As Francis Bacon quoted: “Some books are meant to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be digested.” In this context, I would like to add: “There are some books which make you cry, whereas some books, which act as a happy hour therapy for your mind.” I feel Biswajit Banerji’s Happimess is a happiness therapy for all.

In the current Covid scenario where people have started getting depressed by being at home, this book adds peace in the minds of the reader. The tickling 13 stories not only adds humour but also makes the reader feel fresh. The author has made people laugh through its writings which is no lesser than a miracle.

According to the blurb,” Happimess is a collection of naughty stories that make us laugh while constantly poking fun at social peculiarities. Narrated mostly in the first person, the stories center around everyday situations that get oddly tangled up. Once frantic efforts are made to wriggle out, things only get more messy. Flippant and irreverent, the net of satire is cast wide, spanning conspiring home-appliances, outlandish diseases, nosy insurance agents, die-hard hagglers, a botched farewell speech and the like. It is the constant undercurrent of funny disorderliness that serves to spice-up and unite the stories.”

Biswajit has incorporated satirical fiction, mockery in his writing style. His collection of stories is written in first person where he talks about the stigmas of modern society in a satirical way. He is mocking at this kind of society without hurting the sentiments of people.

Further, Biswajit’s writing style reminds me of Alexander Pope’s ‘An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot’ where the poet talks about his friend but in disguised way he is mocking at the society of his time, especially his fellow writers who used to criticize him. But here, the author has given birth to a new type of writing technique which is an amalgamation of satire, mockery, fun, lyrical.

Talking about the title, he has cleverly chosen “Happimess” which is misspelled form of Happiness. But this title is the beauty of the author who has smartly stole the attention of a person who wants to pick his book.

The author has left an essence of him in some of his stories. Especially, the Bengali innuendoes gives us an insight about his roots. He is a simple man who is trying to reach people using the most genuine ways. He has connected with his audience naturally through his stories. Some of the stories like ‘from Bad to Sordid’; A Matter of Life (insurance) and Death; With Due Respect To’ self respect’ are well constructed stories of day to day paraphernalias which are closely observed by the author. His 13 pieces are a result of well craftsmanship which the author has beautifully bestowed upon his stories.

In nutshell, I would like to say that Biswajit Banerji’s Happimess is a must-read book as it is lighthearted, entertaining, simple and has a literal meaning for the society.

About the Author

Biswajit is a prolific humorist and author of hundreds of bestsellers- all in his dreams. In reality, this is his debut book.

His satirical ramblings, poetry and travel writing have been published accidentally in several literary journals, periodical and websites. For a living, Biswajit serves in a senior position in a leading Public Sector steel unit.

You can buy his from Amazon.in

But why do we need restrictions in the world of art? We are already trapped with so many restrictions, it is better if we don’t have any in here. As less the restrictions, the more expressive an artist or writer can be. But that’s only an imagination for now. Keeping this in mind, I would like to introduce you to a series named “Stories Beyond Hatred” where we will be discussing novels and stories which landed into controversies and we will be revisiting them with a new perspective altogether outlooking the criticism it faced.

Check out the list:

Lolita

From an artistic point of view, Lolita is considered to be a Masterpiece. Written by Vladimir Nabakov this engaging story was appreciated by literature lovers especially for it’s dark humour plot. But the novel landed into controversy as it portrayed sexual relationship between a much older man and a teenage girl. Many of the reviews named it “the filthiest book I have ever read,” and “sheer, unrestrained pornography.” But revisiting it from the literary view will make you understand why this is a honest piece of art as well as a mirror to the society.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

This novel by Mark Twain faced heavy criticism as readers felt that the story was too sugar-coated towards Jim, Huck’s family slave. Also Twain was accused of creating racial stereotypes around Jim. But the novel is still loved by many people as they consider it is an important reflection of the social atmosphere of its time. And this perspective can’t be out looked.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee tried to portray the story ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by using offensive language as he thought it will do justice to the story. Also, it openly talked about racism, rape and violence. Back in 1960s, many school boards banned the book for being immoral. But it was the need of a writer and the world he created inspired from true stories, hence the novel also won a Pulitzer award.

So it’s better to reconsider some stories beyond hatred. Share your views in the comment box below and stay tuned for more such interesting write-ups.

 

Print Length: 168 pages

Publisher: Flaming Sun (Indie published)

Publication Date: March 1, 2020

Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

Language: English

Genre: Romance

 

Young Arjun feels betrayed and heartbroken when his girlfriend of two years dies in an accident. In a moment of agony, he does the worst thing possible…

 

Ten years later, Kiara walks into the office of the Mathur Group of industries, falling for its managing director, Arjun Mathur, who is a ruthless businessman nowadays, and also completely sworn off women.

 

While the ethical hacker gathers evidence against the ex-finance director of the company who has been swindling money bigtime, she tries to woo the MD into falling in love with her.

 

Will Kiara be able to persuade Arjun to break his penance?

It would be great if you can add this book to your TBR

Read the Excerpt

 

 

Sundari Venkatraman is an indie author with forty-five titles to her credit, which have sold more than 1.75 lakh copies around the world. Her books consistently feature in the Top 100 Bestseller Lists on Amazon in both Romance and Asian Drama categories. Her latest romance novels have all been on the #1 Bestseller slot in Amazon India for over a month.

 

As a child, Sundari loved to read books with ‘lived happily ever after’ endings. They were all about good triumphing over evil. As a teenager, her favourite books were romance novels from Mills & Boon. She was fascinated by them, so much so that she began to visualise the stories set in India.

 

Sundari was forty when she began her writing journey, completing the first draft of her first novel in thirty-five days. She has not looked back since.

Click here to check out all the titles by the author…

You can stalk her @

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How is your book reading going on? I have been away from reviewing these days but that doesn’t mean I am not reading anything. Nobody can take away the reader in me. Today, I will be sharing my review for a non- fiction book What Your Banker Don’t Tell You by Vaibhav Anand.

Cover: The cover of the book is amazing as the cover doesn’t give you an idea that it is a non-fiction book. The cover looks like a mirage. It shows a girl, geeky beautiful who seems to be excited while writing something.

Title: The title of the book is intriguing and it just grabs the attention of the reader.

About the Book: Making money is hard, they will tell you. Or that you need to buy X insurance or Y mutual funds or a 3BHK in Z place. Your banker, your money manager, even the avuncular neighbor who sells you LIC policies, will seem incredibly earnest as they give you what is actually self-serving money advice.

Coming from someone who’s spent years in banking, ‘What your banker won’t tell you’ is a simple do-it-yourself guide for investing in India. Spanning investment instruments across real estate, mutual funds, equity investing, debt, gold, Vaibhav takes you through fundamental tenets and easy to follow steps to grow your money and keep your banker from taking some or almost all of it.

Review: Although I am picky with non- fiction, I liked this self-help book. The way the author has used examples to explain the points about “mutual funds” is great and I didn’t get bored while reading it. The language was simple and understandable. It was a quick and easy read with lots of suggestions to be implemented. People who are unsure about their financial management then this book is your Bible and everybody should read it as it has life-saving advice given by our one and only Vaibhav Anand.

Availability: https://amzn.to/3apr6c3

~ Book Blitz ~
Karma’s Dilemma
by Karma

About the Book:

Karma, a young man, knows very well who his soulmate is. Or so he thinks.

But, really, who is the one?

The posh Angela who he worships. Or is it Sana, the wild racer, who drives him crazy. Or is it Simi, the sensible psychologist, who puts him back together.

Or maybe there is no one for him because of Karma’s deeds in his all-consuming quest as he scours the world has broken so many rules that, one day, karma, the immortal and unrelenting collector of soul-debt, comes calling for Karma, the mortal, himself.

The novel demonstrates the lengths one is willing to go to, the rules one is willing to break and the soul-debt one is willing to accumulate in the quest for a soulmate. Truly, everything is fair in love, even if not in war.

Will Karma the mortal outwit karma the immortal? Or will karma wipe Karma away…

Book Links:

Goodreads * Amazon

Read some Snippets from Karma’s Dilemma

~ Snippet 1 ~

Bengaluru, the city of gardens. The city with lovely weather. The city of the fashionable and the hep. The Silicon Valley of India.

No, that wasn’t my Bengaluru. My birthplace became a part of Bengaluru only when an estate agent wanted to sell you a house.

To understand why I wished for her, you also need to understand the background in which the wish was made. That established, the name of the small town where I was born was Hulimavu, which translated into English as sour mango. I haven’t been able to figure out exactly why someone would choose that name for a place, but I have a good guess; pregnant women loved sour mangoes and my town had a high birth rate. My town was fifteen kilometers from “proper” Bengaluru and its nearest claim to fame was being close to the Bannerghatta National Park, a forest reserve, where tigers lived in blissful ignorance of their nemesis, the army of sour mango eating women, whose children would probably take over tiger territory one day.

~ Snippet 2 ~

It was my mother who named me Karma. It so happened that my chosen name was Kumar, but I am told that the outspoken nurse, who looked after my mother at the hospital during childbirth, said: “Tell your husband that your undernourished body is not meant to be used as a child producing factory. You have already given him two sons, what more does he want? This child is not Kumar. He is karma, the karma of your husband’s lust, who almost took your life.”

“But he didn’t take my life. So, if he is anyone’s karma, he is mine. My good karma,” Mother replied and named me Karma.

Download a copy on 2nd May!

About the Author:

Dear Readers,

Before I tell you more about myself, I want to answer a question that might arise in your mind. Given there are already so many writers (some might think too many), the question is: Why should I write at all?

Simply, I write because I was not allowed to write. Or read any book which had the word love in it. In my family, it was believed that reading about love lead to rebellion. I myself picked up the pen when my only child was six-months-old. At that time, I was without a job. I wrote because there was a lot that I wanted to tell my child, even if one day in the future, to make sense of this world. Writing also helped me keep hope alive, one page at a time, as I went from one fruitless interview to another.

As my child took the first steps, I reached a milestone of my own. I completed my first book; the story of a young man’s quest to find answers to life’s questions. A boutique publisher in Paris loved it and translated my work into French. I even found a job soon after.

I am choosing to write under a pen-name because I am at a stage in my life where I prefer and love anonymity. Once my child is older, I intend to write under my own name.

Many thanks for reading my post and I hope you enjoy reading my novels.

Happy Reading!

Karma

Vichchdan, a Punjabi word that is hovering over my mind from a few days. I don’t know why it is bothering me so much. I could have thought of Separation but why this Punjabi word. Basically, this word clearly elucidates my pain of separation. It is a separation that is not seen but can be felt.

Tere nehre hon da savera si,

Mere door hon da vehra si,

Kehnde ne Hanere to baad

Chanan aaunda hai

Par sade ishq vich

Milan di khaat

Te vichchdan da waqt partaunda hai …

“What nonsense are you writing Jia?” Kashvi asked in anger.

“I am writing something which I don’t even know. I don’t know how come I am connected to these Punjabi lines when I don’t even know an inch about Punjabi.”

“How can that be possible that you are writing in a language that you are not acquainted with?”

Suddenly Jia’s mom comes, and she quickly hides her writeup from her. Her mom knows that when Jia is upset, she always hid her writeups. So, she didn’t ask much. She asked them to have food. Once both the girls are gone, she checks her laptop. She then starts reading the writeup. She is stunned to read this. She suddenly stands up and says, “this can’t happen, she can’t write this!”

Jia rushes to her mom’s room. She is flabbergasted to see her mom in such a state. She brings water for her and makes her settle down. Now tell me, “Why you shouted all of sudden?” Jia enquired in a concerned tone.

“Jia first tell me, you wrote all this?”, she showed her the writeup which Jia had written a few minutes ago.

“Yes, mom”

Her mom got perplexed and couldn’t control her tears back. She hugged her daughter so tightly. She kept on murmuring,” You are back! You are back!”

Jia asked, “mom what happened? Who has come back?”

Mom replied,” Your real father, Viren Singh Rathod.”

Jia gasped and couldn’t believe her mother’s words as her father’s name was Vikramjeet Singh Deo.” She left the room as she couldn’t digest this bitter truth.

Author’s Note: Hello lovelies,

As we all are going through the lockdown or the self-isolation phase and I really don’t want to stress you guys by writing on Corona Virus; so I thought of coming up with Vichchdan, a story which I will write in series so that you all read this and feel elated. I will update this on Fridays and Sundays. Please give your feedback so that I can bring new stories for you.

Cover: The cover of the book is the most attractive factor. It grabs attention of the reader to pick a book and read it. Honestly speaking, I wanted to read this book, the moment I saw the cover. The lady in red makes with a wine glass is the icing on the cake. This cover can clearly become a cover for a big motion picture.

Title: The title “The Sinners” is perfect as every character in this book is a sinner in their own way with mysterious auras of their own. This is an apt title for the book.

Blurb: Vikram Oberoi is found dead in his penthouse. A few hours ago, his involvement in a sex scandal in NexGen Technologies made headlines across the world. Who is behind the sinister conspiracy that destroyed Vikram Oberoi, the philandering India Head of NexGen? Rivals within and outside the firm? One of his many jilted lovers or the miffed wife? A mysterious conspirator laying out honey traps to sabotage his plans? Or, is it the ghost of a sinful past that continues to haunt the Oberois? The Sinners is a fast-paced thriller with a shocking twist that unravels against the backdrop of corporate warfare, illicit relationships, and ruthless seduction games.

Plot: Ofcourse, Sourabh has written a gripping plot which is connecting to minute details of elements like seven sins, thriller, purgery, seduction but somewhere the end was predictable. In spite of being lots of twists and turns, I could guess the end and moreover, I was looking more to it. I feel this plot could have been better and this plot can be used for a motion picture that can highlight the darkness behind the corporate sector.

Characterization: Honestly speaking, Vikram Oberoi is one of my favorite characters. The author decided to come up with a complex character who has so many multiple faces. He is a businessman who is serious about his work, then he is a casanova and popular amongst so many women. He also has a family with whom he doesn’t do justice. Even with so many flaws, his life and his deeds are delineated beautifully. The author has made us hate him, see his sins. His character surely adds meaning to the sinners as he is the biggest sinner in this book and he gets his punishment. Other characters have played their parts well.

Style: Sourabh follows the third-person point of view in his writing. He has used short to complex sentences. He has used a very simple sentence form. He could have done better like playing with words.

Although The Sinners is a gripping tale and one can finish it in one go. I completed this book in two hours. You can grab your copy from Amazon.in and Flipkart.

MOM is a magical word that brings joy to your life. That’s what happened this year. I got a chance to call my mom to Canada. I really can’t tell how happy I was. When she came, I just embraced her in my arms. I felt I badly needed that hug from her. My heart was racing in excitement. I just couldn’t wait to show her my new life which I wanted her to be the part of. When we reached my place, I just couldn’t wait to talk to her. But I had to calm my nerves because she had traveled a long distance of God knows how many hours. When she reached home. She looked at my place and also I showed her my happy place, i.e. our Balcony where we can see CN Tower. She was elated to see the sight. She said this house has a lot of positive vibes. Also, she asked me if she could cook some food for me. I just couldn’t stop admiring her as she had just come from a tiring journey and all she wanted to do was feed her daughter. Mothers are like that, isn’t it? I told her that I have made dal, rice for her and also I have some ready-made rotis. She said she would eat that. When she ate the dal and she was like, “Dal achchi hai!” Let me tell you guys, she is the best cook, I have known till now and getting this remark from her is a big thing for me. She said, ” Now, I can say that my daughter won’t starve for food.”

We both tried to sleep and my mind was dancing with excitement and I just couldn’t wait for her to get up. After 2 hours we got up all of sudden. I asked her if she was okay. She said I just can’t wait to hug you again and talk to you. We had 2 years of life-changing events to share. I just ran to her bed and hugged her and I didn’t stop hugging her. I asked her to pinch me as I couldn’t believe that she was there with me at Nanak House.

The next day she was wide up, ready to take over the kitchen. Luckily, I had 4 day offs so I spent most of it with her. In that entire 1 and half months, I spent those missed 2 years which I had craved for her affection and care. I made sure that I take her to shop, ask my friends to pamper her, take her out and also many more cooking discussions.

She came for my graduation and on that day, I saw her graduating. I couldn’t stop clicking pictures with her. I made her meet my friends, classmates and some Centennial colleagues. I could see her happy and proud of me. The fun part was, my friends thought that I got someone special in my life as they saw me so happy. I told them that my someone special is my mom, who brings the best out of me. Her presence makes me look beautiful and that glow is because of her.

When anyone used to take her without me for more than a day, I so wanted her to stop her. I always had this feeling that she is here for me and she cannot go anywhere but in all this, I was becoming strong and strong. I cannot explain how I always wanted to come back home just to see her waiting for me. She made my apartment a home. My roommates became her friends. I used to get to know about them through her. Life became super easy because it was just her. I learned so many new things from her. This time she met me as my best friend, where we shared our heart to heart conversations, we hung around and did so many fun things together. I wanted to give the best to her. I cannot say if I made her proud or not but I tried the best I could and I never had to think twice before buying a single thing for her or anybody. I just thank God that he sent her to me when I could afford to give her happiness in all the forms.

To add more to my happiness, came my niece Sanjana. I had never been so excited to see her. She is not my niece but I treat her like my own sister. She is the first child of Sareen khandaan afterol and she deserves all the love and pampering. It is believed that the first and the youngest child gets most of the love. I met her once but that meeting was worth remembering. I had never thought that the girl who is brought up in my hands is a grown-up, mature lady. I see myself in her, who has been treated like a princess. But here, I saw her chinned up, struggling, learning new things and adjusting to this stupid environment. This is how people grow up.

I gave a lot of space to myself. I learned new things. I went on vacation and explored new places. I tried new things like volunteering for festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi, Garba. I saw different colors of festive. I met new people, made friends and life became worth living.

For the first time in years, I got some special people who made my birthday remarkable. I had never expected that my roommates would throw a birthday party for me. I never thought I would organize a house party with somebody. It sounded like a fairytale to me, but it all happened.

Coming to friends, if they leave you at some point, they do come back if it’s meant to be. I got some of my long lost friends back. One of them is Asha, who is back with her two cute cats  Skylar and Leo. I am in awe with them. I am not sure if I love her more or her cats. With all these additions, I made new friends and this added great connectivity in my life. These honorable additions are Harsha, Zarna, Sneha who are part of this newfound girls gang.

Ganu bhaiya has always given me positive energy and the best of the vibes. Ganpati Bappa Morya !

In all these, I have got an elder sister in Hetal, elder brother in Ronak, Sagar. Above all, got a darling dolma Harshiv, who is my heartthrob. I am so blessed to have a new family in all these friends with whom I can share my happiness, sorrows and all the funtook fataak stuff. Though the year is going to an end, yet I have life lessons to share which I shall share in my next confession coming next month. I shall post soon. Stay tuned