Wednesday

Book Review : Think With Me



About the Book

Title: Think With Me
Author: Subrata Roy Sahara
Publisher: Rupa Publications
ISBN: 978-81-291-4225-2
No. of Pages: 111
Price: 150 INR
Genre: Non-Fiction

About the Author

Subrata Roy Sahara (born 1948) popularly known as 'Saharasri', is one of the most successful and talked about figures of corporate India. When he laid the foundation of Sahara India Pariwar in 1978 with a capital of INR 2K and 3 workers, who would have imagined his company's meteoric rise to an asset base worth INR 1,73,000 crore within a span of just thirty -eight years.

This is his second book in the 'Thoughts from Tihar' trilogy. the first book 'Life Mantras', was a National Bestseller after its launch in February 2016. the book secured the No.1 position twice in the non-fiction genre and also remained in the top 5 best-selling books across India for 7 continuous weeks.

A teacher, guide and a proud guardian to his over 1.2 million fellow workers, he ascribes his success to his philosophy of 'Collective Materialism' which means continuous collective growth for collective sharing and caring.

The Cover Speaks

The cover of the book has a silhouette of a man sitting on a mould in a pondering state. The pale yellow cover of the book with the embossed title gives it a plain sober look. 

Synopsis

There is no doubt that India has made rapid progress and achieved prosperity too, yet the goals that we set for ourselves are still unfulfilled or underachieved. It is a harsh reality that we have bigger problems today than we had at the time of Independence. These problems are not good signs for the future of India.

"When we see the problems related to political leadership, population growth, education, the media and religion going from bad to worse, a natural question comes up in our minds. Where, after all, did we go wrong? What happened during our democratic journey of independent India that we are faced with nasty problems on all these fronts? Why couldn't we teach people occupying places of responsibility that rights are given to perform your genuine duties, not to serve your personal whims, false ego and greed?"

It is the author's firm belief that if the problems related to the above five fundamentals issues continue to be as they are, the nation will be hit by a crisis of unimaginable proportions, our national edifice would crumble and everything that our leaders had valued and held sacred for the love of the country before independence, would be lost forever. So, the author, through a deep-seated and thought provoking commentary on these issues invites you to think along with him and ponder over them honestly and sincerely. While going through the book, you may come across points where you differ with the author but in the end, you will be convinced that to make our country ideal, the need is for wider awakening on the issues as discussed in the book.


Book Review

This book encompasses over five sections discussing five major problems of India.
1. Electoral system and leadership
2. Population
3. Education system
4. Media
5. Religion

The author discusses the problems in each of these areas faced by the independent India and suggest his ways to mitigate the problems. I personally didnt find the suggestions put forward by the author as something unheard of. It sounded like an essay which we used to read in schools every now and then. Many-a-times, author has mocked at the present situation and his solutions seems to aggravate the condition instead of being a feasible solution. You can read the book to know about the author's perspective of the problems faced by young India.

Happy Reading!


My Rating
2/5

Gracias! 
  
'I received a copy from Writersmelon in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.'

Friday

Book Review : GYAAN



About the Book

Title: Gyaan
Author: Bhaumik Shah
Publisher: Blue Rose Publishers 
ISBN: 978-93-86126-72-6
No. of Pages: 95
Price: 150 INR
Genre: Self-help guide/Motivational 

About the Author

Bhaumik Shah enjoys pondering over life bewilderments. Although a pensive person by nature, he has been trying to learn meditation, without much success since last 4 years. He is unmarried and the proud owner of the web domain nashaadi.com and that doesn't mean he won't get married). This is his first attempt at writing a book.

The Cover Speaks

The cover of the book has a word cloud of all human emotions highlighted here and there. And in the middle of the word cloud is GYAAN, the baba with a modern look, wearing western outfit and carrying a spectacle over eyes with a tuft of hair lock in front, interestingly not at the back which most of the baba carries. The tag line - Love Life, Live Life completes the cover of the book.

Synopsis

This book is simply a package of 30 months of life musings, countless conversations and exchange of life experiences. It's not to give you continuous motivation. It's not to keep you happy every time. It's not to make your life perfect. It's not to solve your life problems. This is an effort to make you realize that life is  not perfect. To tell you to accept your life as it is, with problems. to make you realize that in this journey, you are not alone; we all are on the same boat.

Book Review

This book has an interesting story behind its evolution. The author thought of adding some flavours to his life and he decided to pen down his life lessons over a Facebook page . Hence, GYAAN was born and love of the readers and friends forced Bhaumik to compile the best of his posts into this book. 


This book is a perfect read to understand the life and its mysteries without putting stress on your brain. Author has tried to put forward his take on most of the possible scenarios. Most of us look for an answer for every WHY life throws at us. But author has expressed his answer ina different manner. Grab the book and enjoy it. It's a very enlightening and light read. I completed the book straight in an hour. Here are some of the excerpts which I liked the most - 

"There is a reason- you are you. He is he. She is she. I am me. There is a reason- we all are different."

"Be gentle with your life. With yourself. How much good or bad it is, it's yours!"

"Believe it or not, fortunately or unfortunately, happily or sadly, Love can happen multiple times! It's a feeling- can't be controlled."

"Relationship survives when we share emotions- not Emoticons!"

"Things aren't always going to be okay! and that's OKAY."

"A cup of favourite drink, a book or a nice movie, sitting in balcony or on your bed, and spending time with self- can be the most beautiful holiday."

Kudos Bhaumik for sharing your wonderful thoughts with us and making us see life through a different angle.



Happy Reading!


My Rating
4/5

Gracias!