Three Thousand Stitches

Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives.

The book Three Thousand Stitches is written by Sudha Murty a person who has immense knowledge and wisdom under her belt. Reading 3000 Stitches was an enthralling experience, the book covers pragmatic situation and her storytelling is poignant. This book feature 11 short stories, some from her personal life experience while few from people she met and remaining from her philanthropy days from Infosys Foundations.

This book truly is of ordinary people and their extra ordinary lives. The title of the book is taken from the first short story Three Thousand Stitches. This story is of persistence and dedication Sudha ji showed to uplift the life of some 3000 odd Devadasi’s trapped in the menace of sex trade. Her constant persuasion and Infosys foundation initiative she improved the lives of devadasi and their children. Devadasi evolved from pittance to independent income and later started a bank to support their community. This story is profoundly moving and highlights Sudha Ji’s dedication.

Similarly, there is a story of how she defied and convinced her parents for letting her peruse engineering a male dominant field. She become 1^st of many girls studying engineering from her college. She has also written about the difficulties and challenges she encounter while studying and how tactfully she solved them all. The story Three handful of water talks about minimalism and giving up desire for achieving peace and tranquility in life.

All the stories have significant life lessons and great way to learn.

A good read!!

For One More Day

Ever since I finished reading Tuesdays with Morrie I understood the hype around it and can easily place it among my top 10 reads. But the problem that starts with one good book is expectation a want for such exemplary book again and it seems for me Mitch Albom can do any wrong.

If you had the chance to spend one more day with some one you lost what would you do? What would you talk about?

Chick Benetto down with his luck ex baseball player gets just that. One night he decides to end his life and his mom shows up to spend the day with him except she died 8 years ago.

For one more day is about contemplation about grief and about revisiting the old mistakes one commits that drastically alter his life. He gets an opportunity to relive some precious moments of his life which he could have spent with his mom. His moms talk and helps Chick revisit some old mistakes he made and life choice that changed his life.  He realizes how insignificant and inconsiderate he has been with his mom. he walks over some painful and some beautiful moments of his life to realize the hardship his mom faced for the upbringing of Chick and his sister. This book has some painful experience and you might get angry with Chick’s attitude but in the end, you would end up sympathizing.

Chick’s character is so relatable, he is all of us at some point of time arrogant unsure and easily motivated. Mitch Albom always gives us life lesson through stories, stories that are relatable and reflects the importance of family.

The Accidental Further Adventure Of The 100 Year Old Man

The story line of The Accidental further adventure of 100 years old man starts right from where the story of the 100 years old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared ended. The characters are same and so is their mischief and bad luck. Apart from the existing characters this storyline proceeds with some present political magnets of the world. #jonasjonasson has witfully conceived this book. This book as its predecessor is through funny and a great piece of satire. Allan travels across the globe and hasn’t lost the spark. He is brutal and still hates the politicians. This book is pretty relevant in current political situation and morons in power resulting in political imbalance and rift (PRE COVID-19 era). Jonas jonasson doesn’t mince his words he is brutal with punctuations.

Allan is in Indonesia and is running out of money acquired from previous adventure. He is gearing up to celebrate his 101^st birthday and is gifted with an iPad (he is obsessed). Allan decides to take hot air balloon ride for his birthday adventure and the tragedy strikes. The balloon lifts without the operator and Allan and his accomplice are free flying on the mercy of wind. Hours later they drop in ocean without gas. They are rescued by a north Korean ship carrying enriched uranium assuming them be to be a US spies. Allan sneaks his way out of North Korea to US to Germany and to Sweden meeting every prominent leader. His encounter with each one of them is utterly hilarious. Later Allan travels to Africa and yet again he finds himself in middle of a global crisis which only he can avert. This genre of comedy is highly recommended as it makes you laugh hard without actually hurting anyone’s Sentiments.

Kudos to Swedish writers and Swedish comedy, more power to you guys.

innocent-ism

Written by Suhasini Malde

Translated and adapted by Dr. Priydarshini Nitin Gokhale.

This book has a different story line and prominently features 2 major things.

1.    An insight to Autism helps build a greater understanding and awareness. This book also quotes real life experiences, examples and in depth talks about the learning process involved in an autistic child. The book explains about the taboo and social stigma associated with autism.

2.    Follows the life of an average looking yet brilliant student Suhas born in a middle-class family, her struggles and her persistence ton outwit difficult circumstances.

Innocent-ism closeness to reality is what makes it a fascinating read. It is story of Suhasini Malde’s struggle and survival and her contribution to the society. I have always been intrigued to read women centric stories and their extraordinary quest in achieving milestones. Suhas was bought up in a middle-class Nagpur family with dreams of making big one day and achieving all that she aspired for. The story narrates the discrimination a girl faces in our society. 1^st discriminated on being a girl then discrimination on her complexion. In spite of being an exemplary student she was judged for her looks and was even shammed by her family. But her sheer hard work determination and aspiration helped her overcome every obstacle she faced. As the story progresses, we further delve deep into her life. Her architecture classes her life in Mumbai and her love interest and her married life. The book painfully describes the plight of working women and the obstacles she faces in an orthodox family. Suhas’s life has just been an uphill drive with never ending course obstacles yet with determination she succeeds in the end. Other half of the book talks about suhas trying to conceive but destiny had other plans and she did start 1^st of its kind autistic school in India. The hurdles she faced and various life lessons she learned. Innocent-ism is an amazing tale of survival and existence and then giving back to the underprivileged. More power to Suhasini and pioneers like her.

https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B086416TNX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_d_asin_title_o05?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared

This is my second post regarding Swedish comedy. The writer #jonasJonasson ‘s book will never give a lull moment. There is tragedy, there is death and there are plenty of accident yet all these incidents will leave you laughing out loud. I would not say that the comedy is elite or classic but it is out right a laugh riot and meant for masses. The story is comedy of errors and traces the journey of a 100 years old grumpy old man who hate politics, politicians and the only thing he loves doing is explosion as an explosive expert. Leave logic aside if you are reading this book. This book will give you pleasant moments in the difficult quarantine time and will have something to laugh about. Allan quietly slips from the old people’s home on the eve of his 100^th birthday. Allan’s birthday party is a PR exercise for city’s mayor and some news for local press. His sudden disappearance give rise to plenty of speculation and suspicion and great media circus begins. Allan being a free wandering soul starts afresh and cherishes his freedom.  As Allan begins his journey through picturesque Sweden and leaves behind trails of incidents with odd random people joining his quest. As the journey moves forward Allan’s life unfolds and his earlier life is revealed. As a history enthusiast was baffled and amazed to see how curatively Jonas Jonasson has woven this story around major historical events. Allan has been altering the course of history and influencing some prominent leaders’ decisions. He has been friends with leaders with different political ideologies. The story traces its path through 2^nd world war to Russia to north korea to Chinese communist revolution to cold war. Read it for a good laugh p.s you can always watch this Swedish movie (not as entertaining as book).

A man called Ove:

Once I a while you come across a book that reinvigorates and inspires you. There is something special about Swedish writers.  Their story telling is distinct, relatable and they can present humor even at difficult times. I bet you would have watched numerous comedy movies and read great satire yet Swedish comedy is something that stands out. Great characterization and stories woven out of common people fife make it an intriguing read. Fredrik Backman’s book A man called Ove gives us an insight of Swedish social life and culture.

Ove is grumpy old man still stuck in limbo of 60’s. He likes to repair and mend his stuff and do his chores. He loves his car and adore the tools as if they are their only materialistic possession. He judges people’s loyalty on the basis of car they drive. He loves his wife more than anything else and is a complete text book guy. After loosing his wife, he is heartbroken despair and lonely and people around him matter no more (yet they still had to follow rules). Ove decides there is nothing left for him and tries to commit suicide to join his wife in afterlife. The story follows these attempts and you would notice humor subtle in these difficult times. He makes connections with the community and they restore his willingness to live. A beautifully narrated story and it struck the right chords.

This book will make you cry and laugh in equal measure. If u haven’t cried in a while please read A man called Ove. Read it to get amazed and Ove character will always reside in your hearts.

Dance To My Tunes:

Dance to my tunes is written by Tanvi Sinha and it comprises of 18 short stories. Stories that are pragmatic in expressing the ordeal women faces in our male dominant society. The stories revolve around how convoluted the lives of women are balancing between responsibility social stigma. While the stories will restore your belief in happy ending and a few will leave you pondering on this social imbalance and the price and amount of sacrifice a lady puts in for mere existence and survival. I have read a few reviews recommending every woman to read it, I would rather suggest every man should read this book for a better understanding of the injustice and they can be a bit diligent in their approach. The best thing about this book is that the stories features women from all works of life and they are the sole driving factors of the story. Few protagonists defying the fallacy of being week and dependent while few breaking the invisible barriers of society. These stories tell about the social exploitation body shaming domestic violence stigma discrimination. Sometimes even women telling other women that it cannot be done. The story also tells us about the invisible chain and prison society builds around women to contain them and to diminish their spirit. The stories successfully portraits the vivid emotions raw and brutal.

Tanvi has written about things that are taboo and generally brushed aside. Her story telling is acrid and makes us introspect whether we are tyrant or just another human being. Tanvi’s past blogging experience can easily recon with this quintennial work with Dance To my tunes.

A good read!

https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B0842ZQLCZ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_d_asin_title_o05?ie=UTF8&psc=1