Digi's Blog

Sometimes simplicity is all that is needed to touch the heart. The more uncomplicated a story, the better it penetrates within. Santosh Avvannavar and Shayan Haq pen this poignant short story called "SHE - EKLA CHOLO RE" which can be easily finished off in a single sitting of about half an hour and yet move you. PLOT Set in the 1990s, this story revolves around 2 characters- renowned Dr Rajendra Mukherjee and a female called Kusum. The authors delicately talk about homosexuality and gender changes and how stupidly the society reacts to such things. At one point, the authors write- "Real love and truth go together." I couldn't help but agree to what they wrote. The entire Bengali setup is very beautifully done. The overall plot is pretty simple - a man giving a lift to a lone lady on the highway. But what follows is very beautifully penned. There are simple things which touch the heart - Kusum getting reminded of her own mother on meeting Raj's mother,...

Not all works of nonfiction are dull. I admit I myself am not a very hardcore fan of nonfiction, although I do occasionally read some beautiful works. “LIFE MANTRAS” cannot actually be categorized under the category “Nonfiction”. It would be better to call it a book that teaches you a lot about life. There are so many things in our daily life which we all know, and yet we always learn something new about it from someone else. This book is full of such lovely examples. “SAHARASRI” SUBRATA ROY SAHARA talks about love, respect, admiration and all other virtues and characters of a human being with finesse. He talks about marriage, about a husband  - wife relationship, about hard work, honesty, truthfulness, trustfulness, about a mother – child relationship, and what not. The best thing however is that he cites hundreds of examples from daily life to prove his point – examples with which all of us can relate. He tells us that apologizing is NOT a bad th...

There is something insanely enchanting about serial killers and the story surrounding them. Organized crime with a motive has always been thrilling, but when there is a lack of motive and only a DRIVE that urges one to kill, it becomes even more fascinating. Piyush Jha’s latest offering “Raakshas” is one such novel. Describing the parallel lives of a serial killer and an investigating officer, this novel is racy, thrilling and keeps you hooked till the end. PLOT His name is unknown. We know him simply as RAAKSHAS. He aspires to be India’s most dreaded and famous serial killer. But how did he reach this stage? What was meted on to him during his childhood and growing years that ultimately made him reach the heights of insanity? Was he actually insane or was he a sane, cool, composed, calculated and cold blooded murderer? The plot describes all the above questions. On the other hand, we have the ACP of Mumbai police Maithili Prasad, who is hell bent upon catching t...

As I start reading the novel, I go through the preface. I know there and then that this book is going to be a hard hitting one. And so with each story I read, I simply grope on to the next one, wanting to discover one more aspect of prostitution in India. Women have NEVER been treated with the desired respect in our country, be it currently or centuries ago. They have been mistreated, abused physically as well as mentally, manhandled, neglected, underestimated and most importantly taken for granted. This book is for those readers who like some serious non fiction. I call it non fiction because all the stories are true. This is only the tip of the massive iceberg of women trafficking and prostitution. PLOT & CONTENT A variety of celebrated as well as less known authors come together and contribute a total of 21 short stories painstakingly compiled by Ruchira Gupta from the nook and corners of India. Each story depicts the tale of a woman troubled by her o...

I call him the John Grisham of India, and the Madhur Bhandarkar of the banking world. Like Madhur, Ravi Subramanian exposed the blatant truth of the banking world, the corruption & the bureaucracy. But there is a BIG difference between Ravi and Madhur. Madhur kept on repeating the same subject in his films, leading to all of his recent ones being disasters. On the other hand, Ravi changed genres. Not that I disliked his repetitive subjects. I mean, he could easily manage to pull off 4-5 thrillers on the banking industry due to so much of diversity. But still, he shifted genres. And THAT was a lovely idea. PLOT So we have the novel starting with an IIM alumnus who turned an author later, giving a lecture at the same place he studied. Soon we get an idea about how publishing a novel isn’t the only thing to do. That is only half the battle won. What really escalates a novel from being a mediocre one to being a BESTSELLER is the marketing and promotional a...

TOP 10 REGIONAL & NON FILMY SONGS 10. SONG – VANDE MATARAM (NILKANTH MASTER)(MARATHI) SINGERS – VISHWAJEET BORWANKAR, SAVNI RAVINDRA, AMRUTA NATU MUSIC – AJAY – ATUL 9. SONG – CHAL WAHAAN JAATE HAIN SINGER – ARIJIT SINGH MUSIC – AMAAL MALIK LYRICS – RASHMI – VIRAG 8. SONG: AA BHI JAA TU KAHIN SE SINGER: SONU NIGAM MUSIC: JEET GANGULI LYRICS: MANOJ MUNTASHIR This song reminded me of those old sonu nigam video songs back in the 1990’s. 7. SONG – BOUNDLESS (INDOSOUL) PERFORMED BY – KARTHICK IYER & BAND 6. SONG – BRIJLO (BAS EK CHANCE) (GUJARATI) SINGER – ROOPKUMAR RATHOD MUSIC – PRANAV – NIKHIL – SHAILESH LYRICS – PRIYAA SARAIYA, KIRTAN PATEL 5. SONG – KALANDAR / PINJDE WAALE (HIGHWAY – EK SELFIE AARPAAR) SINGERS – JASRAJ JAYANT JOSHI MUSIC – AMIT TRIVEDI LYRICS – VAIBHAV JOSHI 4. SONG – MAIN RAHOON YA NA RAHOON SINGERS – ARMAAN MALIK MUSIC – AMAAL MALIK LYRICS – RASHMI – VIRAG As someone rightly...

What is it about a mother that manages to move us everytime? Swati Kumari’s debut novel “Without A Goodbye” answers this question convincingly. When I read the title of the novel, I assumed it would be yet another love story. But I was thankfully proven wrong when I read the synopsis. PLOT The story describes the poignant tale of Danica and her mother Aarti, depicting both their lives in detail. Danica is all set to appear for her competitive exams in Patna. She has a talk with her mother before going inside the exam hall. However after she comes out, she is unable to contact her mother.  The entire family searches for her, but she just seems to have vanished. What happened to her? Where did she go? Is she alive or not? These questions trouble everyone, before finally the truth is revealed. What was the truth and what circumstances led to it forms the crux of the story. WRITING Well, the author keeps the language pretty simple. Infact at times th...