Reticent Reflections

Silently I walk towards the mirror and stare at my reflection.
Puffy eyes, disheveled hair and an expressionless face staring back at me.

Along with two quizzical eyes which seem to have thousands of questions.

What am I up to? Where is all this leading to? What next?

I seem to have landed up at a crossroads where the only thing clear is confusion.

Enough!! My mind seems to scream but my heart refuses to hear.

Why is that I choose to wallow in the past and not embrace my present?

Why cannot I make peace with it, let it go and move on towards a hopeful future?

Why is that I still want to live with this hurt and resentment instead of a life with dignity and respect?

I shut my eyes unable to bear the horrifying image of something that was me.....

A tear silently rolls out of my eye as I hear my heart quietly whisper,

Enough...I cannot take it any more as the pain just refuses to go….

Slowly I open my eyes to see twinkling hope shining through.

And right below there I see a line turning into a curve slowly.

This is it I resonate to myself.

There began of a new journey of learning and unlearning things,
Falling, getting up again to fall…loving, living and laughing!

Keeping my fingers crossed I take step after step on this pristine path;

Hoping to meet an immaculate me on this new way~

Clutching onto my dreams tightly in my fist,

Striding away ahead to know the unknown.

P.S. This post is written for That Tuesday Thingy, an *IndiBlogeshwaris* initiative.

Book Review: Desiccated Land by David Lepeska

ISBN: 978-9395481205 Genre: Non-fiction Publisher: Vishwakarma Publications Bringing together his experiences as a journalist and a keen observer, David Lepeska writes a raw and gut-wrenching book on Kashmir. Part memoir, part travelogue, and part reportage, Desiccated Land is a page-turner. The book starts by tracing the history of the region along with his own history, as a student who was dimly aware of the history of Kashmir and the turmoil it has been causing for centuries between India and Pakistan. Lepenska takes us to Nilamata Purana ( likely written in the 7th century ) which tells us the story leading to the birth of this region. He also shares an alternate possibility of the word being derived from a lake ‘Mira’ named after Vedic Sage Kashyapa. His first visit to Kashmir closely followed by his second (and much longer) visit as a journalist working for the Kashmir Observer after the 9/11 attacks, make for an interesting read. Lepeska had questions, a lot of them. An

From there to here to where

From this blog in 2011 to Barnes and Noble website, my reviewing journey has been full of surprises. I am working on an essay tracing it and realized that I started reviewing books in 2001 (Yes! I am old) for a small library next to my house. Needless to add, my payment was in the books. The library owner also happened to be the first person who taught me how to write a book review and what to focus on. And that is where I learned why reviews matter. Cut to 2016 when my book review was taught in a Literary Criticism class held by British Library. A relative happened to attend that class and the news spread like wildfire in the family. That is the moment when my family knew this much more than just a hobby.

Book Review: Never Mind Yaar by K Mathur

Introduction · ISBN - 978-0-473-17480-4 · Genre: Fiction · Publishers: Southpac Publishers · Price: Rs. 350/- ( I got this book from Blog Adda for a review ) The title is an attitude - our tendency to feel defeated by the scale and nature of certain problems. Rather than meet them head on, we circumvent them with a sigh and a consoling “never mind, yaar”. When long time friends Binaifer Desai and Louella D’Costa meet Shalini Dayal at Gyan Shakti College, a true friendship that transcends cultural and religious backgrounds is born. Louella is a Christian, Binaifer, a Parsi and Shalini, a Hindu. The novel’s main plotline surrounds Shalini who has fallen for an impetuous student activist, Bhagu. Where does his desire to help the less fortunate lead him? The challenges are many - Shalini’s tradition bound family, the couple’s youth and inexperience and the travails of life in Mumbai, a city the girls love but know, is fraug

Reviews & Musings

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