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Showing posts with label blogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogs. Show all posts

Friday 30 June 2017

Book Review: Breathing Two Worlds by Ruchira Khanna




About the Book:

Neena Arya, a Delhi-born goes abroad for

further studies and decides to settle down there. Determined to be a 'somebody'
from a 'nobody' she blends with the Americans via the accent and their
mannerisms while having a live-in relationship with her European boyfriend,
Adan Somoza.
When illness hits home, Neena rushes to


meet her ailing dad. Tragedy strikes and amidst the mingling with relatives and
friends, she finds herself suffocated with the two different cultures that she
has been breathing since she moved to the United States. How will she strike a
balance between both the cultures as she continues to support her widowed
mother? Will she be able to do justice to her personal and professional life
after the loss?


Amidst the adjusting she bonds with an
ally and learns about ties beyond blood. On what grounds will she be able to
form an invisible thread that she has longed for since childhood?


Breathing Two Worlds ventures into
cultures and ethnicity allowing Neena to ponder upon her foundation and
priorities.
Available

on
Amazon


Book Trailer: 





About the Author



Ruchira Khanna, a biochemist turned
writer, left her homeland of India to study in America, where she obtained her
Master’s degree in Biochemistry from SJSU and a degree in Technical Writing
from UC Berkeley.
After finishing her studies, Ruchira

worked as a biochemist at a Silicon Valley startup for five years. After the
birth of her son, Ruchira took a job as a technical writer, so that she could
work from home. Soon, she began doing freelance writing work as well.

Her love of writing grew and she started

working on her own books. After four years of freelancing, Ruchira published
her first book, a fiction novel for adults called Choices.

Then came the children’s book The

Adventures of Alex and Angelo: The Mystery of the Missing Iguana. She got a
thumb’s up review from Kirkus Reviews

In January 2016, she has published her


second fictional novel Voyagers into the Unknown. It talks about the quest for
happiness as the heavy hearted tourists travel miles from different parts of
the world to Raj Touristry in Agra, India. Return to their respective home with
a healed heart. This book talks about their journey!

In Breathing Two Worlds, Ruchira talks

about ethnicity and cultures, and helps to strike a balance via a fiction-drama
novel as her characters breathe two worlds.

In addition to writing books, she is a

holistic healer associated with Stanford Healing Partners and also maintains a
blog of daily mantras on Blogspot, called Abracabadra. Ruchira currently
resides in California with her family.

Find

her on:
Website Blog

My Review (3.5/5)

The book had me at its idea. The metaphoric title seems just apt, and someone who relocates to another continent/country can very well relate to the conundrum. The story follows the journey of Neena Arya as she adapts to the professional lifestyle and embraces the work culture of a new culture while still keeping herself grounded to her roots.
This dilemma is as old as time, or at least time since travel was invented. But the point is the story was simple, lucid and easy. It is a quick read too, and the occasional quirks of India and the clashes of the culture are an entertaining element.
The millennial generation will have these lives over and over again, in different forms, so the story makes a whole lot of sense. The interactions between the family members of the protagonist and her boyfriend were warm and cordial, which was a welcome departure from the cliche.

At some point I may have thought that this theme has now been beaten to death and something more crispy is worth exploration, but the story, due to its simplicity, made me finish it till the end. If for nothing else, for the metaphor!


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Sunday 7 September 2014

Book Review: Business Doctors by Sameer Kamat


About the book:


Ivy League educated management consultant, Michael Schneider, gets hired by an unlikely client. A mafia boss wants to make a last desperate bid to revive his family business that spans across gambling, drugs and porn. A reluctant Schneider takes on the challenge to give the underworld organization a makeover. Join Schneider as he takes on the most challenging management consulting job ever!

  • Publisher: Booksoarus (24 April 2014)


About the Author:

Sameer Kamat is among the best career counsellors in India. He also shares writing & publishing tips and ideas on getting self-published in IndiaThe author is a multi-faceted personality. Hi earlier book Beyond The MBA Hype, published by HarperCollins, advises MBA applicants on the pitfalls and opportunities of applying to international MBA courses. Within 3 months of getting released, the first print run was sold out. He i the founder of MBA Crystal Ball, an MBA admissions consulting venture that helps Indian applications get into the top international MBA programs. He left hi Mergers & Acquisitions career and bid adieu to the corporate world in 2011 to focus full-time on the entrepreneurial aspirations. He serve on the Editorial Board of the Journal of General Management (UK), a leading UK-based academic publication that has a global readership.

My Review:

This is actually a four-and-a-half star from me.
This book peels its layers one after the other, and delightfully, to the readers' expectation and beyond, all layers are equally enthralling, if not more, and all of them have been woven to keep up the pace of the plot and simultaneously the intrigue and unalloyed attention of the reader.

Lets talk about the title first up. When the titles reads, "Business Doctors", it isn't just an oxymoronic play of words. It is for the reader to find out. And here begins a journey of the reader foray into the uncanny plot twists the story will take.
The story opens up with one set of characters and is carried forward by others.
Enter Stephen Woody: he makes killing look easy, he drummed his fingers to create a tapping sensation thereby building tension and suspense. In other words, he is an underworld boss.

The place he operates from is called the Dungeon.
With his foot in handful of businesses like casino, porn industry et al, his business is going through a lean patch. Scratch that. His business is on the brink of ruin. He desperately seeks some professional advice.
His wife (mafia's wife) comes into picture and changes it.
That is all that can be said without spoilers. How she changes it is for you to find. Suffice to say, the way she changes the equations is very pivotal to the plot.

Another layer to the book is the insightful management gyaan on offer. Right from the consulting expertise to the human resource management lessons in the alleyways and lanes of the plot, everything happens in an uncanny way. And why shouldn't it? This is certainly not any regular consultancy client!

Another commendable part of the novel is that the author has done justice to each character no matter how trivial or pivotal the role or however long or short the duration of that role.

Humour has taken vivid forms and shapes. The most enjoyable read is between the pages of those chapters which are a demonstration of an unusual sort of people-management.
*Spoiler alert*
The transformation of criminals and miscreants into valuable human resources( still criminals) is just hilarity in leaps and bounds.

Best Lines:

Usually I list out the quotable lines here, but this time around I shall make an exception, and state  an excerpt, for the sheer wit and humor:
Woody was reputed and feared as a man who had 
uncommon strength when enraged. This was not just rumor 
– two of the men present in the chamber had seen their 
boss twist off the arm of a rival goon - mercilessly –
agonizing screams echoing from the victim, till the arm was 
just hanging off via loose tendons. Suffice to say the doctors 
could not sew back Woody‟s handiwork


My Judgement:

In this era of an abundance of books, if you do have to make a choice among a plethora of books, do read this for it is worth the investment in money, efforts and time, with returns in the form of an added vocabulary, a fulfilled reading experience and insights into the forms that management consulting can take.

Book Trailer:




Find the book here: 






Thank you for stopping by, and reading through!



Tuesday 10 December 2013

Liebster Award


My Victory Tour


A big thank you out there to Veturi @ Neither here, nor There, for deeming my blog worthy of nomination, and more so, for keeping the questions as close to blogging as possible.




Here are my answers:


1. Which character from any work of fiction you can identify yourself the most with?

It is funny how I always find myself identifying with different characters of all the books that I read, albeit to varying degrees. If I have to name one, it would be Katniss Everdeen a.k.a. The Girl on Fire from The Hunger games Trilogy, which I read recently

2. What is your most favorite movie and why?

My Favorite movie has to be Silver linings Playbook, because of the aura of optimism that it creates, because the characters are realistic and fallible, and they reaffirm my belief in happy endings.

3. What is your reading frequency?

30 books a year, I guess, I am not used to keeping a count.

4. What is the greatest challenge you face in writing?

Maybe, The constant urge to refer a dictionary!
5. What makes you want to read a book? It’s blurb? Review from a person you like? Cover Page? Author’s previous works?
No wonder, all these components are crucial. A bibliophile such as me chooses just any way.

6. What are your reading patterns?

Repetitive, definitely not chronological.

7. How do you fight blogger’s block?

Seeking inspiration from friends/nature/books. :D

8. Do you think setting yourself a target works in writing?

Never tried !!!!!

9. How important do you think grammar is in writing? Especially in English?

I deem it very important. However, as long as sentences convey meaning, or suggest informal conversation, I don't mind non-adherence to grammar rules. Else, I am a Grammar Nazi!

10. What time of the day is the most conducive for you to write?

I don't have a fixed time as such. It happens when it happens.

What is the Liebster Award all about?


The Liebster Blog Award is given to upcoming/new bloggers or who have less than 200 followers. The 'Liebster' word is of German origin and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome.

How does it work?
  1. Link back to the persons blog who has nominated you and convey thanks for giving the award.
  2. Answer all questions posted by the nominator.
  3. Nominate 7 more bloggers whom you feel are deserving of more subscribers; you pass the award on to them.
  4. Create 7 questions for the nominees.
  5. Contact the nominees and let them know that they have been nominated for the Liebster.

My Nominations

My questions for Nominees

  • How did you start blogging?
  • If you were stuck alone on earth, what would you do?
  • If you were to star in a movie, who would you be?
  • If you were to star in a book, what character and book would it be?
  • childhood or adulthood?
  • Complete the sentence: Words are...
  • If I could change one thing about my country, it would have been...?
  • I would like to thank.....for this award!(Name at least 5)







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