thumb rule about confessing, when you confess something which is not appreciated or isn’t looked up well and you dared to speak it out…more often than not…you are looked down upon. But I must say if your words had the mark of unfeigned character be pretty sure you would leave everlasting imprints of your words to the person concerned purely because of your honesty and straight forwardness…as it’s said nothing better to begin something with clarity of thoughts and feelings.
Today I am here with a story of an introvert person Ayusman who strained his contacts socially as people around didn’t understand his feelings and at times made mockery of his long lasting love which never yielded any fruit from the other side. But that never deterred his emotions and his feelings grew from strength to strength as he knew his feelings were true.
To begin with Ayusman was never an introvert but circumstances turned him to be one and therefore I cajoled him for a small talk as such we could know why did a jolly person like him turned into an person he is now and then suddenly after many years went on to confess about his love in a public forum.
Me: Ayusman...i must enounce you for accepting the invitation for a small talk after your electrifying confession.
Ayusman: I should thank you for taking your time for airing out my feelings when I desperately needed.
Me: So tell me… what really happened…as far as I know you were never an introvert?
Ayusman: I never thought I would be like this…but you know time and circumstances are the most powerful affairs to be content with.
Me: I didn’t understand?
Ayusman: you know I have learnt 1 thing from life–“When People Stop talking to you, they start talking about you” and it hurts the most because the people whom you thought to be your friend become a roadblock themselves.
Me: I am Still puzzled…Ayusman.
Ayusman: you know I always felt that speaking about one’s love in public is nothing more than a publicity stunt…and therefore I was captive about my feelings to few good friends…but less did I know that those were not the people I should have confided.
Me: Why?  What happened?
Ayusman:  You know there is a girl named Somsri, who is the best friend of Anurita, the person I love. I would speak about my feelings for Anurita to Somsri as I considered her to be a true friend,A friend with whom i could be myself without worrying about the world around…Not only about love but I would speak to her about anything or everything, more often about my feelings for Anurita as Anurita was my entire life…but she felt I made her my friend only because she was a friend of Anurita. So eventually I stopped talking to her. I thought I made a mistake by curtailing my contacts with Somsri but…
Me: I don’t like suspense…Please continue.
Ayusman: You know whenever people say…you shouldn’t do this or you shouldn’t do that…do you know what I believe?
Me: please continue with your story first.
Ayusman: I am speaking about my story only…I believe in trying everything for once and then make a statement why one shouldn’t do a particular thing…and in voyage of experiments I was drunk one evening…and I messaged few things to Somsri about Anurita.
Me: What happened after that?
Ayusman:  you know I learnt two things that day…first -it’s very hard to control your feelings when you are drunk…so I made it a point I would never drink again…and the other thing that I learned was all those people whom we call our friends are not our true friends.
Me: Can you be clear…Ayusman?
Ayusman: You know…I messaged Somsri, how much Anurita meant to me and how much I love Anurita. You know I had a habit of writing messages of my close friends in a diary…and I wrote the messages I sent to Somsri as well…I wasn’t in talking terms with Somsri for long after as she had accused me of keeping friendship with her for only because of Anurita…but as I said…it’s very hard to control one’s feelings when one’s drunk and out of several friends I messaged Somsri…The very next day I called Somsri to apologize her for contacting her again…and I was dumbstruck.
Me: what happened?
Ayusman: Somsri kept on criticizing me…I told her I was drunk and I didn’t realize I messaged her…she said I wrote all rubbish… I knew it very well what I had written to her…but still I said what rubbish did I wrote?
Me: What did she say?
Ayusman: She never said anything…and therefore I promised upon myself that I would never speak to her again…
Me: so that’s it?
Ayusman: No, you know I would have spoken several things about me and my life to her when we were in contacts… I considered her to be a true friend…so I was never worried what I am speaking to her…and I felt at least I had contacted somebody (when I was drunk) whom I trust and thought even though I am not in contact with her…she will keep that episode to herself only. But she spread it like advertising pamphlets to her friends…and that day I realized I did a mistake in my life.
Me: That’s sad…but that doesn’t mean you should stop contacting your other friends.
Ayusman:  There’s a person named Soumabh  Singh…I considered him to be one of my best friend…a seer genius both in studies and otherwise…he had helped me a lot when I was clueless and was desperate to find whereabouts of Anurita….but
Me: What happened with him?
Ayusman: many things didn’t fall the way I wanted it to be and I lost few of my friends…but still I was trying to win over my friends and Soumabh did appreciate my efforts but when it came about Indrashis… the person because of whom I lost my love not only did he blindly supported him but also advised me to keep myself away from Anurita and forget her…He Also spoke few harsh words about her…which I couldn’t gulp down.
Me: You left a friend for that?
Ayusman: If he wasn’t there to help me to sort my relation with Indrashis I would have lived with that…but how can he speak those words against her…if he would have spoken anything about me I would have forgiven him…but I cannot hear anything against Anurita.
Me: So you curtailed your contacts with him because of Anurita?
Ayusman: You won’t believe…what he did after breaking off with my friendship.
Me: What did he do?
Ayusman: He used to advise me to forget Anurita and he himself became friends with Anurita.
Me: What? I can’t believe.
Ayusman: That day…I realized I made another mistake of considering Soumabh a friend.
Me: That’s really sad for you…
Ayusman: Things didn’t end here…I was hardly in contact with any of Anurita’s common friend and one fine day  Ivory one of Anurita’s friend called me up and said few things I was exasperated to say the least.
Me: What did she say?
Ayusman: she knew it very well…what my aim in life is…she said my dream can never be true and I should forget my dream.
Me: What did you reply?
Ayusman: It was very hard for me to control myself and thus I said…I am what I am, and I am willing to live my life like this and if there’s no way my dreams can be true then I suppose I don’t need anybody advising me like that…I would live my life like this…without any friend as such.
Me: Now I know why you have become an introvert…things have really not gone for you…and I am feeling sorry about you.
Ayusman: Please don’t be sorry… I live my life with no regrets and I do whatever I think I should do…if people think its wrong…it’s up to their thinking and I can’t help. As far as my thinking is concerned if I am not harming any person and I feel whatever I think is correct I would continue to do it with or without help.
Me: Ok…So what made you confess about your love in a public forum?
Ayusman: you know…I care about Anurita a lot…I know whatever she is now at present it’s because of her efforts only…but you know not even a single day has passed when I didn’t think about her…she might be away from me entangled in her personal  and professional life…but there was a soul who was praying for her every time she had her exams semester by semester and the day her final results were declared I was more relieved than anybody else…I felt very happy for her..i didn’t want to intervene during her study period so I never confessed it when I realized I am hampering her studies by contacting her.
Me: So why did you choose a public forum?
Ayusman: You know I don’t know what her future plans are…she might get married…I don’t know any whereabouts of her and no common friends to rely upon…so I chose to disclose it in a social confession page…hoping she would read it and would know I still feel the same I did years ago…
Me:  I hope she reads your confession…and everything ends well for you…hope for the best…thank you Ayusman for talking to me…!!!
For all the readers here’s Ayusman’s confession…
I am not a student of this college neither do have any connection with this college but when i came to know about this confession page i was as eager to express my views as anybody else out here...The primary and the soul reason for me for reaching out to this forum is to convey the message to the person whom i love for nearly 9 years (3 more months to complete 9 years). She has passed this year (the results were declared on 28th Feb, if I am not mistaken). I love her whole heartedly and yes she knows it but still I felt I should speak it again as this might be my last hope for reaching out to her.

You know it's really tough for any person to bear the pain when you come to know that the person whom you love, loves somebody else...I struggled all these years to accept the reality that she has no feelings left for me. But as it’s said Love is all about seeing your beloved happy and she was happy without me, so I tried to keep myself away from her though at times I couldn’t control my emotions and tried to contact her which irritated her even more…slowly but surely I was out of her life and the resultant was- A dreadful end of my dream.
These lines are for her …!!!
I didn’t see you for the last 7 years, I haven’t heard your voice for the last 5 years and I didn’t try to contact you for the last 3 years…but you know not even a single day has passed when I didn’t think about you or felt miserable about myself and my life. I tried to control my feelings for so long…but I cannot control it anymore…You know I loved you passionately when I was in school…You were the only person whom I shared my feelings when I was in college first year away from you. I didn’t know much to sustain a relationship and I feel it was my fault as I let you go away from my life -A result of my immaturity.

A small poem for you…
You know me the best and you know how much I loved you in the past…
I love you now, more than what I loved you in the entire vast…
You know it succinctly you were my first love as well as my last …
Am willing to live rest of my life in love with you, surpassed…
I would never blame you for leaving me aghast…
Even if you choose someone else to lead your life at last…
I will always wish you happy and prosperous life amassed…
As far as I am concerned it’s only you who completes my cast…
I loved you, love you today and will be loving you till I last …!!!
Love you …!!!
People might not realize whom I am speaking about but am sure…if she reads it she would surely recognize me as I am the one who promised to wait for her till eternity …!!!

A confession page is something which can help a genuine person who has no other way to confess his views to the person/community concerned. I agree most of the people use these confession pages for fun or just a time pass but there are few genuine people who are hoping their voices be heard and these confession page is their only help. And that’s the reason why Ayusman went on to confess in a social forum…!!!


It’s up to the readers to decide whether the steps taken by Ayusman are legitimate to their eyes and whether they approve such a step taken by him. As far as I am concerned he did the right thing. And I always believe -
“A confession is divine when confessed with an honest doctrine. Publicly or privately is never an issue.”

Book Review: Law of Averages.

Book:- Law of Averages

Author:- Kshitish Padhy

ISBN:- 978-93-324-2005-2

Genre:- Fiction/Romantic

Price:- 140 (I got this book directly from the Author for review)

Pages: 252

Publisher:- Paperclip Books

Introduction:
Whatever has happened has happened for good, whatever is happening is also for good, and whatever will happen, will also happen for the good only. These are the words of sacred Bhagavad Gita and I am sure the wordings may change the language may differ but these are the principles of all the religions of this world. No I am not talking of any mythological novel, what I am talking is a story of a fiction based on the principle stated above.  Yes this is an art of fiction but based on the biggest truth of life. The story will remind you of melodramatic romantic movie of a person who considers himself looser of life losing at all quarters but at the end realizes his loses were in fact the greatest success anybody can dream off.
This story is action packed sequence of romance, capriciousness, freakish, weirdo acts of a person to win his love.

The cover of the page needs a special mention as it will give you enough requisites about the author or the story that you will confront. The title of the Story “Law Of Averages” is an apt considering the lead’s mentality and his present state. The posters at front are a sure intimation of the author’s link with the comics world and the untagged images will definitely make you appreciate the carefully wound pictures relating to zest of the main story once you finish up with the reading.

About the Author:
Law of Averages is the debut novel of Kshitish Padhy. Kshitish is a versatile scriptwriter, novelist and translator working on various genres like mythology, superhero fantasy, teen fiction and fiction for young adults. After starting his writing career as a translator at Raj Comics, he has contributed to the scripts of their flagship characters like Nagraj, Super Commando Dhruva and Bhokal. Completing a brief stint with Campfire Comics, Kshitish is currently working as the lead scriptwriter for Vimanika Comics and on mythological titles like Shiva and Dasavtaar. He is an avid reader of comics and children fiction and is a huge fan of Harry Potter, Tintin, Daredevil and Batman. He loves action movies high on special effects and detective thrillers. Kshitish currently resides in Delhi.

Compositional Report:
This story revolves around a not so lucky person Ritwik (Main Character) who has the gifted ability to lose each and every battle of life no matter how small it may be. Beginning with a brief background of Ritwik, the story bludgeoned when Ritwik’s plan to move up the ladder too fast too soon overpowered his present condition, which finally landed him to give up his dreams after a failed attempt. It wasn’t actually a failed attempt as the journey to Meerut for fulfilling a dream had coincidentally greeted not only Ritwik but also Sushant (Ritwik’s coworker at Raj comics who had an expertise to illustrate) to meet their Dream girl and it was just the beginning of coincidences, as the story moved forward it was endowed with numerous such twists and turns.

Sushant Ritwik’s partner for crime played his part pretty well, commencing from a helping hand to get the deal from the Sunshine comics to being Ritwik’s room partner for his would be father in laws flat. It was Sushant’s luck or whatever you may call; it made Ritwik jealous at times as he was the one who was making inroads to Arpita (Sushant’s Love) by doing the right things at the pertinent moment. One drawback which Sushant had was his open shrillness which often landed both of them into trouble and it was up to Ritwik’s sheer determination to forgo all limits to appease his father in law for the love of his life, which provoked him to bear each and everything.

Shubhangi, Ritwik’s love was kind a classical Indian girl, who in spite of loving Ritwik wholeheartedly wasn’t ready to overboard partly because of his rather orthodox Father Professor A.K Khurana, her younger sister’s(Tanya) revolt and also being adorned without a mother made her extra cautious in her move. But that didn’t deter her help Ritwik to win over her father to consider Ritwik as a future groom.

Professor A.K Khurana, a retired from Archaeological survey of department was a disciplinarian and an obese with hidden treasures was not only mimicked by people around but also had the blame deciphered against his name to almost landing their family to the streets for his obsession.  He had a unique ability of messing up at the critical situations but it was Ritwik who noticed the genius in him and believed in his theories which finally yielded gold.

There were moments which can dissuade a person to fall apart but it was Ritwik and his sheer brilliance which proved him to be a winner at the end mainly because of his spirits and determination which paved his way through to the journey of ‘Laws of averages’.  It would be injustice if I miss the Creditable  efforts of Sushant, Arpita, Shubhangi, Professor A.K Khurana, Wishumaddy (Ritwik’s and Sushant’s Coworker), Sanjay sir (Ritwik’s boss at raj comics), Captain Jayant (Shubhangi’s Sister Tanya’s boyfriend) who carried through their roles at critical times to salvage the most entertaining start for Ritwik’s and Shubhangi’s New Life.

It was a perfect photo finish to the enthralling romantic story written in a totally Bollywood style, which would make the readers go week in their knees to finish it at a single go. For me the last quarter is a match winner as it has all the ingredients of making up to a movie script. It’s a story for all ages. A downright entertainer with crafty twists and turns makes it a very good read.







Life’s Adjudication of this book:
This book is best read to enlighten one’s spirit at leisure time. It has the credibility of a ‘feel good’ emotions.