Book Review - In God's Country, Karwar

 

Title - In God's Country, Karwar

Author - Vijay Medtia

Genre - Fiction

Publisher - Leadstart Inkstate

ISBN - 978-93-5883-009-5

This is a novel set in the coastal town of Karwar. The way the story unfolds makes you feel your gears shift from a sleepy environment to the fast lane. The protagonist of this novel are two characters namely Vinod Hegde and Uma Verma.

While Vinod Hegde is jailed for he crime which he did not commit because of which he had to spend 20 years in jail, this incident makes him to lose his love Uma Verma. Their common friend Arjuna becomes the police inspector and people starts calling him Rock.

While Vinod loses interest in returning back to Karwar, he saves Radhika on his release. Even though he did not want to be involved in any crime, situation forces him to. He steals Rs.2 crore because of which he comes under the radar of Younis Khan aka Cobra.

Back in Karwar, Satish Verma, spouse of Uma Verma who is a lawyer gets killed. This was followed by killing of Abdul Haq, a planning officer followed by Lakhani. While the suspicion shifts from one person to another, Vikas Mhatre comes under the scanner for his dubious business. 

Amrita Patil, an ACP from Mumbai arrives to speed up the investigation.

Poonam Gowda, a beautiful looking lawyer but was a lame by birth also joins in assisting Rock. Her office was set to fire intentionally.

Who was the killer?

Why did he kill three of them?

What was the motive behind these murers?

Read this interesting novel to find out the answers. A good attempt by the author.

This book is available on Amazon

Book Review - Thin Line Of Consciousness

 

Title - Thin Line Of Consciousness

Author - Asna

Genre - Fiction

Publisher - Notion Press

ISBN - 979-889133665-0

This is a collection of 7 short stories which is written by Asna that take you to a different dimension of life. I am not going to mention this in detail about the stories since these are short ones and need to be read to grasp the nuances and the actual essence of the stories.

1. Thin line of consciousness - The name of the book is actually a story in itself. This is a must-read since it makes you understand how significant you are to yourself, if not to others. I felt that it was an awakening story, especially for those who have suicidal tendencies. All you need to do i to speak to someone like the protagonist Aiza did.

2. None of my business - The lifestyle of Ashiq, a commoner was effectively captured.

3. Fountain Pen - Story that revolves around Amar & Khalifa. If you have a sibling, I bet you will cry in the end. The story gave me a goosebump moment since when I was in college, I saved my pocket money for 3 months to buy an expensive fountain pen(Parker).

4. Anwar - Another touching story.

So as Alavi, Mopping Cloth and Beautiful Living. Each had a strong story line that would make you ponder over your life. These will also make you understand how blessed you are, in your life.

A real good attempt by the author.

This book is available on Amazon

Book Review - The Brown Sunshine

 

Title - The Brown Sunshine

Author - Arvind Rishi

Genre - Fiction - Thriller/Suspense

Publisher - Evincepub Publishing

ISBN - 978-9356734340

This is an amazing thriller which has a lot of unexpected twists. Dr Anthony Biswas, the protagonist was a renowned Forensic Pathologist. His mom passes away when he was in 8th standard. He had few friends during his schooling days. One of them was Natasha. She liked Abhimanyu. However, Anthony back then, had a liking for Natasha. The other friends were Mayank/Arora/Abhimanyu/Megha/Ankur aka Helix. Then there is Sonia as well. 

When he grows up, he meets Catherine K Jomy who was a software engineer. 

Arora liked Megha & Vice Versa. Shivam also liked Megha. 

Prakriti - twin sister of Shivam. 

School life & present life. Arora passes away during their Darjeeling trip. Strangely no one seemed to remember Shivam or Prakriti. However, there was an audio recording that feebly had their voices.

“a few drops of tears escaped my wooden soul through my eyes” - what a powerful sentence/statement to narrate the situation.

Similarly, no one remembered Natasha too,

After 8 years, they meet and Helix introduces his gf Sanjana Puri who was doing Ph.D. in psychiatry in Bengaluru. 

Do NOT Miss the below-mentioned chapters at any cost as they are vital to the story:

ARAK - Divine Drink of Immortality 

Mysterious dark forces folding into reality 

Folding reality - case 234, case 017-BC-962

Origins of the Divine Balance - The Shunya

The movie introduces a few interesting characters in the end and it also makes Dr Biswas introspect himself.

Who is Acharya/Bada Saheb?

Who is Rayne?

Who are we?

This is a perfect novel that gives you the feel of watching a Manoj N Shyamalan movie. Give it a readd by picking your copy today.

This book is available on Amazon

Book Review - When will you die?

 

Title - When Will You Die?

Author - Jayanthi Sankar

Genre - Contemporary Fiction

Publisher - Zero Degree Publishing

ISBN - 978-939-55-1112-4

Jayanthi Sankar has a unique style of writing which induces certain elements in an unusual way. The approach - be it with characters or the story which spins around them is a perfect testimony. She has this unique way of story telling which is appreciated across various literary circles that made her win several laurels across the globe. Having read her previous books which include "Entangling Gandhi", I could not wait to finish reading this novella.

The author may have had a different viewpoint while writing this novel but to me, this brought out the difficulties faced by a single mom/parent in raising their kids especially when either of the parent - mom or dad is missing in action. This is what happens with Susan who was born on 28th May and raised in Goa by her granny, Maria. Her mom elopes with Loafer Lokesh before coming back to give birth to Joseph.

Joseph was very attached to her sister. It was in the 90's that this concept called "Penpals" was making waves and Susan get to write to SuiYi Tsang of Singapore. He had a non-identical twin Xin Yi who later goes to Sydney with her boyfriend only to be cheated on a couple of months later. Their mom goes to China from Cambodia and gets killed in an accident only to be discovered later that it was the handiwork of their father.

SuiYi had a few friends namely Nakul, Delian, and Ali.

Susan gets her first email from SuiYi on 9/12/90. It was quick, unlike postal letters which took a few days to reach. Joseph too had a girlfriend named Judy. However, she deserts him and plans to go to the USA. The struggles faced by Susan in convincing her granny to get married to SuiYi, getting PR in Singapore, and helping Joseph monetarily on a month-on-month basis by sending money despite her own difficulties were vividly captured in this novel. This has an unusual ending. When you get to read a story presented in an unusual style, this is certainly expected. 

A good read for adults.

This book is available on Amazon

Walnut Publications - to make your dreams come true

 

If I say there is an author/poet in everyone, you might laugh but if you ask your inner conscience, the majority of you will agree with me. Becoming an author was a Himalayan task in those days. This includes sending your manuscript to traditional publishing houses and waiting for ages only to come to know that they have rejected it and have not bothered to even let you know. We cannot say it is a fault on their end since they would have been receiving scripts every day and literally not possible to reply to all.

This is not the case today. With publishing houses like Walnut Publication coming into the fray, book publishing has become an easy task. All you need is your creativity flowing and they will take care of the rest. 

I felt glad to see that they have published a couple of anthologies namely "Whispers of the Soul" and "Whispered Tales".  Though they have published few anthologies in the past, this was done specifically to encourage those who love to write but do not have time to write a novel. What better way to express your thoughts and sharing the platform with fellow writers. 

They also have publishing packages that start from as low as Rs.11,999 and go up to Rs.59,999. Do give it a try since they make your life easier through their expert service.

Click this link and you can chat with them on WhatsApp to realize our dream

Book Review - Silver Lining : The Story of NephroPlus

 

Title - Silver Lining - The Story of NephroPlus

Author - Kamal Shah

Genre - Non-Fiction

Publisher - Penguin Books

ISBN - 978-0670097968

This is a beautifully written book by Kamal Shah who despite being a non-medico had gone along with his couple of other non-medico friends to establish India's biggest dialysis service provider. Loved the way this book was written since it captured in detail the troubles faced by kidney patients since Kamal Shah himself was one. From being a healthy individual, life turns drastically after Kamal faces multiple complications because of which he has to forego his travel to the U.S. for higher studies. He also has to be on compulsory dialysis. 

He gets treated in Hyderabad and Mumbai since in the late 90's and early 2000, these dialysis centres were not a improved lot. 

There are a few aspects that the author highlights in this book.

One of them is about the Ministry of AYUSH where the author ponders as to what they actually do and their functions/powers. There is a list of doctors which the author has to interact with on various stages - as a Guest and also as the Co-Founder of NephroPlus.

Dr J CM Sastry, Dr Girish Narayan, Dr Dakshinamurthy, Dr Krishnan, Dr Mohan Raj, Dr Rama Raju, Dr Revathi, Dr Georgi Abraham, Dr V S Reddy, Dr P N Rao, Dr Sundar Sankaran, Jayaram Reddy(Technician, KIMS), Dr Somasekhar, Dr Gopal Kishen, Dr Brian Pereira, Dr Manoharan, Dr A K Bhalla, Dr Umesh Khanna, Dr Vivekanand Jha, Dr Rajasekhara Chakaravarthi, Dr Deepak Dewan, Dr Satish Chhabra, Dr Kavitha Gone among others.

As a Guest, the author has to go to these hospitals for treatment - Jaslok, Kamineni, KIMS, MMM, Care, Medwin etc.,

The author gets treated in various ways which also include PD(Peritoneal Analysis) and also recounts how he faces near death when the place he was staying was flooded with seawater since this happened during 2004 when Tsunami hits the shorelines of many Indian states.

Kamal also gets a kidney from his mother and contrary to the beliefs, he now had 3 kidneys in his body but things did not improve.

There are a few aspects I learned after reading this book which includes “Crash” after dialysis, cyclosporin, buttonhole needles, and how it helped the author to get treated with less pain. Then there is Preparing bicarb solution, priming, Cannulation & Dialysis among others.

He also goes on to express his displeasure on the nexus between Pharma Co sales reps & Dialysis technicians to make money. The author goes on to explain the concept of "Dialysis at Sea" which came as a boon for him enabling him to travel to the places he wanted to visit.

He ends Part 1 with Paulo Coelho's - “When you want something, all the universe conspires to help you achieve it”.

In Part 2, the author mentions how he was passionate about English Literature & Indian History. He also recounts the day 28th Aug 2009 during which he receives the first call from another Co-Founder Vikram Vuppala. After long discussions, they open their first dialysis center in MLA Colony - Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad 

During the discussion, they decide to change the term Patient to “Guest”.

They even conduct Aashayein - an event for patients. This becomes a huge success. It also shows how they differed from their peers. They also wanted their dialysis center to have two access - Access and Affordability.

Now comes the difficult part - expansion. For this, the trio meets up with different VCs including Vani Kola of Kalaari Capital. 

After a round of discussions, they end up with various investors in various tranches.

Series A - Bessemer Venture Partners(BVP) decides to invest.

Series B - International Finance Corporation (IFC)

Series C - Sea Link Capital 

NPDA - NephroPlus Dialysis Academy 

NANT - Nephrology Nurses Association 

BONENT Certification program 

As they expand, there were Partner Hospitals - Max Hospitals, Jehangir Hospitals 

They also conduct the "Indian Dialysis Olympiad" which becomes a huge success.

When National Dialysis Service Programme in 2016 was announced by Shri. Arun Jaitley, it became a boon for the lower-income group as well. This book is a must read since it is apt in saying "Castles are not built overnight"

This book is available on Amazon