Book Review: World’s Best Boyfriend

My rating: ●●○○○

Durjoy Dutta

World’s Best Boyfriend

India: Penguin Metro Reads, Penguin Books Ltd., 2015

310 pp. ₹175

ISBN: 9789352140107

Summary: Would you ever appreciate an adulterated, maneuvered version of DDLJ no matter how promisingly interesting it seemed to be?  I assume you answered negatively, for there are plenty of other Young Adult Romances, which fill up the readers’ need to feel and associate with a story through words. This one was a big time failure and since the book was my first ever read from Durjoy Dutta, I, now, find zero motivation to move on to his other writings.

My take: The first attempt at naming the title goes awfully wrong; striking out the word, ‘worst’, to replace it with ‘best’ gives such a cheesy ting to the noun, boyfriend that it almost makes the complete story predictable. Durjoy Dutta seems to be painfully wowed by coming-of-age authors like Chetan Bhagat, Ravinder Singh, Preeti Shenoy, Novoneel Chakraborty, Anurag Garg and many others that he has opted for the same path they all trod on.

The ‘so to say’ love story revolves around a girl, Aranya, who suffers from vitiligo and considers it as a burden she’ll have to carry for life, and a boy, Dhruv, who has a reason to act the way he does – a disturbed childhood.

The story is distributed in 81 small chapters, which all end leaving a question mark, thereby prompting you to move on to the next chapter. The writing style of the author is simple, easy-to-grasp and extremely colloquial. I believe he could have done a way better job had he not used the negative words, like f*ck, ugly, fat and bhench*d, tad too much. These seriously turn the readers off and discourage them to read any further.

Additionally, though the story is intriguing and pushes you to read till the last page, a lot of times it seems more of a drag and the reader seems to feel the weight of pages as quite heavy to turn. Half way into the book and you have a clear idea how it is going to end; therefore, it is more of a predictable story where everything is happy through the end. Besides, there are certain aspects of the tale which are completely beyond one’s grasp and rather fill you with rage; for instance, why does the girl, who is a master of her forte, not filled with enough clarity to clearly define how she feels – there are plenty of shades of grey in the way she feels; why Dhruv, who is Casanova himself, doesn’t accept her lady being promiscuous; why Aranya, despite being mentally strong to ward off a boy who she has very strong feelings for, has no power to speak in front of her parents and why the author wants to portray all the disease part extremely negatively, although Vitiligo is no serious disease and I have seen big time achievers in my life who never really “suffered” because of this.

Lastly, you would find this a great way to kill time if that’s all what you have been wanting to do. You could, surely, choose this over watching a cheesy Govinda romcom, but if you have been an avid John Green, Rainbow Rowell or Gayle Forman fan, this book is NOT for you.

Final word: This book could have gathered a lot of ‘awws’ from people who love amateur YA romance, but to a more mature reader, this book would appear a clichéd love story with nothing new to offer to the reader. The story is not something unheard of and the execution also appears hurried and messy. I am sure Durjoy Dutta has a lot of ‘female’ fan following, but so does have Rahul Gandhi and we, know, now, why and how!

Such Perfection

I am unsure how many of you would be able to relate with this anecdote, but I assume you all will be able to have a different perspective on things happening around after reading this, a perspective reading blesses you with.

It was the time every girl eagerly waits for, the time when advices on how one should be keep flowing from all over yet all you can see is a bright light at the end of the tunnel – a light promising a glorious future enlightened at core by lots of love; the time in a girl’s life when she does away with the skin she’s been breathing in since her birth to finally have on a skin which will always be adorned by indications of her being married; the time she and her family has been preparing for since they got to know ‘it’ was a girl; the time when, for once, she will be the most important person of an event – the time for her to get married.

She has been extremely conscious all this while of her looks and her behavior. Thanks to her job which required her to work from home, she got to run for that extra mile in taking care of her mind, body and soul. All in all, she was putting her best step forward in preparing herself to look the best on the day when all everyone would be interested in knowing would be how she looked. Everything was going perfectly as per the checklist prepared, all action plans of what she should be doing 12 months, 9 months, 6 and 3 months, 10 days, 1 day and 2 hours before the wedding were put in place and were being strictly followed until that one incident which, in a flash, made her think back a story she had read in one of favorite authors’ book – Malgudi Days.

She was so sure she would look like a goddess; she had the perfect figure to walk in, her trousseau was tried and checked several times, her skin radiated a grace almost all around her couldn’t help but keep staring at and her charm was the talk of the house, when one day, two days, to be sure, before she would get hitched, she noticed her toe nail break in a manner anyone would get his eyeballs on if at all they would reach her foot. She was taken aback for she couldn’t relate any incident which could have led to this. Trying to take a meaning out of this shocker, she was, suddenly, reminded of a story she had read some time back, and for once she was bewildered how a seed planted in a fiction could actually appear as a tangible plant in her real life.

The name of the story was, Such Perfection. This story revolves around a sculptor, Soma, who after five years of tiring labor, prepares a ‘too perfect’ statue of Lord Nagaraj. Despite being told that the ‘too perfect’ chisel isn’t meant for mortals and that he should break its little toe or some other part so that it is safe enough, he asks for the handiwork to be consecrated. Unwilling to give in to the demand of the priest or the villagers, Soma decides to consecrate the chisel near his house, building a temple-like structure himself. The priest’s predictions about the ‘too-perfect’ statue being consecrated turn out to be true and the whole village is immersed in water due to heavy rains, thunderbolts and storms the same day Soma does the act. The villagers reach out to Soma asking him to act as per the priest’s instructions, yet, for his love for the chisel, he decides to go against everyone’s will and to kill himself instead. As and when he steps out of his house to do that, a tree crashes on the roof of his house, leaving the handicraft unhurt, yet breaking its little toe. The whole village accepts this as an act of God and further consecrates the now 'slightly imperfect' statue with all the rights in the village temple.

She looked ‘too-perfect’ on her D-Day but inside she knew there was a little imperfection which was balancing things off!    

The imperfect toe

The 'too perfect' bride

Put That Damn Nail Paint On!

Get facts right in your head – you are a lady and the society, despite it being a nag, happily allows you to do stuff she would not to a man. Making your body speak for itself is one, first art, that you should learn to master. And that, dear lady, doesn’t seek any excuses of you – it only demands the final result, the better YOU.

Talking about polishing your aura, you know what can a properly applied nail paint do to your overall image? Well, it can substantially lift your spirits; it can make you want to look at one of your body parts time and again – your nails, obviously; it can make you look younger and sassier; it can add to your sex appeal; it can add colors to your bland personality and can beautify your otherwise very plain-looking hands and, lastly, it can send a message out to the world that you DO have time for yourself!

I hear females quetching why they can’t apply nail paints all the time – they have gotta handle house chores, which do not let the nail paint stay for long or the nature of their jobs refrains them from applying nail paints or they don’t like them chipping often and removing the chippings to reapply a fresh coat seems too much of a task to them or nail polishes look damn too expensive for them to shed their money on. Whatever the shit they say, it all sounds guff to me.

Did you ever realize your body is the ‘only’ permanent residence you are ever gonna have? If you did, why, on Earth, would you still abstain from looking beautiful? I am so sure none of your excuses would sound light enough for gravity to let you stay with them. Drop that to the floor and let it break. Head out to a spa or a parlor and get yourself a manicure/pedicure. Don’t let this be a task you only get done if it’s your birthday/someone’s marriage or karva chauth nearing soon.

The rules of the game are simple – chipping-offs are a big turn off, so, don’t let that happen to you. Either invest in a good nail paint that lasts for long or keep a watch on when the existing one chips. Second, keep experimenting; nail art is so much fun! Third, manicure, please? Fourth, keep a nail polish remover handy. Fifth, keep in mind that you’re sexy and that nail polish just reiterated that out to everyone. Stay gorgeous and please, put that damn nail paint on!

 

 

 

Book Review: The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Being Fit

My rating: ●●●●●

Namrata Purohit

The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Being Fit

India: Ebury Press, Random House India Pvt. Ltd., 2015

192 pp. ₹ 250

ISBN: 9788184006018

Summary: This is, apparently, my favorite genre of books and keeping in view the current wave of fitness-consciousness in India, this is the field where all the curious eyes are gazing at. Perfectly conforming to the trend, here comes a brief, informative book from the youngest Pilates girl from India, Namrata Purohit.

My take: Contrary to the title, this book, in no manner, advocates sloth or indolence. In fact, it pushes everyone to move out of the skin of a ‘lazy person’. If you bought this book thinking it will help you shed extra kilos while you continue being lazy, then you are miserably mistaken. This book will, in fact, prove to be a fantastic rulebook, which will inform you right and will take you by hand to walk you on to a smooth path to fitness.

The cover depicts the important emblems associated with the country of slack – couch and remote – and then there is a weighing scale, dumbbells and a pair of sneakers, trying to speak a language of transformation. Talking about the TOC, all topics mentioned seem to the point and crisp, summarizing the detailed account they are veiling within them. It majorly covers every topic of interest which would hover in the mind of an average fitness-conscious person; for instance, kick: inspire yourself or talking about food and holiday: exercises for when you are on holiday.

The author, Namrata Purohit, has managed to gather a handsome array of acknowledgements from a lot of renowned faces of celeb world, like Lauren Gottlieb, Neha Dhupia, Jacqueline Fernandez, Richa Chadda and Bruna Abdullah. This, obviously, makes her more credible.

Throughout the book, the author has aimed at breaking the common stereotypes like being thin means being fit, only a chosen few can exercise and there is an age to start working out. Asking the readers to identify their ‘type’ of body, the author has motivated them to choose their workouts wisely. Listing some fabulous inspirational quotes which inspires the reader to get out and get going, the author has also made it a point to explain in great detail the innumerable benefits of working out throughout the book. Also sharing her views on the importance of stretching, warming up and cooling down, Namrata has given workout plans for everyone aiming to work out at home or in the gym. Furthermore, she has actively advocated the wonderfulness of ‘Pilates’, which is apparently her forte.

Her 4-minute workout plans and 4-day workout plans should come handy to many. Additionally, the fun activities she has mentioned, reckoned to have fat-burning qualities, like shopping, skipping, cycling, dancing, hula hoop, dog walking, swimming, skating, trampoline, horse riding, cleaning the house, playing on Xbox and partying should, indeed, cajole a lot into some fitness routines.

This book lets out important information about your body, about the fitness regimes one should opt for and about science associated with training and, therefore, it should come across as a fitness reference book for life.

Final word: Putting together a holistic account on fitness, the author of this book has, indeed, kept the content Safe, Simple and Smart. Overall, a wonderful, easy-to-grasp and informative read, which keeps you glued till the last page and makes you want to note down a lot of interesting information, which you could use for life.

Book Review: The Secret

My rating: ●●●●●

Rhonda Byrne

The Secret
India: Atria Books, Simon and Schuster (in India), 2009
198 pp. ₹ 750
ISBN: 9781416554998

Summary: How often do you feel like thanking a person/community/club/group for suggesting a book to you – not too often, right? For this one time, you would be compelled to be ‘grateful’ to the suggester all your life.

My take: The first thing that arrests your attention is the cover of the book – the art, the design, the seal they have depicted seeming to contain some deliberately concealed code, the background which says, ‘may the joy be with you’; ‘you have the key’; ‘you’re holding the key in your hand’– all of it wants you to open the book up and unveil ‘the secret’. This book should interest both kinds of readers – the one who enjoys reading philosophy and, also, the one who considers it as mindless preaching.

The TOC of the book looks enticing as it promises to take you through the secret to money, the secret to relationships, the secret to wealth, the secret to the world, the secret to you and the secret to life. The author, Rhonda Byrne, has pretty much covered every sphere of influence which touches a person’s mind and life. This book brings together philosophies of 24 authors from all across the globe. These great teachings are in perfect sync with each other and with the overall concept of the book. In fact, all the teachers/preachers talk on the same lines and give instances from their respective experiences supporting the secrets.

In the preface, the author talks about a tragic past and how she got rid of it after getting to know ‘the secret’. This book should not even come close to being a high-profile bible, for the teachings it gives to the reader do not sound out-of-world or unrelatable; they, in fact, sound like comprehensible solutions to everyday problems. The hero concepts, which are also the ‘secrets’ here, discussed in great depth in the book, love, gratitude and forgiveness are not something we had not ever heard of before. I am sure stories around these would have been told to every toddler out there trying to enter the world of grownups. It’s just we need philosophy books like these time and again to make us remember all that was forgotten. The book, actually, concludes with the famous lines – remember to remember – to let the readers know that the key to happiness was always there with them and that they should just remember to remember the secrets and not let their mind dance on the tunes life plays.

This might not be the best philosophy you will ever read, but it definitely is a nice eye-opener to the ones who have never read any philosophy on life. Rhonda Byrne has already published three sequels to this book where she talks about the power, the magic and hero and I am sure you would be itched to get your hands on them as and when you'd be done with this.

I am sure this genre of books serves great purpose to the readers – it sets their thinking and outlook right and gives them positivity-tinted glasses to wear on. For how long the readers can retain wearing them is often questionable, but, then, we see some other fine philosophy on religion and spirituality, health and wellbeing, self-improvement, success and personal transformation being released in the market to keep our vision right.

Final word: This book would never make you feel as if it’s robbed you of your time and money by giving out senseless prophesying in the name of ‘the secret’. It has wonderful takeaways, which would definitely make you feel richer by the time you reach the last page of the book - definitely, a must read if you have been looking for fresh motivation to lead your lives better. 

That One Lady in the House

The pains, the cures, the worthies, the vains,

The master effects of acceptances and blames,

The stories, the truth, the untold lies,  

The excitements, the fears, the stomach full of butterflies,

The lasts, the firsts, the middles that come and leave,

The successes, the failures, the laughter and the grief,

The secrets buried, the facts never unveiled,

How does she know, my every emotion being trailed,

No less than a word, never more than an emotion,

She silently watches as if perceiving every commotion

This lady in my house, that one lady in everyone’s house,

Taps the pulse of the walls and the people living within,

The no-nonsense life, the let-me-know-when-you-need-me vibe,

The love which never falls less, the love to jibe,

She must be supernatural, for no one, I believe, could look through soul,

She is the head, she’s the mother, she’s one enough for the family, the whole.