Book Review :Hindu Rites and Rituals By KV Singh

 Do you know why we chant Shanti three times whether we are doing Puja or Aarti?  Or how Gayatri Mantra effective in our life? Do you know how much Tulsi Plant is important in every household? Why are pregnant women not allowed to touch knives or any metallic object during the eclipse? Or what's the science behind Shiv Ratri? Why do many people offer water to Sun early in the morning?

With many such questions and the science behind them, this book is for all those who feel Hindu rites and rituals are sheer superstitions. Also for people like me who blindly follow few religious practices because our parents have followed them not even asking the logic or science behind it.

This book is divided into sections like  

God, Goddess, and Nature

Important  Hindu Dates

Rituals: Puja and Yagnas

Temple Rituals

Tradition

 And Miscellaneous.

Though written in easy language and contents full of tempting questions, this book still didn't live up to my expectation as I  wanted more scientific reasoning or logic behind the rituals and rites we observe.  The reasoning provided was quite vague. Also, there is no mention of the sources used for such an explanation.

For example, there is a part where the author talks about Makar Sankranti a change in the position of the Sun.  I agree there are planetary changes that take place in that period, but mentioning about human souls who die after this day can soar higher up into the upper region of the cosmos because air becomes lighter due to heat did not satisfy my scientific curiosity behind it. 

With that, I must also honestly conclude that I did enjoy the book, as many questions cleared my curious soul.  For further in-depth reasoning, I looked for the answer on Google/ Quora when needed. But one thing which struck me reading this book is that every single ritual and rites followed in Hinduism, whether you are doing Shivratri or using paan supari during puja e has a huge scientific reason behind it and it does give a result when followed properly. 

In the Footsteps of Rama

 

Vikrant Pande and Neelesh Kulkarni’s In the footstep of Rama, which is retracing the route of Ram’s journey during his years in exile kept me on my feet this entire week. I was mesmerized by reading this book. A very unique travelogue, an armchair traveler like me wanted for a long time, someone to pen down and retrace the places following the entire Ramayana (original). Often while reading Ramayana,  I always tried to relocate, the places on Google but failed miserable. This book is something I will treasure because all the facts, local folklore, and speaking with locals who lived in those areas, are well documented here by the authors.

The journey starts from Ayodhya (Ram lalla 's birthplace) – Chitrakoot –Kiskindha - Srilanka and many more.

The book is full of local folklore which is somehow connected to the Valmiki Ramayan 

The language is easy for anyone to enjoy this travelogue and you will not get tired or bored anywhere. Each places the author went, consists of folklores which will make you believe more in this Epic, with that I will also say the local priest and the storytellers did earn well from the authors! :)

One thing I wish it had was pictures, I really craved pictures throughout the book. I wanted to see the crow-shaped rock in Chitrakoot, or the Ashram in Dandaka Forest where all the Rakshyas use to live, the magnetic temple near Lonar Crater where the Guru of all the Rakshyas use to perform his work, the original house of Tulsidas, the Spahatik Shila near the bank of Mandakini t many many more.

The journey was not easy, but the authors' hard work and the detailed experience shared here, deserve praise.

5 stars straight away!

The Women In the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura

 

What I love about Japanese Literature is how its simple engrossing plot ends with something dark and absurd. The woman in the purple skirt is a novella about obsession/ stalking/ mental illness.  The narrator calls herself the woman in the yellow cardigan and knows every intimate detail of the woman in the purple skirt. From where she lives, to how many jobs she changed and even the shampoo she uses, every detail was stalked by the narrator.

She is so obsessed with the Women in the purple skirt that it becomes unnerving and frustrating at one point in time. Things start to turn dark when the narrator helps her get a job in the same place where she works to befriend her.

A short quirky and easy read ends with too many unsettled questions in readers' minds.

3/5

The Boy in Striped Pyjamas: John Boyne

 

 

Most of you have already read the book The Boy in Striped Pyjamas, but if you have not then you might want to pick this up after reading this review.– Read it with the mentality of a 9-year-old and not as an adult. It's not a BOOK for ADULT. Though it deals with Holocaust which is an adult subject to discuss but the entire story is from a child’s perspective and nothing violent has been mentioned anywhere in the book. Yet it is a heart wrenching painful story 

The story is from Bruno's perspective, who befriends a Jewish boy named Shmuel who is of his same  age living in the concentration camp. Both being naive about what's happening around , and why there is a fence in between them ( poverty, destitution vs High-class living) the book takes you to an innocent journey of 2 friends who enable themselves to transcend the division ( the fence) and cross over.

There are two words which have been used by the author to show the innocence of the children  who do not have any clue about what's going on: Fury and Outwith. This was mispronounced by Bruno throughout the book  Fury here is Furer which means Leader also referred to as Hitler the angry little man and Outwith as Auschwitz  the largest concentration and extermination camp in Poland.The tone of the book changes  slowly and Bruno starts to feel apprehensive  about the new place he started living with his family.

A highly recommended book for everyone especially for early teens.

Lines from the book:

• “We don’t have the luxury of thinking,” said Mother. “…Some people make all the decisions for us.”

• all of them—the small boys, the big boys, the fathers, the grandfathers, the uncles, the people who lived on their own on everybody’s road but didn’t seem to have any relatives at all—were wearing the same clothes as each other: a pair of grey striped pajamas with a grey striped cap on their heads.

• Bruno was sure that he had never seen a skinnier or sadder boy in his life but decided that he had better talk to him

ANY Holocust Recommendation for Young Adults?

An Educated Women In Prostitution -A Memoir of Lust, Exploitation, Deceit (Calcutta, 1929)

 

An Educated Women In Prostitution -A Memoir of Lust, Exploitation, Deceit (Calcutta, 1929)

By Manada Devi

Translated by Arunava Sinha

Manada Devi also known as Miss Mukherjee,  Feroza Bibi and Maani didi,  writes about her life as a prostitute. we don't know if this character is actually real or not.  According to the manuscript Manada Devi was born in  Calcutta into a high class Brahmin  family. She was sent to Bethune school, had private tutor teaching her literature. At an young age she lost her mother and being neglected by her stepmother and father  she found comfort with her cousins.  Her male cousin Ramesh dada exploited her at a tender age of 15 when she eloped with him and ended up pregnant and left all alone. She was disown by her father and without bad company lands  in prostitution.

Manada devi in this memoir talks about the painful life as a sex worker , the patriarchal society , the double standard high class males exploiting females and also the political environment of Bengal.

I, as a reader have taken the book way too seriously and somehow I  am pissed off with the character and her callousness. Why did she choose prostitution?  She wasnt forced !There is a line in the book which say ' the lawyer sells his intellect, teachers sells his education even the spiritual leader sells his incantations ; why should alluring  women not sell their body then? And this line heard from a prostitute made Manada Devi choose this world. She has mention that with her education she could have easily done jobs like teaching children which would have let her live a  respectful life but with bad company she  choose the road to hell. 

In my opinion ( solely my personal point of few) I don't feel its the bad company  which dragged her to hell it was her decision, her willingness, the lust which   made her  join the group. The book also mention about very famous people like Vidya Sagar, Shib Nath Shahtri,  CR Das who in that time period were  actually fighting for women's right which includes widow remarriage or saving women who were abused by family or disowned, by giving them shelter  . In fact she was been constantly told to leave the place and start something new. But I guess scanty education  lead her to ruin her own life with arrogance pouring in.

Exploitation by the upper class was definitely  mentioned in the book, the double standard life of high class men who lived shamelessly, guilt free life keeping mistress yet looked down upon prostitute, or kept restriction in their own home. Yet among all these things there were  men  who fought day and night  to give the right life to women.

Written in simple language, an eye opening revelation on the colonial time period in Bengal.  The rich literature which calls for the revolution. So much of thoughts I have for this book.  Do read it  . Also do give it a thought did the orthodox society change yet in this century?

Lines from the book:

• Since nature has decreed that women feel desire at the age of fourteen it is best for them  to be married before that.

• Illegitimate love is always born out of passion. But passion is by nature short-lived, and not the result of discernment. Therefore, a love that arises swiftly ends swiftly too.’

Number the stars – By Lois Lowry

 

The whole world had changed. Only the fairy tales remained the same.”
― Lois Lowry, Number the Stars

Number the star is a Newbery award winning book  set in the year 1940 when Denmark was occupied by the Nazi, and the Jews were been captured and taken to the concentration camp.

This is a story of a little girl Annemarie who wasn’t a Jewish herself but her best friend Ellen and her family was. So Annemarie and her family and people of Denmark did their best to save Jews   from going to the camp.  How they saved few of them is the story all about.

The characters here is fictional, but the events are true and the author have collected different events   together and made it into beautiful novel Number the stars.

 

This book is dedicated to all the young readers who will take their first baby step in knowing the history of the barbaric torture of the Nazi, the concentration camp, the World War II.  This book will make them understand the time period , the shrewdness of the Nazi without making them terrified ruling out ( didn’t mention)the nasty things Nazi did to the people .It’s a fast pace book  and nowhere to get bored as the situation changes  in every other page.

A wonderful summer read for children to know about friendship, love and courage.

 Age to Read 10+

 

My favourite Lines from the book

“It is much easier to be brave if you don't know everything.”

Venkatesh Suprabhatam Bookreview

 

 

Publisher / Westland Publisher

When you hear a prayer do you connect with the word or do you connect with the sound?

Nestled in the escarpment of the Sheshachala Hill which consists of 7 hills and looks like the Serpent Adishesh Nag  on whom Vishnu rest , the richest temple of India  Tirupati  is located on the crest of one of the hill.

Venkateshwara temple or Tirupati temple   is dedicated to  Venkateshwara  a form of Lord Vishnu

Suprabhatam  in Sanskrit means Good morning,  and Venkatesh suprabhatam is the first morning prayer offered to the Lord to wake him up from his sleep at Sayana Mandapam which is  inside the Tirupati Temple.

This prayer is one of the most popular prayer  one can hear early in the morning in every house hold in South of India. So sit back grab your coffee and let me give you my thoughts about this book.

Firstly  what I loved is the brightly  eye catchy book cover with lotus and shankha embossed on it  to denote the Lord Venkatesh  .The  author Venkatesh Parthasarathy mesmerize the reader with his  simple yet in depth explanation of the verses. Layman like me who do not have much knowledge about the prayer got fully engrossed with its detail.  Every   Sanskrit  word have been broken down explained in such essay way that no one will have trouble understanding. With such beautiful explanation the author nicely mashed up the verses with Puranic story which I think made the book more interesting. It is because of the puranic story , the prayer became easy to understand when chanted.

The book also talks about the temple Tirupati , the people in charge , the geographic importance its architecture  and henceforth.Also it mention about the 2020 covid situation when the temple was closed .

Slowly the book takes you to the time period when the poem was created by the saint, Prativadi Bhayankaram  the story behind it then the spell bounding rendition  created by MS Subhalakshmi, In just 167 pages the book is packed with knowledge, highly researched  and definitely something to re read.  

 

From the book:

Do you know The gramophone recording  of the Suprabhatam was first released for sale by                          President  S.Radhakrishnan during tenth  Radio Sangeet  Sammelan of the AIR in Novemember 1963

BOOK REVIEW: The Good Wizard by PrasunRoy

 

Do you read only age appropriate books? Or do you still hover around children book shelf and enjoy reading them?

I enjoy reading  children  fiction still now as it reminds me of my school days when summer vacation meant, buying  children magazine and books and spending the entire vacation devouring them (forgetting about the holiday homework).Now that I have a kid at home, I have more excuse to give .

This book The Good Wizard by Prasun Roy made me revisit my childhood days when I was keen on reading books on Magic, Wizard, and Witches and henceforth.

The story is about a little girl name Titli who is 11 years old, and always wanted to become a magician. In her village she was quiet popular among her friends for her quirky tricks which she learned from here and there.  Destiny makes her meet the most famous wizard, Badshah Bisht who is suffering from deadly disease which wipes out memories. Before the evil takes over the good, the good old wizard plans to pass on his knowledge, which includes very famous, The Dance of the Phoenix to someone who will become his protégé .Will Titli help Badshah come out from the deadly disease? Will she undo the injustice done to the good old wizard

The Good Wizard portrays a very positive and supportive relationship between a teacher and a student. Titli’s dedication to become a wizard shows us that every great dream begins with a dreamer, and a great teacher can change a student’s life. The beautiful illustration in the book made reading more fun.  Language used is easy keeping in mind that the readers are mainly children. The book font is very comfortable to read and lastly this book is for those brave children out there who dare to define destiny.

 

Book Review: Become the author of your own life by Amy Williams

 

 ‘No matter how helpless you feel  right now  as long as your breathing you have the potential  to become  the author of your own life’

If you are someone like me, who depends mostly on other's expectation or how others will judge you or your situation ,then you need to pick this book and change the course of your life.

A fast pace self -help book to boost your confidence and let you know that you are the author of your life and no one else.

The author Amy Williams, who is a psychologist for 20 years talks about how you can help yourself , becoming the protagonist in your life, and prioritize  your well being .  A thought provoking book which helps you define  your goals ,checks on your limitation and let the inner awareness  rise and shines.

This ebook has some powerful lines written in simple yet engaging style. As I could relate everything said in the book , I made sure to highlight the lines on my kindle  and read every time I needed a moral boost. There are ten chapters but every chapter is connected with each other, so you need to read it thoroughly to get the best help from it.

The part which I loved the most is where the author mentions about having Me time, pampering oneself. Have you ever felt guilty of wasting time in pampering yourself while you have lots of work to do? I do at times. It is one of the most important yet neglected aspect in my life.   With easy solution this book makes it clear that it doesn't matter where you are or who you are or what kind of circumstances you are in. Its your life you have all the right to paint it your way with some special tips.