Review-On the Krishna Trail

Few years back, I visited the southern part of India and visited many places like Munnar, Allyppey, Kovalam, Wellington, Tiruvanantpuram and Rameshwaram. It was while visiting Rameshwaram and the Rameshwaram temple when we heard all the tales and legends from locals, and saw all the murals and paintings around the city and the temple itself, and of course, a live demo of the rocks that float on water when inscribed with the name of Lord Rama, there was this deep desire within me to complete the trail of the journey of Rama. Visit places where he was born, places which were special to him, Sita temples in Nepal and so on.. But it was an extensive journey and despite harboring this desire for long, I never could partake it.

On the Krishna Trail is a unique book. The author Lalitha Balasubramanian decided to visit one of the places related to Krishna when her husband suggested to complete the trail by visiting every place related to Krishna and that is the very basis of this book. Its a memoir of this trail with details of all places, every temple, every tale, every legend and local encountered, along with helpful details like how to reach the place, what to visit, in what capacity, etc. The details are so colorful you feel you are actually visiting the place and seeing/feeling what the author was actually going through.

The book is also marked by photographs taken by the author during the journey and the author has decided to pursue pics of not only the more famous places, but also of the lesser famous ones and even certain important points and places. The temples and places she visits in the book range from old earlier constructed Vedic temples to the more recent ones. 

As mentioned earlier, what makes her narration interesting is her coverage of all legends and tales related to each of the place and temple and then enhancing the reader experience with photographs of this place. Another major achievement of Lalitha has been that she has written this book from the viewpoint of a devotee and not that of a tourist. In my opinion, that makes all the difference that there is between what could have been a regular travel memoir and a heartfelt coverage of the life of Krishna.

I dont have any complaint with the book. The writer has been successful in keeping the narration interesting and you are always hooked to the chapters which is mostly what you wont expect with books covering personal travel details of the author. The author deserves full marks for achieving exactly what she had set out for initially.

I would give this book a perfect 5/5

The book is available on Amazon

https://www.amazon.in/dp/B097LBPRVW/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Review- The Good Wizard

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 Growing up one of my most favorite show on TV was Alif Laila. That and I have always been in awe of The Tales of Arabian Knights. While Aladdin has catapulted itself into another level of stardom, the rest of them also have fan favorites. Prasun Roy's The Good Wizard reminded me of those childhood memories. 

Despite Prasun wanting to keep it very real, this clearly falls into the fantasy genre, and many would claim this one is for kids. Well, we all were kids at one point of time, so why would it not appeal to anyone and everyone? This is one book where I can easily claim, its for everyone. And if like me you enjoyed the fantasy genre shows or games or movies like Ajooba, well you are in for a treat.

The best part about the book is that the story drops in the middle of nowhere, which in my opinion is very important for a book belonging to the fantasy genre. In the very first opening scene, there is a wizard who is the best at what he does and that chapter itself stamps the theme, the tone, the protagonists and the antagonists of the book. There is a larger than life magician who does larger than life tricks and then there is a larger than life villain akin to Jafar or Mogambo...well you get the idea.

The great magician is losing his art to his failing health and mind and he has to bestow the knowledge upon someone. Enter the young kid Titli who has all what it takes, except that she needs some discipline and guidance to achieve all great things that life has planned out for her. Their relationship and journey together is what forms the crux of this book. The ending is kind of expected, the magic is in the narration.

The book is interesting, and as I said, perfect for kids and adults alike who like fantasy genre. There is never a dull moment and the pacing and narration has been consistent and not once you feel bored or want to take a break. Despite knowing whats going to happen in the end, it still keeps you on your toes. Thats the magic of this genre.

I dont have any major complaints with the book, a few  minor hiccups(like villagers claiming their secular credentials again and again and again. Once should be enough). Also there....well lets not spoil the party with more complains.

This is the perfect book I would want my son to read and one I could gift to any kid that I know of. In fact if you are an adult and you tell me you have loved movies and shows like Ajooba or Toofan or Aladdin or Chandrakanta, well I would gift it to you as well.

All in all, I would give this book a perfect 5/5

You can purchase the book from Amazon

https://www.amazon.in/Good-Wizard-Prasun-Roy/dp/9390441072

Review- Kaikeyi: The Warrior Queen of Koshala

 I will be honest. I dont believe in regionalism. I think literature and arts and entertainment transcend beyond regions and boundaries.

But, when I learnt author Jai Shukla, whose book Kaikeyi: The Warrior Queen of Koshala is available on Kindle and that he is a fellow Kanpuriya, well, I was delighted. 

As the author mentions clearly in the foreword, not much is available in any text about Kaikeyi. The fact that she triggered such a mammoth change in the Indian landscape, the ripples and chants of whose are vibrant even today, still she is not covered or discussed or written about much, is indeed a mystery. Kudos to Jai Shukla for picking up such a topic.

Jai has put up a lot of his worldly experience and maturity in the book which is evident right from the start. There is an immense amount of study, research and exploration done to write this book and it is pretty evident in its pages. Jai has carefully crafted the characters of Kaikeyi and Manthra and these two are the backbones of the book. As the entire book is about the early years of Kaikeyi and her marriage to Dashrath, the focus is solely on her childhood and her youth and few years into her marriage. There is a lot of worldly knowledge also put up in the pages mixed with lot of references from source text which keep the flavor of the book interesting. How the entire situation eventually leads our two main characters to be what they later became is capture beautifully.

On the flip side one problem with the book is that for some reason Jai has decided not to capture her later years, specially her sending Rama to exile or when Rama returned, or when Bharat decided not to be king. Jai himself has accepted that there is very less source material about Kaikeyi and when you dont cover a good 70-80% of her story, you are left with even lesser source material to refer to. This is not necessarily a big problem but from reader's perspective they wanted to know how such a firebrand young girl would have reacted to these situations in details.

However, if we just consider this book as a a coming of age book for Kaikeyi then Jai has exceled in what he set out for. Jai paints a very lively picture of the kingdom and how things are in the kingdom and the royalty themselves. The challenges, the triumphs, the shackles of the royals of Koshala are captured very realistically. The cover of the book is really intriguing and I would give full marks for making the cover captivating

All in all I would go with a 4.5/5 rating for the book

You can purchase it from here

https://www.amazon.in/Kaikeyi-Warrior-Koshala-Jai-Shukla/dp/9385440918/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1626315674&sr=1-1