My World , My Words!
Mumbai mein raat hoti hi kahan hai,
bas andhera hota hai pal bhar ka…
Tehalte rehte hai musaffir,
khojne pata apni manzil ka…
Mumbai mein raat hoti hi kahan hai,
Bas hota hai andhera pal bhar ka…
Shor sharaba lagta hai pyara,
bura lage hai sannata…
Mumbai mein raat hoti hi kahan hai,
Bas andhera hota hai pal bhar ka…
On the cover :
On his way from Tangiers to China, the medieval moorich traveller Ibn Battuta arrives in Konya, Turkey where the legendary dervish Rumi had lived, danced and died. More than half a century may have passed since his death, but his poetry remains alive, inscribed in every stone and tree and pathway.
Rumi’s followers enthrust Ibn Battuta with a manuscript of his life stories to spread word of the mystic on his travels. As Battuta reads and recites these tales, his listeners discovers their own lives reflected in these stories – fate has bound them, and perhaps you, to Rumi.
A Mirrored Life reaffirms the magical powers of storytelling making us find Rumi in each of our hearts.
Quick Review :
A beautiful inception of stories inside stories. A mirrored life keeps you entertained with stories.
Full Review :
My learned readers, you know that there are stories even before there are stories, but some stories are bound by fate.
I have read Dozakhnama and loved it and thus wanted to read this book the moment I got news about this book’s release. This book is a translation of bengali book just like Dozakhnama. It’s mere 200 pages, so one can finish it in few hours.
Ibn Battuta tells us how he got his hands on this beautiful kitab and then starts reading Rumi’s kitab to us.
Just like Dozaknama, A Mirrored Life is entertaining with loads of stories. With these stories, Rumi’s life is revealed to us, chapter by chapter. Wherever Author felt his information might not be true he mentions all the stories he has heard in Konya regarding the same incident. A Mirrored Life is high on Persian/Urdu words making it difficult to grasp the meaning of sentences at some points. Footnotes with the meaning of such words would have been a good idea to include.
Ratings : ****
You can buy A Mirrored Life on Flipkart
I know I am way too late to post about my Jaipur trip but Better late than Never!
Trip to jaipur has ticked few more First experiences.
• Visited a city where I know no one. No relatives, no friends…
• Stayed in a hotel all alone.
• Attended a Literature Festival
• Met few Authors
• Got Books Signed
• Behaved crazy and started talking to random people and sharing thoughts about Authors and Books.
On The Jacket :
Shattered Dreams is the sequel to the national bestseller, Rise of The Sun Prince, in the new spiritual and motivational series RAMAYANA – THE GAME OF LIFE.
Twelve joyful years have passed in Ayodha since the wedding of Rama and Sita at the end of Book 1.
Now, in Shattered Dreams, Shubha Vilas narrates the riveting drama of Rama’s exile. Through tales of Rama’s unwavering and enugmatic persona, the book teaches us how to handle reversals positively; through Bharata’s actions, it teaches us to handle temptation; and through Sita’s courage, to explore beyond our comfort zone. This complicated family drama provides deep insights on how human relationships work and how they fail.
Review :
Quick Review :
Shattered Dreams is very slow and way too stretched book.
Full Review :
Shattered Dreams is second book in the series. I have not read the first book but couldn’t find any negative impact about it, Because It’s Ramayana, who doesn’t know the epic story – Ramayana?
Shattered Dreams narrates the episode of Rama’s Exile, Dasarata’s death and Bharata’s Coronation. I somehow feel it’s way too smaller a plot to write a complete 385 pages book upon. Don’t get me wrong here, there are fascinating stories and all the dilemmas of each person towards the similar situation shown here; yet I feel the plot is dragged unnecessarily. There’s a chapter on Ravana too. How Ravana became Ravana you will get to know in this book.
Book 2 starts with Dasarata’s nightmare. Nightmare about his death and thus he decides to coronate Rama as King of Ayodha. But Fate has other plans as Kaikeyi withdraws her two boons and asks for Rama’s Excile and Bharata’s Coronation. Dasarata dies due to the guilt that he couldn’t do anything for Rama. Rama, Sita and Lakshmana leave Ayodha for Vanvas. Rama, Sita and Lakshmana stay at chitrakoot for the first year of Exile. Lakshmana constructs a beautiful home for Sita with whatever is available at forest.
Author has narrated Bharata’s dilemmas and his sincerity, Lakshmana’s ever ready nature to serve Rama, Sita’s ever loving nature, Kaushalya- The ethereal mother, Kaikayi’s sudden fear and stiffness, Dasarata’s impotence to stop Rama’s exile and Rama’s ever Righteous nature, ever calm and soothing character very well. But at points it became very draggy.
There are footnotes on every page, sometimes about the situation, sometimes about the person and sometimes just to put Author’s point of view about the situation/Person. After every important Discussion Author narrates the essence of the situation from his perspective, what we need to learn from Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata. After some 100 pages I stopped reading the footnotes.
Ratings : 3/5
Half star extra for the beautiful cover.
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Bhakti Motta 