Book Review - The End Of Romance:Lessons in Patriarchy,Feminism,Rights and Privileges

Title - The End Of Romance:Lessons in Patriarchy,Feminism,Rights and Privileges

Author - Amitabh Satyam

Genre - Gender Studies

Publisher - Bloomsbury

ISBN - 978-9-3878-6396-5

Gender inequality has always been a subject of discussion and debate. This is a universal topic which has never faded till date. There are many groups which have been formed in the name of "supporting or protecting the gender" but most of them are predominantly towards protecting the Women.

Are women the weaker gender?

If you were of that notion, your perceptions would change once you finish reading this well researched book. I was no exception because I too had the same notion prior. May be, I too was brainwashed or was forced to believe that they were weak, but the reality portrays a different picture. 

Amitabh has clearly mentioned that this book is not against women. He has cited references from 127 sources to support his argument which would certainly leave you in awe.

The book is divided into 4 sections. Each section explains in great detail the stark detail when it comes to inequality in pay, work etc to name a few where women enjoys an upper hand over men. The book begins with few interesting observations made by the author while he was traveling in a Mumbai local train, a bus in Kolkata, in the streets of Bengaluru where how men were treated by women in the name of weaker sex and the privileges attached to it. 

Some of the statistics that he has mentioned would leave you in absolute shock which includes:

1. Of all the children raped in India, 57% are boys

2. Men commit suicide bout four times more than women

3. 84% of all homeless person are men

4. 39% of boys drop out of school compared to 33% of girls, in India

5. India ranks 3rd in the world when it comes to men taking a beating from their wife

6. Men are 79% of the homicide victims

7. Every 9 minutes, a married man kills himself because of the torture meted out by his wife

8. For the same crime, 163% of men serve in prison compared to women

9. 40% of domestic abuse victims are men

10. A married Indian man is twice as likely to commit suicide than a married woman

The above shared information are just a drop in the ocean. If you think, these aren't enough, there are more to come in this book. The book clearly shows as to how these so called rules and regulations were formed putting men in jeopardy. 

By the way, the legs of women are 5.8% stronger than that of men(lean body weight ratio). Do you know this fact?

Studies also show, boys do not cry less than girls. It also shows, women have a much stronger immune system and live longer. With 2 X chromosomes, they have a backup copy compared to men's 1 X and 1 Y Chromosome which makes them resilient to hot and cold.

Looks like, we were made to believe that few of the Indian cities are not safe from women but when we compare the figures with that of other advanced nation, to our surprise, we would come to know that we fare much better than them and are placed comfortably in the "safe nation" zone. 

"A man is a provider and the doer. He often loses his identity of a human being and becomes a resource".

How true the above words are..

A man does not fight back when a woman is attacking him. Author gives three probable reasons for this:

a. He does not want to hurt his partner

b. Social stigma of attacking a weak person

c. There are laws against hitting a woman (Unfortunately there are no laws for men being hit by women)

Author made few interesting observations which includes "A man is trained to control his expression. Ridiculing men is fashionable".

He expresses his concern in a subtle way where he mentions "Nature had no time to consider making a different type of body cells for men" noting that just like women, even men are fearful of heights, closed spaces, rats, cockroaches and so on.

The writing style of the author is vivid and clear. There is a form in Tamil poetry which is called "Vanja Pugazhchchi Ani". Author has used the same style to bring out his points. 

This 226 page book has a lot more to give. What I have mentioned above are not even 1/10th of the facts. 

Aren't there a remedy for men? There is.

If you want to know what it is all about, you must buy this book to find out more. Like it was mentioned earlier, this book is not against women but author is critical about system which has been set up in such a way drawing source from foreign nation which is no where relevant or applicable to our country and of course these were backed by so called NGO's whose major aim is to name and shame our great nation in the name of providing justice and equality to the so called "weaker sex"....

This book is available on Amazon in both Paperback and eBook formats

Author Focus - Ruhee Advani

1. What motivates you to write?

Sometimes I feel full within, like I've got stories within me that want expression. That's when I begin writing stories. When a nice thought comes to me, I try to capture it in the form of a poem. When I find an answer to a question about life, I jot it down and it becomes philosophy. For me, the motivation to write is mostly internal. :) 

2. How did you feel after publishing your books?

To be a published author has been my dream pretty much all my life. And a dream coming true feels like, well, heaven really. I felt fantastic after publishing my books cause it was a lifelong dream come true. :)

3. What are some of your favourite novels and authors?

Tooooo many. I have too many favorite books, each book is a favorite in some way but some of my favorite authors are Enid Blyton, JK Rowling, Roald Dahl, Dan Brown, Meg Cabot, Mira Nair, Khaled Hosseini, Vikram Seth, Michael Ondaatje, Oscar Wilde, Danielle Steel, Rohinton Mistry, Erich Segal, Francine Pascal and Bill Bryson.   

4. Is there a specific reason for naming your novel?

The name usually comes to me on its own, a name that fits the story well and sounds nice is usually what I go with.  

5. Where do you write from? Do you go to some specific place, like beachside or the hills?

Well, I mostly write from home, from my room because it's a very pretty room and very quiet too, away from the noise of the city. The view from my room is very green and peaceful, it's a tranquil environment and hence I find it perfect for writing. Also I've found that when I write alone the story/idea flows more easily. But I would love to one day go to a beachside or the hills and sit and write out there, its been a vision I've nurtured for many years. :) 

6. What inspired you to write the books(in general)? Any tales to tell…

I always say that life is my inspiration. Usually it is the words under my skin, the fullness within me that compels me to write. I feel like stories are everywhere and every person in the world has his or her own story. I feel like all my stories draw from my personal experience to some extent but that happens naturally, even subconsciously. I would still say that my inspiration to write is life. :)

7. What was your biggest learning experience throughout the writing process?

Quite frankly, this may sound silly, but I think the thing I learned the most through my writing process and writing experience is that magic is a real thing. Because every time I write a story, it feels to me like the story begins to write itself, coming through me instead of by me. I've always found the process of writing magical, hence this would be my biggest learning experience. :) 

8. Looking back, what did you do right that helped you break in as a writer?

I think maybe reading a lot, believing in myself and going with my gut and my instincts helped me a lot.

9. Any best piece of writing advice that you would like to share with new or struggling writers? 

When you write, write from your heart - cheesy as this may sound. :) Also write first for yourself and the story you want to tell and then for anybody else. This personally helps me avoid writers block. :)

10. Something personal about you people may be surprised to know?

I'm a big time dreamer and a little bit of a madcap and very much a people person. Also extremely philosophical and ultra-sensitive and softhearted. I find it very difficult to see suffering and not try to do something about it. 

11. Any future books that you would like to discuss now?

Well, I actually have 17 complete novels in my laptop folder as of now. Out of the 17, there are 6 which form part of a series, which I'm hoping to publish next. I also have around 30 incomplete philosophy books of which I'm hoping to complete one soon so I can publish my first official philosophy book. :)

12.What other profession excites you the most?

Acting, directing, making music. All three are dreams of mine at the moment, which I hope to achieve before I die. :)

13.Any special mention about your reader (be it with reviews/feedback or anything else)

Please do check out my books! And if you like them, please pretty please review them on amazon and/or tell your friends! :) Thanks :)

14.Do you write the story at a stretch or you take your time to complete it? If you take a longer time, wouldn’t you be forgetting the story? How do you tackle it?

Well, both. Sometimes I write the story at a stretch and sometimes I take my time to complete it. If I take a longer time, I usually read the part of the story I've already written to refresh my memory and then continue. So it's not a problem. :)

15.Traditional or Self-Publishing? Why?

Well, both again. :) I would love to publish with a traditional company but in my experience that's a tougher nut to crack. So far I've only self-published but it's been a great experience to self publish as well, as professional and smooth as can be.

16.How is the response so far for the book(s)? 

One of the books, the short stories for children is selling immensely well, maybe because it was better promoted. The response for the other three is not as great as I would like, I'm guessing due to a lack of promotional and marketing activities. But I'm trying to work on that. :)

Ruhee Advani's books can be bought from Amazon

Book Review - Still Loved Still Missed

Title - Still Loved Still Missed

Author - Mridula

Genre - Fiction

Publisher - NotionPress

ISBN - 978-1-64546-663-5

This is a collection of short stories and a poem by Mridula. What is special about this book is it features the stories which aren't usual. When I say this,  I mean it. There were 14 short stories and a poem and each one differs from one another in terms of emotions, message it wanted to convey and the style/appeal quotient.

This would be loved by the readers who seeks a change in the pattern of the stories, most of the times. The stories revolves around Sepal, a Dog, a Soul, a Spider, break up to name a few.

Each and every story has a deep meaning and the intricate details has been captured to the maximum extent possible. It would make you think and ponder over these things and as to how the scenario differs from one to another. 

Read the book and I am sure you would appreciate the content and the efforts of the author who wanted to show a variation in her writing with each and every story.

This book is available on Amazon

Book Review - Strangers In The Night

Title - Strangers In The Night

Author - Ruhee Advani

Genre - Fiction

Publisher - NotionPress

ISBN - 978-1-64249-822-6

Strangers In The Night is one of the 4 books published by Ruhee Advani so far. I am not going to speak about the story in this review since it can be said in 1 line but what makes this novel, a special one.

Ruhee has had the penchant of writing since her childhood and there is no wonder that she could show a great variation in her writing. I had reviewed her other two books - one is a collection of poems and other is a play.

Firstly, I would like to mention the style of writing. Having read close to 1000 books(or even more), i can say it with absolute confidence that if this same story was penned by a male/guy author, he wouldn't have brought out all the emotions faced and experienced by two girls in this story as they famously say "only a girl can judge/read another girl's mind".

This is a simple novel but having said that, this is in no way going to leave you feel bored. My usual preference is a crime/sci-fi thriller but this novel has kept me captivated from the beginning till the end. The narration was a master class, I must admit.

The story revolves around three characters - Alisha, Anandita and Arun - (A-Cube). The story has captured the brilliance of love at first sight and the consequences of falling in love, especially when it is a long distance love. Not many would have encountered this situation and would have been lucky. I know many cases where the lovers had let it go for the mutual benefits, which is sad but was the reflection of stark reality.

There are so many things which needs to be taken into consideration, on both the sides - be it a girl or a guy. Like I said earlier, not all would have an happy ending. 

Did this novel had one?

You'll have to read to find it. I can say again with absolute confidence that you wouldn't regret.

This book is available on Amazon

Book Review - Finding Utopia

Title - Finding Utopia

Author - Ruhee Advani

Genre - Fiction

Publisher - BecomeShakespeare

ISBN - 978-93-86487-75-9

Finding Utopia is a play which would keep you captivated til the end. It's been aged since I read a play and when I saw the title, I immediately grabbed it.

Why did I do it?

Firstly, it was the title which was a real intriguing one

Secondly, it was a play

What more can I ask for?

Jiya was a happy go girl. She had a wonderful group of friends and just before they all could graduate, she meets Arjun. Though, they both weren't aware of who they were, they meet as it was decided by the destiny. That night, they indulge in a long conversation and by the time, it comes to an end, something strange has happened in the life of Jiya.

She felt that she got cleared of all the doubts that has clouded her thoughts all these days.

What did Jiya and Arjun converse about?

What doubts got clarified?

Read this one act play which would give some clarity in your life as well....

This book is available on Amazon 

Book Review - Growing Up : A book of poems

Title - Growing Up : A book of poems

Author - Ruhee Advani

Genre - Poetry

Publisher - BecomeShakespeare

ISBN - 978-93-88081-02-3

Growing Up is a collection of poems written by Ruhee Advani. The book is divided into two parts:

1. Thirteen to Fifteen Years

2. Sixteen to Eighteen Years

There are 74 poems in total with the first part having 27 poems and the second part having 47 poems. I must say that each and every poem was unique. Some caught my attention for the meaning, it conveyed. Though these poems were short, the meaning was universal and powerful.

In the poem called "Chameleons", I loved the 4th and the 5th line which goes like this

"Time's the painter

And change is the game"

How true those lines were...

The very next poem to the one mentioned above was "Ups and Downs" in which I liked the last 4 lines, in particular.

"Like waves in an ocean

Up and down

Down and up

Nothing will last forever"

While some poems were real long, Ruhee showed a contrasting difference by penning a 2 line poem(similar to an haiku though Haiku has 17 syllables with three lines of 5, 7 and 5).

The poem I am referring to is "Maybe"

"In this world of infinite possibility

Maybe there is a you and me"

They say words are powerful and the pen is mightier than a sword. You could feel and vouch it,when you finish reading these collection of poems. I think, it is enough said...

This book is available on Amazon in both paperback and ebook format.

Book Review - Vanara : The Legend Of Baali,Sugreeva and Tara

Title - Vanara : The Legenf of Baali, Sugreeva and Tara

Author - Anand Neelakantan

Genre - Fiction

Publisher - Penguin India

ISBN - 978-0-143-44283-7

History is boring most of the times. It can however be made interesting. This is possible only when it is conveyed in the form of a story. Of course, there are few exceptions to this which includes our two major epics - Ramayana and Mahabharata. We would have seen it in the form of tele-serial or movie for n number of times.

I had the opportunity to read Anand Neelakantan's "VANARA". Author needs no introduction since he is known for his famed "Baahubali" story. He is certainly a Master Storyteller and the book made me realize it through each and every page.

We have seen history glorifying the winners or those who emerged triumphant and has mostly portrayed the losers in a negative way. This book is one of the exceptions where the author has glorified the legendary character "Baali". We must have read or known about the character of the protagonist and also his brother, Sugreeva. The way, the characters were used in this novel, made me realize that, not all who gets projected as good, weren't good and not all the bad, are actually bad.

What did I like the most from this novel?

Though this is a story which most of us know, the way the story has been retold makes it an interesting read. This book made me refresh my memories which includes the curse of Ahalya, pathini of Sage Gautama who said that Sugreeva would be the cause of death of Baali. The book isn't an exaggerated version but a realistic one which makes you keep hoked to it from the beginning till the end.

I also had few learning points from this book. The term "Vanara" is actually the combination of Vana and Nara . Indira is not the name of the person but the Title and many have adorned it.

I liked the way, author has described each and every thing in minute detail. I would like to quote couple of lines which caught my attention among many.

" An ant came to enquire and sniffed the lone rice grain that had fallen on the sand"

"Suddenly the cow pen felt empty. The lone cow in it continued to chew cud. Flies buzzed around"

The book revolves around the three major characters and how Sugreeva who loved Tara even before his brother could get married to her tried stalking her at each and every instance. The narration of the events would leave you in awe, for sure.

The book has touched upon all the events which includes:

1. Building the Kishkinda

2. How Baali almost slained Sambati

3. How Baali slained Dundhubi

4. How Baali defeats Ravana

5. Capture of Sugreeva and Ravana by Karthya Veerarjuna and how Parasuram slains him.

6. Rishi Matanga' curse on Baali

7. How Baali gets trapped while he went chasing Mayavi and the sequences thereafter.

This book is not speaking about anything which is not known to us but the way it speaks/portrays would make you to read, over and over again as it is unique and has been written in a natural/realistic way. Grab your copy today.

This book is available on Amazon,Flipkart and in all leading book stores, Online & Offline.

#UKAlumniAwards in Chennai

For the first time since its inception, Chennai witnessed the #UKAlumniAwards #StudyUK event yesterday(15th March) which was held in Taj Connemara. The event began at 6 PM.

The event was all about recognizing the best of the talents who were educated in the U.K. and have made a significant contribution in their respective fields.

The event was kick started by Janaka Pushpanathan, Director - British Council,South India.'

There were 9 Awardees in total from 3 categories. 1 winner and 2 runners-up in each category. There were 139 applications in total. The categories on which the awards were given are listed below:

1. Social Impact

2. Professional Achievement and

3. Entrepreneurship

Before the event could begin, there was a discussion on the above mentioned topics and we witnessed participation by

1. Nandini

2. Vijay Krishna

3. Jayashree Venkatesan and

4. Prakash K

The discussion was moderated by Rakesh Gidwani.

To begin with, Rakesh addressed the audience mentioning that there are 260 million students in the Indian education system with 60% in employable position. 

Prakash said "Content is the King. Context needs to be set right". He went ahead to add that the reimagination should start happening from school. He also said that getting the job isn't a problem but getting ready to be employed is.He also quoted as to how once the most revered jobs like CA/HR/Clerical Jobs are being replaced by AI.AI stands for Artificial Intelligence.

Jayashree spoke about how even in the World Bank, people are speaking about the future of work.She touched upon

1. Adult Learning Opportunity Creation

2. Soft Skills and

3. Digital Inclusion

Nandini who later performed with her sister spoke about education and employability.

Vijay Krishna said that he do not see our country with 1.3 billion population but a country with 1.3 billion minds. He opined that communication is the key. He lauded U.K. who is leading in humanity and social sciences which could be used as a cross border between India and the U.K.

Before the discussion could end, we were asked to post our questions via Mentee, a platform where one could post questions, unanimously. There were 23 questions asked and the panel answered most of them which were relevant to the topic/discussion. 

This was followed by a brilliant speech by the Chief Guest of the day Shri.Jayesh Ranjan,IAS who is the Principal Secretary to Telangana Govt (Industries and Commerce). He spoke about job creation and how Telangana being one of the newly formed State with just 3% population produces 10% of total engineers across India, each year. He also surprised us with the fact that Telangana is the only State which teaches Samsung's proprietary software called "Tizen" in their colleges.

Post his speech, couple of short videos were played which showed how students found it really interesting to be educated in the U.K. It was surprising to see Dr.Satya who got couple of Masters and a PhD in the U.K.

It was entertainment time later with Dr Lalitha and Mrs Nandini who performed adding fusion to the Indian music. The percussion was handled by Mr Sridhar.

Mr. Pilmore Bedford, Deputy High Commissioner in Chennai for the British Govt, gave an enthralling speech touching upon various aspects as to how and why U.K. has been the most sought after nation for the Indian students when it comes to education. He quoted "4 out of Top 10 Colleges namely Oxford, Cambridge,Imperial College, University College are from the U.K."

Finally, it was time for Awards.

The Award for Social Impact was bagged by Rupal Ganesh Kulkarni whereas Dr Abhijit Mitra won the award in the Professional Achievements category. Shiv Dhawan won the award in the Entrepreneurship category. Sitting and witnessing the event, I predicted all the three awardees correctly, as soon as I saw the short videos being played for each and everyone.

The vote of thanks speech was equally brilliant.

My friend and I took a selfie as a remembrance before we proceeded for our dinner, post the event.

INTERESTING FACTS - U.K. saw an increase of 32% among the Indian students opting for it as their destination compared to the previous year. British educational institution has so far produced 107 Nobel winners.

The author attended the event on special invitation from the British Council.

#BuildSmart with IBM

When I received an invite to attend the #IBMDevDay at #Taj #Yeshwantpur, I did not think twice to accept it. I along with my friend Rajesh, had immediately booked our tickets to attend the event.

Shown above it the venue where the event was held all through the day - 14th March,2019

I was surprised when I reached the venue. Yes, there were few hundreds of programmers from various parts of the country had already reached the venue and it was buzzing with activities in various hubs that has been set up.This made me realize the magnanimity of the event.

I was instantly attracted to the Cafe Kiosk which was set up inline with the theme for the day.

There were kiosks set up for various applications/services and all of them had lot of takers. These kiosks were handled by the respective specialists from the IBM.

Our LIVE Tweets were displayed on the board shown above. Please note that some kiosks may wore a deserted look because the pics for those were clicked during the break time.

We all were called inside the hall/auditorium and the event began with a fun and frolic exercise. Once we were all set, the main event began.

As you could see from the above pics, the event had the highest of the dignitaries attending it which includes Ms Ginni Rometty, Chairman/President & CEO of IBM,Priya Mallya- Country Lead,Development Eco System,IBM, Sriram Raghavan - VP,IBM Research, Willie Tejada, GM & Chief Developer Advocate,IBM.

The panel moderated by Ginni Rometty had Gautam Khanna, VP & Global Head - Modernisation Practice of Infosys, Dr Lata Iyer, Global Head - Digital Engineering Services and Technology of Royal Bank of Scotland(RBS) and Julian Gordon, VP-Asia Pacific,Hyperledger from Linux Foundation.

Few short videos were played, in between the panel discussion sessions which were informative, innovative and touching.

Ginni Romettey,Chairman/President & CEO of IBM talked about 3 principles

1. Give back.

2. Open Governance and

3. Enable and Engage with wider eco-system.

Willie Tejada,GM & Chief Developer advocate,IBM gave lot of interesting information to the gathering.

Bob Lord,SVP-Cognitive Applications,IBM noted that there was no #CodePattern couple of years back. It is very easy to use. There are hundreds of cases available to be deployed on #AI, #Cloud, #BlockChain etc

Shradha Sharma of YourStory started speaking to the audience by mentioning in the very beginning that she is not a techie. She talked about how stories and PPT had made the life worse. She also spoke about how the country was built on stories forgetting the actual creators.

KS Viswanathan from NASSCOM said "Developer now is solving business problem and NOT the coder. Digital transformation has completely changed today's scenario. There are multiple ways available to solve a problem".

The hashtag for the event was #IBMDevDay #BuildSmart

There were lot of things that was discussed during the event. This includes:

1. Cloud

2. AI

3. Block Chain

4. IoT

5. Quantum Computing among others.

Though we may have had a different notion about the capability of the above mentioned services, we were dumbstruck when we were given all the information in detail which has even helped rebuild the devastated Nepal, after the massive earthquakes, it was hit with. Rebuilding homes is made possible by just spending 20 to 30% o the actual cost. It is to be noted here that more than 5 million homes were lost in natural disasters and calamities in the past decade or so. There is no technology which could stop natural disasters but can help in predicting it in advance and be prepared to face the same.

Once the main session was over, where lot of discussion took place which has kept the audience captivated till it got over, we were given a break. Post that, participants were asked to enter the halls that were now segregated into above mentioned 4 topics. I chose to enter the hall which was discussing about Cloud.

This session was handled by Girish Dhanakshirur.

Post this, we were given lunch break. After our lunch, we were joined by few other bloggers and SME's for a closed room panel discussion session which saw the presence of Pradeep Balakrishnan, Malathi, Omi Swati Gandhi, Neha Sobti. It was a good one hour session where we all got to ask questions and got the answers from the experts/officials from IBM, direct.

The event ended with a brilliant band performance from LAGORI.

What were the takeaways from the event?

1. IBM is the global leader in Cloud Services.

2. IBM is investing heavily across various verticals.

3. IBM has conducted more than 300 events last year alone across various geographies.

4. IBM is working together with RedHat even after the acquisition. They both complement each other since they are the ones who have institutionalized Open Source.

5. Open Source isn't FREE. They are Safe and Secure.

6. IBM offers Public Cloud, Private Cloud and Hybrid Cloud.

7. IBM Cloud Platform can be used by the users who couldn't afford find relevant tools for distributed application.

8. IBM would be more than happy to associate in community participation.

9. Mumbai Stock Exchange runs on IBM Cloud.

10. Rashtrapati Bhavan has deployed IoT.

11. IBM welcomes developers to contribute to Code Patterns.

12. IBM is involved in Academic Initiative where it is collaborating with Schools and Tier 2 & Tier 3 colleges to set up Centre of Excellence inside their campus. The sign up can be done online for FREE. 

13. IBM offers "Call For Code" program for students/developers. This is basically targeted towards students who are below 18 years of age.

14. IBM has launched "India Developer Champions" to spotlight developers behind the Code in India.

15. The prize money for "Call For Code" contest which is exclusively announced for India is US$200,000. In global level, out of 100,000 participants, almost 50% came from India.

16. Only 20% of business uses Cloud with the remaining 80% to be tapped.

17. Centre Of Excellence has been set up in Bengaluru by NASSCOM in association with IBM.

18. AI-ML is free program as of now. 

19. Under #DevelopeChampion program, only 25 from few million will be selected. They would travel across India and Abroad to attend various programs.

20. IBM donated US$1 billion to Linux 20 years back.

21. IBM believes in building a smarter future not just for few of us but for all of us.

Couple of important links you must visit ->

Link 1 

Link 2 

Remember, IBM is listening!!