SoulfulUnsobriety

Name of the book:  Charlotte's Web Author:  E. B. White Genre:  Children's literature Published by:  Penguin Random House UK (Puffin Books) No. Of Pages:  186 After reading to George Orwell’s Animal Farm, reading another animal-centric, kid’s book was super exciting! Charlotte’s Web is a story based in an animal farm where there’s a variety – geese, rat, horses, sheep, a pig (Wilbur) and then there’s the protagonist – Charlotte – the spider! The story is fun to read with the illustrations on most of the pages and a perfect quick read from the usual books; it’s refreshing and creative. Although, the book is banned in a few states, due to the fact that the animals’ talk among themselves and also to a human kid – Fern, it is considered to be as inappropriate, I found the plot of the story exact opposite; artistic and simple. The story has a simple teaching, friendship! It is very well depicted between Fern and Wilbur, and between Wi...

Name:   Aurangzeb – The Man and The Myth Author:   Audrey Truschke Genre:   Non-Fiction/Biography Published by:   Penguin Books No. of Pages:   153 We all have read about Mughal Sultanate during the History class in childhood and many of whom I know, hated the subject for the details it had – dates, names, references, etc. But I always loved History class! Right from the Stone Age man to Hitler and from Shivaji Maharaj to World War – It was a blissful subject and I loved the lengthy answers the teacher would dictate and we later, scribbled in the examination answer sheets. The book, Aurangzeb – The Man and The Myth, is a wonderful flashback of those childhood classroom lessons where many struggled remembering the names and the hierarchy! It is a story which chalks down the details of Aurangzeb – the emperor, who is one of the most hated men in the Indian History. Aurangzeb Alamgir  (1658-1707) was the 6 th  Mughal Emperor and ...

Name of the book: How to Stop Time Author: Matt Haig Genre: Romance, Fantasy Fiction Published by: Canongate Books Ltd. No. Of Pages: 325 Off lately, I am glad to be reading fewer but some great books. The Sunday times bestseller and the Winner of the 2017 "books are my bag readers" award for popular fiction, How to Stop Time by Matt Haig, is one amazing book! When I say the word “Amazing”, it ought to be no less than it. The story is of a man who does look like any ordinary 40+ years old, but has a dark secret to share; he lives not in years, but centuries! He is Tom. Tom Hazard. Born in 1800’s this man lived for almost 440 years! The story is his journey on the survival of all these years – how he lost his mother, how he has been living, changing his identity every few years, from England to Paris, from New York  to America – Tom has seen a lot; lived a lot! After being alive for so many years and staying “ undercover ”, T...

Bored and nothing to do, I was randomly checking my Facebook account, when I got a notification of a school friend ‘liking’ my profile picture. I check her display pic from the notification and could see that she has put on some weight; curious, I check her   account and saw that she has indeed put on a lot of weight and her face had heavy make-up. I scroll down to check more pictures and saw an album where her husband is kissing her beautiful baby bump and I had a twirl of emotions inside my heart. Indeed, I was delighted to see that my school friend is expecting a baby! I check few more photos and saw how happy she looks! And suddenly, I was lost in the reverie of memories. Few years ago, when we were in school and later in high school, I still remember, they were one of the cutest couple I had seen. Holding hands, kissing in empty lab room, stealing glances across classroom, and those little fights! Later when the girl and I were in same degree college, s...

It was unusually sunny at 7 am in the morning. Sujata and myself we were ready on the said time and waiting in the hotel lobby for everyone else to come, to start the exiting journey! However, the waiting seemed like forever, as people were taking their own slow time to get ready and come downstairs. Some bikers were getting ready with their gears, a few people taking photos, while Manav was hustling around, making sure everything is all set for the journey. While I and Sujata were sleepy and getting a little annoyed for no one was on time and were already running late from our decided time, I saw a young boy, a sardar , of course, looking a little lost and fidgeting with his bag. I examined the bag on the hotel entrance steps – a brown coloured, medium sized, leather bag pack with camera and lenses. “Oh, this must be that photographer, Manav was talking about” I wondered, a little too loud for my friend, Sujata to hear. She looked into the direction of my gaze and...

It doesn't always take 1 moment or 1 incident or 1 instance to break a relationship; it's a build up of many such moments or incidents or instances! I say this because at first we ignore, then we choose to give that person a chance. This is followed by another chance. Then, we start making observations and taking notes, mentally, of such things. Slowly, little by little a part of us starts pulling away from that person, a part of our heart dies. And then, it's only a dead plant! You can't uproot it; something you cannot do because you are the nice person in the relationship with a golden heart. You don't water it either, because no matter how much water or care you put it, it is dead! All relationships are like plants - you sow a seed. You water it. Then slowly it starts growing into a tender plant. You put in more efforts and care and love and it starts getting stronger! Over a period of years, the small fragile plant grows into a grown tree; it has ...