Sunday, 21 February 2016

Book Blitz : Defiant Dreams - an initiative of Incredible Women of India


DEFIANT DREAMS
Tales of Everyday Divas

EDITORS
RHITI BOSE
LOPAMUDRA BANERJEE


PUBLISHED BY: Readomania

The Stories in the Anthology are...

1. Built From The Ashes – Radhika Maira Tabrez – Life brings widowed Nikita at the doorsteps of her estranged in laws where she finds a new meaning to life.


2. It’s Not The End – Kirthi Jayakumar – A fresh start changes the foundation of what might have been the beginning of a bright future. But it’s not the end. 

3. She Chose To Live – Debosmita Nandy – She shines even when she is betrayed by love, uprooted from home and misunderstood by all.

4. Bidisha – Paulami DuttaGupta – Insurgency tore her life apart, will Bidisha be able to forget her past?


5. The Drug Addict – Santosh Bakaya – A 19 year old turns to drugs after her parents death in a Mine blast, this story shows how she turns over a new leaf.

6. Safe Passage – Sanghamitra Bose – She survives extreme betrayal and is determined not to let it happen again.

7. The Bride – Esha Chakraborty – ‘The Bride’ toasts to a new beginning!

8. Dear Rangama… – Sutapa Basu – An 18 year old bereft of family and friends, navigates her and her unborn child’s life defying all malignant forces. 

9. Unfound: Searching For Home – Vasudha Chandna Gulati – Can a child with two sets of parents still feel alone? It is Riddhi’s search for a place to belong.

10. The Journey of Two women – Deepti Menon – Two Divas on divergent paths dare to dream, defy the world and carveout their entwined destinies!


11. A Second Chance – Arpita Banerjee – A girl pays for her innocence once, but becomes strong enough to avenge a betrayal, second time around.

12. Dharmambhal – Bhuvaneswari Shivakumar Shankar – Can one ever recover from the trauma of domestic violence? A namesake finds courage from an inspirational story. 

13. The 40s – Ramaa Sonti – Story of a woman craving for love and attention, one who falters, yet takes the situation in her stride with the virtue of her wit and determination.

14. Amlanation – Anirban Nanda – An acid attack, a play of fate, the emotional trauma of both the attacker and the victim. 

15. Please Leave Your Sex Outside – Aashisha Chakraborty – What made a woman a top automobile entrepreneur of the country?

16. Tara – Geeta Negi – A simple girl from a remote hilly village discovers her womanhood while standing firmly against patriarchy.


17. Anjali Chakraborty – Tanushree Ghosh Dhall – A woman who is neither a mother nor a wife epitomises love, sacrifice and support. 

18. Yamuna Maa’s Hand – Mahesh Sowani – Two patrons, one rich another poor, use their funds to support poor women to be independent. 

19. Once, For a Change – Moinak Dutta – A fashion designer proves her mettle by taking up a challenge. 

20. Pregnant Dreams – Sridevi Datta – A woman’s dreams and desires faces trials in the real world.


21. Second Innings of Ma – Namrata Chauhan – An exceptional bond between a mother in law and a daughter in law, proving women are soft but never weak.

22. Here I Come Benaras – Avanti Sopory – Is marriage the only identity of a woman? A widow in Banaras finds her identity amidst strangers.

23. To Be Or Not To Be – Paromita Mukherjee Ojha – An act of crime, a betrayal rips her life apart, now she must rise up to the test and face the realities of life. 

24. Some Porridge and an Education – Sreesha Divakaran  – Shanta leaves behind her village and her drunken husband to earn a livelihood for herself and provide education for her son.

Grab Your Copy @


Meet The Editors 

Rhiti Bose 

Rhiti Bose is a writer/blogger/reviewer who is also the founder and Chief Editor of the e-zine Incredible Women of India. She has a first class Master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Madras. She has done her Teacher’s Training, PGCE from Manchester Metropolitan University, UK and holds a Child Psychology, Psychotherapy and Counselling Post-Graduate Diploma from The School of Natural Health and Science, London, UK. She has 6 years of experience in Education/Training. She has spent two years working with The Refugee Council, Sheffield, UK mentoring and counseling Bangladeshi and Liberian refugee children.

Her works have been published in Femina, feminafastfiction.com, learningandcreativity.com, redomania.com and she is also a part of short story collection, An Atlas of love, published by Rupa. Her poems are a part of poetry collections Kaafiyaana and Umbilical Chords: An Anthology on Parents Remembered.

When not reading, writing or curating stories for IWI, you can find Rhiti watching Bollywood masala movies, baking or playing with her children. She believes in kindness and love and hopes to spread the same through IWI. She currently resides in Bhubaneswar with her husband, daughter and son.


   
Lopamudra Banerjee 



Lopamudra Banerjee is a writer and translator, currently based in Dallas, USA. She has a Master’s degree in English with a thesis in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Her unpublished memoir Thwarted Escape has been First Place Category Winner at the Journey Awards 2014 hosted by Chanticleer Reviews. She is an editor of Learning and Creativity, an e-zine for the literary and creative souls.

Her poetry, stories and essays have appeared at many print and online literary journals and anthologies both in India and the US. Her poetry has recently appeared in The Significant Anthology, Umbilical Chords: An Anthology on Parents Remembered and Kaafiyana, published by Readomania. Her English translation of Rabindranath Tagore’s novella The Broken Home is being serially published at CafĂ© Dissensus. She has received the Critics’ Award at Destiny Poets International Community of Poets, UK and also a Certificate of Merit as part of the Reuel International Prize 2015 for Writing and Literature. Her husband is an IT professional and they have two beautiful daughters, Srobona and Sharanya.



Meet The Team 

Similar Dreams

 Defying Distance 


          
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Saturday, 20 February 2016

Book Review : The Shreds of Character by Jasbir S Jagdeo

Book- The Shreds of Character
Author- Jasbir S Jagdeo
Genre- Fiction (Dark side)
Publisher- Self Published (Distributed by Read Out Loud)
Blurb-
A small place in Punjab, carrying some vivid people, with vivid aspects towards life. Sanju, the chirpy bird of a household find it hard to learn her feelings.
Sanju’s brother Teji is an affectionate brother, but is not an affectionate person. The race between the male and female worlds is never ending.
What makes this household a mourning cemetery? Why Sanju is in search of something new? What role does Teji and Sanju’s father play in their outlooks? The end is smooth or with breakers?
Title-
Title of the book is catchy. The story revolves around many characters and their viewpoint towards life. One can easily think about appearance of different shades.
Cover-
The cover could have been much-much better. The present cover do gives the information about the book, if and only if someone first reads the book and then judge it. Otherwise, it’s just bleak.
Characters-
What can we expect when we talk about Punjab? Like place, like characters. You can see a whole bunch of extremely different people in the book. Some can help you to hate mankind, and that’s the beauty of this book. The author hasn’t felt shy in disgracing. He went out of his box in narrating what can be the possibility of action. He tells us to what extent people can go, to get what they desire, or to get what they are obsessed about.
But sadly, the characters, even the main antagonist and protagonist were not able to flourish their identities with flying colours. There were loop holes and often people changed their traits which can create chaos while understanding the real self of a character with perfection. Out of all, Teji, Balbir and Daadi were quite amusing and different.
Narration-
The narration was mediocre. The sequencing of chapters was not taken seriously which made things worse. Though every question was answered perfectly by the author but still it was not enough to hold someone to the core.
Review-
The Shreds of Character is the story of a household in Punjab. From the very start the story shows two faced people. This fact is never new, when we talk about Indian families. Every person is ideal when he or she is inside the four walls and every dimension of his or her character mends vulnerably when they step out. The novel is full of such people who say, believe and do different things at different intervals.
One of the protagonists Sanju is experiencing her adulthood. What a normal girl desire? Some attention, some love and some fulfilment. But in small places no girl deserves to have happiness of her kind. The story often drifts from one person to another within a chapter and what we see is nothing different. Every person is in a cobweb of fake and spotless social name.
The story moves ahead and the plot start combining. The turn arrives when things open up in front of the family. Sanju’s father, Joginder; Teji, Sanju’s brother and Sanju herself experience a downfall. Every story has a high point and in this story the high point arrives here.
Though the story has different hues, the root is one. The situation varies but the end remains the same, despair is in air. A perfect blend of want and limits mark the end of the book.
Eye-catchers-
· “History played strange games that no one could master”.
· “Antique mistakes became glorious tales of courage, courtship and conquest.”
· “She was better endowed too. She could satisfy anyone, howsoever demanding.”
Turn-on’s-
The book has touched some important topics of the society, in a more fresh way. Either than lifting a complaining tone, the author has picked up a narrating voice. He was able to showcase the real face of families. It shows the deeper roots without any fabrication or alteration. Some incidents in the book can make you giggle, some can be relatable (only if you are a Punjabi or you are in their closer vicinity).
The quick and simple bonds are quirky and worthy. The bond between Teji and Sanju; Balbir and Sanju; Sanju and Preeto; Teji and Jaggu were quite hilarious at times and also very realistic.
Turn-off’s-
The original blurb says nothing about the story. It might take you to different direction. The story at times become dispersed. The starting chapters doesn’t help the book in any terms, rather they confuse the reader. One has to re-read them in order to understand them completely. Also the novel ends with a very plain setting. And yes, you need to re-read the start again to understand some pages of the end.
The novel has many curt words, which sounds nasty. There are many repeated phrases too. The editing is fine but doesn't match the highest standard of precision. The main issue is the difficulty in identifying “who is saying what”. The conversation mix up at times.
Recommendation-
Want to know what lies behind the beautiful walls of reputed families? This novel can take you behind the scenes.
Useful links-
· https://www.facebook.com/JasbirSJagdeo
· http://www.goodreads.com/jasbir_pro

Thursday, 18 February 2016

Book Blitz : Right Fit Wrong Shoe by Varsha Dixit


Right Fit Wrong Shoe 
by 
Varsha Dixit 

Blurb 
Right Fit Wrong Shoe, begins at a point where all love stories end. The tale weaves around Nandini and all that is important to her, with two contenders gunning for the top spot; Aditya Sarin and Sneha Verma.

Aditya Sarin, the man Nandini is madly in love with, yet compelled, for some unsolved reason to shun.  Aditya, on his part, in the past declared Nandini to be a ‘millennium bhehenji (conservative girl)’ and ‘lassi (yoghurt drink) in a wine glass’. Yet he fell for her  . . . hard! However, some mysterious episode caused the lovers to, acrimoniously, part. 

Now, Aditya is back in Kanpur,  all his guns blazing (the real and the imagined), determined to devastate her life. Fortunately for the readers, and unfotunately for Aditya, Nandini is determined not to‘bite the dust’ oh so quietly. Wonder, in the battle royal, who wins or who loses it all?

Sneha Verma, the other contender, is Nandini’s BFF, that one friend who knows us better than we do. The one we trust more than Stayfree or Clearasil. Sneha maybe headstrong, hammer fisted and stern mouthed, but for Nandini, she will willingly stand in the path of imminent lightning bolt or a nasty tornado, even if it’s named Aditya Sarin. In standard X, Sneha took Nandini under her wing and that equation hasn't changed much. Sneha, a recent wife and even more recent mom, appears to be fighting some unknown demons of her own.

Right Fit Wrong Shoe, observes and opinionates the society, affected and amused. It fleetingly touches on issues; fleeting as watching discourses (courtesy Astha Channel), is trendier and quicker, than reading them. 

The book is an AAA (anytime, anywhere, anyone) read. It promises to make your day better, and a bad one not any worse. 

Grab your copy 
amazon.in | amazon.com

About The Author 

Varsha Dixit, the best selling author of four successful contemporary romance books. Her debut book, Right Fit Wrong Shoe was a national bestseller for the year 2010. Varsha was a part of the Indian Television Industry and worked as an assistant director and online editor. She considers herself a dreamer who thinks deep but writes light. Even though creativity is gender free, Varsha feels blessed and enriched to be a woman. Currently, with her family, Varsha resides in CA, USA.

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Saturday, 13 February 2016

Book Blitz : Color Me Rich by Mohan Deep


Color Me Rich 
by
Mohan Deep

Blurb 


A sensitive love story of a handsome and talented struggling painter Akash Saigal. What happens when he marries an extremely rich and beautiful artist and art investor Zenobia Taraporevala?

Grab your copy @

amazon.com | amazon.in


Prologue ( A teaser)

J J School of Art, Mumbai.
Taking a charcoal pencil, Akash Saigal started drawing the wood-and-stone structure, popularly known as „Kipling Bungalow‟. He was sketching sitting on a bench on which, in another era, K K Hebbar, M F Husain, Syed Haider Raza, Sadanand Bakre, V S Gaitonde, even Dadasaheb Phalke had sat with their sketchbooks, sketching the house where the author of The Jungle Book was born.
Ganpat Gupte appeared along with two of his gang. Gupte was the nephew of a minister, or so he claimed, and had the arrogance that comes with power. 
“Ae Akash, kae karto?”
Akash looked up at the trio and said, “Nothing much. Just a drawing.
“Okay. What is the day today?”
“I should have known.Tere ko blue shirt hai na?”
Akash didn‟t get the connection, but Gupte‟s chamchas laughed knowingly.
The three boys sang in unison, “Monday, blue shirt. Tuesday, black shirt. Wednesday, blue shirt. Thursday black shirt. Friday, blue shirt. Saturday, black shirt. Sunday...laundry!”
If Akash was hurt, he didn‟t show it. He laughed sheepishly and continued sketching the bungalow.
But he would never forget this.


About the Author 

Mohan Deep, is an Indian author, painter and Feng Shui Master. Mohan Deep is the author of ‘The Mystery and Mystique of Madhubala’ (1996), ‘It’s My Life’ (Novel) (1997), ‘Simply Scandalous: Meena Kumari’ (1998), ‘Eurekha!’ – an unauthorized biography of Rekha. (1999), ‘Four Options’ (2000), ‘Feng Shui for the Bold & Beautiful, the Rich and Famous’ (2001) and ‘Nehru and the Tantrik Woman’ (2002). After a sabbatical of a decade, during which he touched upon the lifves of people as a Feng Shui Master, he is back with The Five Foolish Virgins, a book of fiction, to be launched in April 2013. Mohan Deep is arguably the only Indian author to write what is often described as controversial, unauthorized star biographies in India. Columnist-journalist and former editor of 'Illustrated Weekly of India', Khushwant Singh called him 'a truly gifted gossip writer'. “The maverick writer”, like columnist-reviewer-poetess Tara Patel described him has also been called William Goldman of Bollywood’s stars (By Behram Contractor, the Editor of Afternoon Despatch & Courier) (Source) Kitty Kelly of India (By R K Bajaj, the Editor of ‘The Daily’). Interestingly, almost every book he has wrote/penned has invited controversies for its bold content.

                          

         
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Wednesday, 10 February 2016

Book Review : Merjella by Yuvaraja Dhayanithi

Book- Merjella
Author- Yuvaraja Dhayanithi
Genre- Fiction
Publisher- Dreamblooms Media
Blurb-
Jella is different from other octopuses and only two people knew this, her father and Mimico. Jella along with, Qwerty and Bingo is all set to find out some answers and reach a distant land. But something happens in between.
Marina, a scientist, falls in a trap and meets Jella. She is in a great need to know what is happening to her at the present hour.
What happens when Marina and Jella join hands? What happens when Qwerty is far? Will the trio unite back to fight against the evils residing in Zypher?
Title-
The title suits the book. Merjella is the name of the protagonist in the story. And what’s better then it being the showman.
Cover-
Cover of the book is attractive. The story is like a fairy tale and the targeted audience is youth and kids, as mentioned by the author. Thus the radiant colours, pumped up image of the jellopus, Merjella, looks very exciting. The blue base suits perfectly to denote the watery aura.
Characters-
There is a vast range of characters in the book, or to be clear, creatures. You come across so many names and kinds of fish which the sea world possesses. The focussed ones are the Jellopuses and malojels. The terms are new and fascinating. Like human beings, the fishes are also divided as good and bad, supportive and offensive. It’s nice to read all the traits of these creatures.
Also, at the end of the chapters, author has explained the new fishes and words that might increase knowledge. Extra points for that. Out of all the characters, I loved Mimico, Bingo and Ryan.
Narration-
Third person narration, quite painless it was. The author seemed to enjoy what he was doing and that can be easily seen in the art of narration. It takes you ahead without any boredom. With every chapter, things become better and better.
Review-
Merjella is the story of a special kind of octopus, Jellopus Jella. The journey is on break and there comes a very vivid flashback from Mimico who is on a special task, assigned by Jella’s father, ruler of Zypher. The story starts at a normal pace, with no surprises, other than Jella being different from her thousands of siblings with a motive. The best part is the clear showcase of the antagonists in the story who are in action from the very start.
The story progress and suddenly there is an addition of Marina. The image of how Jella is transformed and how things get attached is something new and exciting. What I didn’t like is the way Marina’s story is forwarded; it becomes confusing as the time pass by. But what is nice is the way the connection proceeds in moving terms.
The best part of the book is when the things get sorted in Jella’s world. The fight of Jella is really breathtaking. And with every punch, with every knock down, with every cheating tactics, you start seeing the scenario with more clarity. The results are out and for sure it will leave a wide smile on your face. Jella and her story is the saviour of this book.
The story is framed to treat the kids and thus the short messages of loyalty in the form of Mimico, the message of friendship in the form of Bingo and Qwerty and the message of touching our target in the form of Jella are shown in the book. The book shows us that villains are often equipped with treachery and fall-means. But at the end nothing works. The message is nice and the entire book surely touches its finish line, neatly.
Eye-catchers-
· “...it take pride to create, not to destroy.”
· “I am being loved. I am being listened.”
· “...the time we spend thinking of the other keep our love alive.”
· “Rewards without wins are meaningless while wins with no rewards will still earn your honour.”
Turn-on’s-
The small notes at the end of some chapters were the highlight. The beautiful world beneath water was tremendously shown. It would have taken many many days of planning for the author. The fishes of different origin were a nice way to bring freshness. The villainous traits in some fishes were shown, the smarter ones were in vision too and the two extremist groups were brought up out of the box.
Turn-off’s-
As the end was approaching, the things got packed badly with one another. Two stories moving parallel can sometimes become hard to manage. The settings were shifting within the chapter and it didn’t work well.
Marina’s side of story was not up to mark. Many characters were not explained with precision. Thus they lost their significance, and at the end when they had important roles, you need to turn pages to know who they were actually.
Recommendation-
If old fairy tales don’t take your child or sibling to another world, then this book can help. Also if a kid inside you wants to take a ride back, then you can try Merjella.
Useful Links-
1) www.facebook.com/merjellathebook
2) http://www.flipkart.com/item/97893523...
3) http://www.amazon.in/Dreamblooms-Medi...
4) https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
5) www.merjella.com

Only If

If I ever get a chance I would love to fall in love with someone who has never been in love. It would be so easy to make him see things thr...