A conversation with D Gnanasekaran, author of A divine visit and the human touch, published by Bluerose publishers.

I worked as a teacher and research supervisor in the Puducherry Govt. collegiate education service for about four decades. I started my writing career as a reviewer of books in the 1980s for journals like Mother India and The Advent published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry and later moved on to criticism and then creative writing. 

 

Primarily, I wanted to be a conscientious teacher and researcher. Becoming an author is an offshoot of my passion for teaching literature and communication skills, of course impelled by my inner urge to express myself.

 

A lot of reading and love for books coupled with my personal experiences, both expected and unexpected, motivated me to write the book. Inspiration came mainly from French and Russian writers.  

 

Self-realization is the pinnacle of our search for Truth. But today’s consumerism and cultural degradation are the main hurdles to this first step to self-discipline and spirituality.

It is not a single author. The list is too long to accommodate here.

Book: A divine visit and the human touch

Author: D. Gnanasekaran

Publishers: @bluerose_publishers

About the book: “The fifteen short stories in this collection are marked by an intimate and urgent sense of passion. This collection is about the lives of people and what their real life interactions are like. These are stories where you can relate to the characters; you can laugh, cry and feel with them. When you finish reading, you don’t just walk out with the memory of the stories, but with a memory of your life refreshed. The writing is characterized by elegance and economy of words and offers insights into the humdrum of ordinary lives, spiced with unexpected events. Despite different contexts, the human element is in the forefront. ”

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Review:

I really enjoyed reading this book. As said in the blurb, the stories made me laugh and cry and think about everything I’ve done till now and what I’ll do in the future. These are fifteen heartwarming stories and sometimes I wanted the stories to be longer. I actually don’t read short stories much but after this I’m definitely going to explore this genre. All the stories felt like the author has penned down his personal life experiences and never once like fiction or that this may not happen in life. The cover of the book is beautiful. My favourite story was ‘Call me dad for once’.

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When asked “Who or what inspired you to write the book?” The author replied,

“A lot of reading and love for books coupled with my personal experiences, both expected and unexpected, motivated me to write the book. Inspiration came mainly from French and Russian writers. “

Checkout the complete interview of D. Gnanasekaran on the next post.

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Thanks to @pristine.books for the copy.

Book: Modern day Hindu

Author: Nikhil Chandwani

About: When I saw the cover, I didn’t find it so intriguing but the title was catchy which made me pick it up. The author basically talks about Hinduism in the modern era. It’s a mix of autobiography and spirituality. It takes a lot of time to process everything we read in that but once we do our perspective changes. There are many movie and music references which makes it a lot more relatable (though I didn’t understand some). I can’t really recommend it to everyone but if you like non-fiction and want to try some spirituality you should definitely try this book out.

Review: When I saw the cover, I didn’t find it so intriguing but the title was catchy which made me pick it up. The author basically talks about Hinduism in the modern era. It’s a mix of autobiography and spirituality. It takes a lot of time to process everything we read in that but once we do our perspective changes. There are many movie and music references which makes it a lot more relatable (though I didn’t understand some). I can’t really recommend it to everyone but if you like non-fiction and want to try some spirituality you should definitely try this book out.

Here’s my favourite extract:

Maybe you’ve heard of the fact that any given 3D form may be represented by a finite number of triangles. I’m not sure who actually discovered that, but today’s video cards make perfect use of it. It might have something to do with a triangle being an implicitly stable form, whereas other forms are not. Because of this ‘law’ making objects appear on screen is a routine operation that computers can easily delegate to their video boards. In a similar fashion, research back when I was a kid showed that languages have a finite set of three letter ‘syllables’, that is typical for the language under observation.

Book: Divyastra

Author: @nimish_tanna

About the book: Thousands of years ago, Indian Yogis possessed the knowledge to obtain the weapons of the gods. However, this knowledge could only be transferred from a Guru to his disciple by word of mouth. In today’s world, one mystic, who calls himself Guruji, still possesses this knowledge and is using it to empower an innocent person’s life. Only, this empowerment could be a deception and the innocent person is a thirteen year old boy with a stutter… In this intertwining tale, an ambitious yet unsuccessful Shankar, in search of his identity, is manipulated to embark on a never-told-before fantasy tale; only to rediscover the father he never knew and unmask the mystical Guruji. Amidst this confounding concoction of ancient myths, deluding personas and dispersed emotions, will Shankar ever be able to separate fact from fiction and find his true identity?

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Review: I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The story revolves around Shankar , a mediocre who wants to do big in life and blames his father for everything. Life takes a big turn when his father dies and his grandfather starts telling him a story just like old times. The story of a young boy who meets a mystical Guruji when he is most vulnerable. Shankar finally figures out who the boy is and the connection and sets out to make it right. The ending was unexpected and I loved it. The structure of the story was very good and the author has done good research on the subject which we come to know through Mr. Vyas , a renewed scholar , who is giving a presentation on Vedic astras and modern weapons. I just felt that the last part went very quickly compared to the rest of the story and not much is told about the five years in between. For me the best part of the story was the love story of Shankar and Gauri (yes there’s a love story in this ) and the question answer between a young lad and Mr. Vyas (they reveal so much about Vedas and it’s relavance)

Do I recommend? Yes yes yes

Indian mythology/ historical fiction fans what are y’all waiting for?

🌟🌟🌟🌟.5

Sounds very interesting right , check it out now 😊

‘Song of life’ by Anuradha Singh is a poetic retelling of the Hindu epic’Mahabharatha’, with so many characters, where each character has its own importance.

The poem starts with how the poet feels about the Mahabharata; of how Devvratha came to be known as Bhishma and how he has seen the miseries , blame , game , conspiracies, war and its effects. It narrates how the Pandavas lost everything in a game of dice, their exile and how the war started and its results.

The whole Mahabharata is told in just 32 pages. The style is very nice and the author should be appreciated for including so much in so little words. In the end it throws light on the fact that war is a loss for both sides. And Krishna’s role is shown beautifully.

I’d recommend it to all poetry lovers.

Here’s the first verse

It is a song of my forefathers

Which I have been told and retold,

That I read and re-read

I see it with my eyes open;

I feel the song in my veins

It is always there in my conscious Albeit,

it has made me who I am and A bit more whole.

It’s interesting right , check it out now 😊

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton