Book Review : 'Destiny of Shattered Dreams' by Nilesh Rathod

Nilesh Rathod’s ‘Destiny of Shattered Dreams’ is a little like an inside view. It talks of a business man, Atul Malhotra, 35 years old, chairman and founder CEO of a billion dollar company, Transmech Telecom Limited. It goes on to talk of his meteoric rise, taking his career and ‘colleagues plus probably his best friends’ too with him.

He was a middle class boy, who was trying to find his way into the corporate world. Where the twisted transactions and the lust for clout lie, therein the route to self-destruction lays. 

He is too much of the ambitious man, which we do read about in the newspapers, every other day. The whole corporate drama, blended perfectly with the political intrigue is all a part of Atul’s life. The relationship he shares with his wife, Roshni, whom he had left and with that his child too. He then goes on to lose his girlfriend, Aarti who works for him, but then she went on to work with an NGO and then marrying, someone else too.

 

The political angle is taken up by the ministers, who have a devious way of delusion, sinking all their black money into TTL. Atul, who once had everything, ends up making his way to jail, for faults that he committed and willingly so! He had made the wrong choices.

Everything seemed to be going for him, but all he wants is a little more and with it, and the corrupt trail, which leads to it.  He ends up paying the large fine, loses his pride, in the two years of his jail time. He had to pay for all his bad choices.

Rathod does have a flair for writing that I enjoyed. But the poetry in between, was probably a little too much for me, to handle. It was a good book, but then, he tends to get carried away in the bits of love and lust, though the main plot was very interesting and well defined.  I would recommend giving it a good read, over a cup of coffee.

You can Buy the Book, right here. 

Author Interview : Ajay Chowdhury, author of 'Ayesha and the Firefish'

Ajay Chowdhury

Read up, the Interview with Ajay Chowdhury, author of 'Ayesha and the Firefish'. In this Interview, he describes his journey of writing the book, how he came up with the core idea and developed it, what he thought was different about the book, how the main characters came about, what the most challenging part of the book was and much more, Folks...

How did ‘Ayesha and the Firefish’ begin? Could you describe the journey?

It started around 8 years ago as a bedtime story; I made up for my daughters Layla and Eva, who were 11 and 8, at the time. I would make up a chapter every night and after a week or so I thought ‘Hey this is not bad!’ 

How did you come up with the core idea and develop it? 

My daughters loved the beach and the sea, so when I started making up the story it seemed an ideal location. At first, I had no idea of what the plot was going to be, but as I have daughters I made the protagonist a girl and thought about what characteristics they would find interesting.

I just started putting more and more fantastical creatures, in as well as people, who would have been familiar to my daughters – so their friends, teachers (even their dog Lulu!) all made cameo appearances in the story. 

Once, I started writing it properly I liked the idea of this brave and funny girl travelling over the world and meeting famous people from history and solving a mystery, based on clues, she picked up from them. Then, before I knew it, it became about the future of the planet and rather unexpectedly took off into outer space…

How did the characters, Ayesha, Caro, Xander and Tashi’s come about?

Ayesha was based on my daughter Eva who was around 8, when I started telling her the story and was headstrong and talkative and funny. And of course, any good heroine needs a sidekick; the idea of a sarcastic, surfboarding snail came to me, out of nowhere.

I just fell in love with Caro and really enjoyed writing her. Xander sort of emerged out of necessity, because I realised it was a little unrealistic to have a ten year old gallivanting around the world on her own.

She needed an older person to go with her, so a cousin she squabbled with seemed like a good idea (and it was fun to write the scene where he sees Caro for the first time!).

Tashi was just a fun cameo character based on some happy, moustachioed Tibetans I saw when I visited Dharamshala.

What according to you is different about your book?

I think the main difference is that there are very few children’s adventure books, where the main character is a girl. As the dad of two daughters, I was keen to write a book about a girl, but with an adventure that both boys and girls (and adults I hope) could enjoy.

In almost all the children’s books, I loved reading, from ‘The Famous Five’ to the ‘Just William’ books to ‘Harry Potter’, girls always seemed to have just a supporting role and I wanted to try and change that. I guess the one exception was Philip Pullman’s ‘Lyra and I’ had always loved her as a character.  

How did the story, especially Ayesha's and the snail, Caro’s come about?

I think the characters are very much of today. I wanted the characters and the story to challenge traditional stereotypes and therefore I incorporated the fact Ayesha’s mum has a high-powered job in the city and her dad is a house husband.

Nemo... taken from movies.disney.com

The book is set in the present and Ayesha relates to all the things a girl of her age would relate to, and so Hermione Granger, Finding Nemo and things like that all make an appearance. I would hope that children reading it all over the world today and in the future would be able to relate.

When will your next book be out?

Oh, I have a notebook full of jottings about what Ayesha could do next. I will let you know as soon as I know…

Who was it that told you that you could become the author you are today?

Wow, I think this is the first time anyone has called me an author but I guess I am now! This is my first book and I am really proud of it. No one really told me I could be an author. I loved English in school and have always been a big reader. It just happened!

What was the most challenging part about writing the book?

Oh, definitely the editing. I had the most amazing editors from Puffin books. I wrote the whole thing over a few weeks but the editing took much longer! Nimmy and Purnima from Penguin were very patient with me and kept pushing me to make the book better and better.

Which book are you currently reading?

I’ve just started a book called Dark Matter about a guy who wakes up in an alternate Universe. I love good science fiction and have high hopes for this one. I hope I’m not disappointed.

JK Rowling

Who are your favourite authors and why?

I have a number of authors I love. From Philip Pullman and his 'His Dark Materials' series, which I read and re-read to P G Wodehouse and J K Rowling and Geoff Dyer and my friend, Amit Chaudhuri. Hard to say why really…they all write beautifully, make me laugh and take me to different places…

What else do you do on a daily basis? 

Well, in real life I am a technology entrepreneur and have started and run various technology companies – including Shazam that you might know and use. So, I help create new technologies, travel a lot, spend time with my family… all the usual things. 

Oh, and I’m also preparing a couple of sessions at Bookaroo in Delhi in November, where I will be reading from the book and doing activities with a hundred kids! I can’t wait to meet all those young readers. For information and to book a place visit www.bookaroo.in 

You can Read the Review and Buy the Book, right here.

Book Review : 'She Walks, She Leads' by Gunjan Jain

I am getting to read a lot of books, books I have thought that I thought I wouldn’t like too much. But some of them surprise me, no end. And one such book was ‘She Walks, She Leads’ by Gunjan Jain. It lists 24 different women of different fields.

Whether, it is business or corporate, law or entertainment, or they could be writers, players or even movie actors. Even fashion designers too, and sports, it is just raining women, all the way. This book attempts to give us, what we hadn’t seen or read about in the past. 

Starting off with Nita Ambani, it gives us a whole new side to her. Nita Ambani though, has always been known as the first lady of corporate India, this book tries to take us to discover her personality. She is at the forefront of Reliance’s philanthropic activities, and leads into the social causes. 

We then, move on to Sudha Murty. She had actually sent a postcard to TELCO, lecturing JRD Tata on gender equality! She was protesting against their disclaimer which said, ‘Lady Candidates need not Apply’. She became TELCO’s first female engineer. Can you beat that? :) Besides knowing about her, in general, we also find out, that she is the seed capital investor behind Infosys and the brilliant author that she is today.

Indra Nooyi, chairperson and CEO of PepsiCo, has changed the company’s approach to HR. She has enabled folks within the company to work towards an emotional goal rather than the intellectual one. Known across the globe, as a powerful business person, she has remained one of the best CEOs in the world, today.

We then move on to the women in finance, such as Arnavaz ‘Anu’ Aga and Naina Lal Kidwai. These names are so powerful that they just do not talk of the struggle to achieve but also, what they have won and what they are doing with it.

Take Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairman and MD of Biocon, a scientist and an innovator remains a philanthropist par excellence. She has pledged 75 per cent of her wealth, and already had given away $33 million to various causes in healthcare and education.

Moving on to so many others, Jain also draws us to Anamika Khanna and Ritu Kumar, the names of Indian fashion, today. Shabana Azmi, who’s an acclaimed actor-activist, also gives us something else to think of at 65! She remains that indefatigable actor of cinema and activist of India’s political scene, as well, carrying both on par with each other.

Mary Kom, a boxer and still so much more. She remains India’s fighter, a daughter who came from a labourer family, and is today a boxer, who won the country, medals and great honours. 

These might be only a few names, but this book has given us not just these names and their super human strength, but is such stimulus to every one of us. Providing acumen are 130 personalities, who are closer to these stars. These 24 women are easily the best at what they do because, not only are they where they are today, but they are the epitomes, and this book proves that to us.

Names, I’ve heard of, throughout my life and names, I’m inspired by and names, which are not just names, but an aspiration for all. Gunjan Jain looks like she brings it all to us, through her book. Inspiration, awe and wonder!

You can Buy the Book, right here.

'Land of Favourite Books!' :)

'The Faraway Tree' by Enid Blyton by another favourite storyteller was another one of my all-time favourites. Loved the book, because it gave wings to my dreams. Especially, if you spent almost every afternoon, on a tree and hoping to climb another branch each year. 

I was doing that every afternoon, but now I had a book, which I was using to imagine. See, this tree, which was in front of my grandparents’ home, on which, I could see a part of the neighbourhood. Which, I attempted to do as well.

You firstly, discover three siblings, Jo, Bess and Fanny. The best parts were the first few chapters, when you discover a) A forest almost next door, b) your ultra-cool neighbours like Moon Face or Silky, or go on to meet Saucepan Man and Dame Washalot and even take Angry Pixie and Mr Watzisname and you could have cool looking Owl, who lives next to Ol’ Silky, visit. Sometimes, you even have little rabbits popping up, every now and then. And c) you have to find out what place, on top of the tree, you can visit today.

It could be, ‘Take what you Please’ ‘Land of Birthdays’ or perhaps fly to ‘Land of Dame Slap’ even lands of Dreams, Spells and Presents! Or perhaps lands of Marvels and Giants. Or the best one was ‘Land of Know Alls’

Wish they had a ‘Land of Favourite Books’ too. I think that one would make another story altogether. In fact, I think of this particular land almost all the time. In it, I become a character of a particular book, or it could be a guest or perhaps the author herself. Like, I did with Agatha Christie books.  

And let the imagination soar. Boy oh boy, can you beat that?

And luckily it does not have to stop, ever. I can still imagine a few books now too. Like, ‘The Little Prince’ or Jane Austen’s books like ‘Pride and

Prejudice’ or ‘Emma’ too. Or perhaps, someone from JK Rowling’s books too. You could be one of RK Narayan’s characters like Swami and Friends. Or perhaps, one of Anita Desai’s characters from ‘The Village by the Sea’ or even O Henry’s and I could go on and on.

There is no limit to what you can do on top of that tree. I miss it so much, and nowadays, I try and go there, and all I see is that silly apartment. I don’t see much of anyone, I knew then. Not even a view even. Now, I can only remember, but still, it gave me what I wanted then, and even today, I can imagine myself up on my tree. :) 

Thinking, and imagining myself in so many different lands,  and the best thing is I still have my dream of  ‘Land of Favourite Books’. So, if you ever come home and spot me thinking, I will be there...