yes, there is a hope...

Every book for that matter offers others perspective about either fictional, or on worldly matters. Readers may agree or disagree with the content, opinion or even factual matrix presented by the author. Every reviewer over a period of time must have felt that it is difficult to reveiw few books because you become a participant in the writers journey and lose objectivity. Objectivity infact is not necessarily to be imposed on each and every aspect. Few reads are catharactic, few are enlightening and few are to be lived.   One such book which I completed recently is "Blaze : A Son's Trial by Fire" written by Nidhi Poddar and Sushil Poddar.   The book publised in 2021 by Rupa Books and is available in English, Hindi and Marathi edition.  It is worth mentioning that I've known the authors forehand before I've read the book so the book came as a shocker on knowing what they have gone through.  Its intriguing how people hide the emotions, the tumult they undergo and...

OM SHANI SHANISCHARAYA NAMAH: The Greatness of Saturn by Robert E. Svaboda Robert Svaboda was a researcher who spent considerable time in India exploring Vedic literature, Yoga and Ayurveda. He came in touch with Swami Vimalananda and was inspired to translate the Shani Mahatmya which was previously published in Gujarati and Marathi. The book is divided into 3 parts namely:  Purvakarma : stage where one prepares oneself for experience  Pradhankarma : the experience  Paschatkarma: stage at which rejuvenation and integration occurs. You get the feel of the book from introduction itself as it introduces unique concept of Living wisdom. A living story is born when living wisdom incarnates in the subtle matter of a human consciousness. Real music, real verse, real stories have an innate power to teach, to heal and to inducs mystical experiences.  It then delves into knowledge as commodity of commerce and the symbols of internal reality which he states are dead from inside...

  The Courage to be Disliked       How to Free Yourself, Change Your Life and Achieve Real Happiness  Written by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga,  published by Penguin is less of a self-help book and more of psychological analysis of our mind’s decision making process. The book introduces Alfred Adler, a psychology academician and thinker who forms a trio along with two other towering pillars of psychology namely Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud. The bookwhich is in question-answer format, is discussion between a philosopher who had stern belief that the world is simple and happiness is achievable by everyone and his pupil who finds the world as chaotic and concepts of happiness as absurd. The book is divided into 5 chapters titled on the nights spent on discussions between the philosopher and pupil. In the first night, the discussion on Trauma and happiness is the key topic where philosopher states that everyone can be happy and trauma can be skipped. ...

OUTLIVE The Science and Art of Longevity by Dr. Peter Attia, Bill Gifford Penguin Random House, UK, 2023 The author is a practising medical professional who is not satisfied with the traditional medicinal appoach which he has described as Medicine 2.0 and propagated Medicine 3.0 apporach to humankind. The book is divided into 3 parts where part 1 deals with the introduction of the longevity history of the human race and need to intoduce Medicine 3.0 for the age of chronic diseases. Part 2 deals with the centenarians and attempts to find a causality between those who live 100+ years and their lifestyle along with discussion on the 3 main causes which he calls as "Horsemen diseases" and how they are impacting us. Part 3 basically discusses means and strategies to avoid aging as well as horsemen diseases.  The book is result of years of knowledge gathered by the writer in dealing with patients and his pursuit to find one of the oldest and trickiest question ie. how to approach l...

      Being Mortal : Atul Gawande  Medicine and What Matters in the End A guide of death and what happens before. There is emergence of literature which is discussing the prior death experiences which was not much talked about previously. Paul Kalanithi's "When breath becomes Air" was recommended to me by an oncologist but haven't followed that genre for long.  I picked up  Being Mortal : Atul Gawande published by Penguin Books  recently and this was my first book of Dr. Gawande's literature who has mostly written on medicine and its interaction with humans. The book talks about the need to talk about detah and how medical profession is failing to keep up with the idea of dignified death and harps upon artficial life elongation instead of focussing on quality of life. The author banks upon his own experiences as a physician based in USA and near experiences of his father who himself was a doctor and develops cancer after 7 decades of healthy lif...

Calcutta : Maa Asche                You can be nostalgic about the city anytime. While having tea missing your Lal cha, Sandesh craving at evenings or malai toast at Faltu or Kalakand of Kaka Tea. Come Puja (Pujo to be precise) and you miss that Pujo fever in the air with mind retrieving the memories cherished in the city for years and seems like “aaj hi Calcutta chala jaata hu.” To add the WhatsApp statuses of friends and Insta reels of Pujo Pandals of Chetla Agrani and Shreebhumi extract a piece of heart from you.                Come Pujo and we see Kolkata transforming itself with whole city lit with best of lighting right from Airport to Howrah Bridge with sea of humans in between which means famous Pujo Pandal is in vicinity. The Deshapriya Park Pujo unveiled world’s biggest Thakur (idol in Bangla) in 2015 till 2022 the Pujo has constantly enriched itslef with latest being getting the recogn...

यह लेख मेरे लिए और इस ब्लॉग के लिए विशेष है क्योंकि यह साठवाँ अंक है। दशक पूर्व शुरू की गई इस यात्रा में कई  बार रुकावटें आई लेकिन कई प्रशंसकों ने पुनः इसे जीवित करने का निवेदन  किया तो उनके प्रोत्साहन से यात्रा अभी तक निरंतर चल रही है।  आज हम चर्चा करेंगे काशीनाथ सिंह रचित प्रसिद्ध  "रेहन पर रग्घू" जिसका प्रकाशन "राजकमल प्रकाशन" ने सन 2008 में किया है। काशीनाथ सिंह जी आज किसी भी परिचय के मोहताज नहीं है। आधुनिक हिन्दी साहित्य में उनका विशेष स्थान है । काशी का अस्सी प्रायः आप सभी ने पढ़ी होगी। उनका लेखनी का एक अलग अंदाज है, जिसमे ग्रामीण परिवेश, उस परिवेश में उधेड़ बन में लगा आदमी, पारिवारिक स्थितियों मे दबा, सामाजिक तानों- बानों  में अपने आप को उलझाता - निकालता हुआ व्यक्ति। रेहन का मतलब होता है किसी भी चीज को गिरवी रख देना।  रेहन पर रग्घू पुस्तक के मुख्य पात्र रघुनाथ सिंह किरदार के इर्द गिर्द घूमती है। रघुनाथ और शीला  की तीन संताने  हैं, बेटे संजय, धनंजय और बेटी सरला। मिर्जापुर के एक छोटे से गाँव पहाड़पुर कि पृसठभूमि में एक छोटे से परिवार कि महत्वाका...

 यह लघु उपन्यास भगवती चरण वर्मा द्वारा रचित है जिसका प्रकाशन राजकमल समूह ने किया है। प्रथम बार प्रकाशन 1960।  भगवती चरण वर्मा किसी भी परिचय के मोहताज नहीं हैं और आपके द्वारा रचित प्रसिद्ध   चित्रलेखा पर पहले भी मैंने एक लेख लिखा हुआ है।  इस लघु उपन्यास में पुनः लेखक ने नारी और उसके अंतर्मन को समझने और समझाने का प्रयास किया है। उपन्यास में सिर्फ तीन पात्र  हैं श्यामला , ज्ञानचंद और जीवन दास ।  ज्ञानचंद जो कि  एक धनाढ्य व्यापारी है, को श्यामला से प्रेम हो जाता है। कहानी के मध्य में जब ज्ञानचंद के खातों में जीवनराम गबन कर देता है तो उसे जानकारी होती है की श्यामला जीवन राम की पत्नी है। यह बहुत ही आश्चर्यजनक प्रतीत होता है की ज्ञानचंद श्यामला का शारीरिक उपभोग करता रहा और ये जान कर भी जीवनदास ने कभी प्रतिकार नहीं किया।  एक सम्पन्न व्यक्ति कैसे सरकारी तंत्र, न्यायतंत्र और अपने रसूख का उपयोग करके तंत्र का उपयोग अपने हिट में कर सकता है ये देखने को मिलता है।  जीवनराम को जेल भेजने के उपरांत और जीवनराम का यह कथन की यदि उसने उनके पैसों का गबन किया ह...

The Emperor of Scent : A true story of Perfume and Obsession  A terrific piece of literature depicting struggle of a brilliant min, fighting alone amidst intellectul tyranny, a revelation of academic process to understand the most basic of human instinct "Smell". The Emperor of Scent : A true story of Perfume and Obsession written by Chandler Burr, published by The Random House in 2002, is the story of Luca Turin, a scientist working in the area of smell and odour. The book is divided into 2 parts namely creation and wa r; each having 4 chapters. The chapter Mystery starts with exploring the mystery behind Smell and its scientific and financial aspects as Nobel prize for smell and its scientific explanation is still under research without any cogent explanation unlike hearing where a scientific surety has been established on the process governing hearing and sound. Second is the industry of smell which is not limited to perfumes and cosmetics but contributes majorly in food, ...

इस लेख का शीर्षक लेख पूर्ण होने के बाद बदलना पड़ा। लेख पूर्ण होने के उपरांत सहसा लगा कि इस महान विभूति ने जीवन पर्यंत को प्राथमिकता दी है तो शीर्षक भी यात्रा आधारित होना चाहिए।  आज  आपका   परिचय   हिन्दी   साहित्य   के   उस   मूर्धन्य   साहित्यकार   से   कराने   जा   रहा   हूँ   जिसका   नाम   केदारनाथ   पांडे   था   लेकिन   प्रसिद्धि   हुई   राहुल   सांकृत्यायन   के   नाम   से।  बाद में उन्हें महापंडित की उपाधि से अलंकृत किया गया। इनका  जन्म  9 अप्रैल को  आज़मगढ़   ज़िले   में   हुआ।   सांकृत्यायन को   भारत   में   यात्रा   वृतांत   विधा   के   पितामह   के   रूप   में   भी   जाना   जाता   है   और   इन्हें  30  से   भी   अधिक   भाषाओं   का   ज्ञान   था।  इनकी   १३०   से   अधिक ...