The Pregnant King

Another review by Itchingtowriteblogs on The Pregnant King by Devadutt Patnaik here.

The Palace of Illusions

Read a lovely review of Palace of Illusions by Itchingtowriteblogs here.

A Review : Don’t Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight

  

Don’t Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight

Rujuta Diwekar

Random House

Price : Rs 199

 Reviewed by : Smitha Verma

Rujuta Diwekar shot to fame when Kareena Kapoor’s size zero became a national obsession. The media dissected Kareena’s super glam figure with the zeal that was till then reserved for Indo-Pak dialogues. So, it came as no surprise that her dietician went on to cash on the mileage and wrote a book on weight loss.

The fitness industry, which is growing by leaps and bounds, sees almost one gym launch a day in one part of the country. In the milieu of fat loss books and diet guides, Diwekar’s book became an instant pickup owing to its glam association. But the book is not just another run-of-the-mill stuff. It is packed with information, loaded with real-life examples and could be an inspirational guide for many fighting the battle of the bulge.

Diwekar sprinkles her book with not just observation but also reasoning beyond fads and myths. So if someone told you how drinking hot water after a meal would lead to weight loss, ask him the principle behind the theory. This is one dietician who will tell you to eat more to lose more. By now, we all know the need for small meals, but Diwekar would also explain to you how it aids your body’s metabolism.

Diwekar knows her subject thoroughly. She could give you scientific explanations on old wives’ tales and would also tell you how to recognize good fat from a bad one. Pardon her for her ‘Chalu Mumbaiya’ language and this book is a sure-shot hit. A on-time read for anyone who wants to know the principle behind eating right.

Q&A with Gouri Dange

Gouri Dange is a writer, book editor and practising family counsellor. Her features, articles, interviews, short stories – various works of fiction and non-fiction – have appeared regularly in leading Indian publications, on her website www.gouridange.com, and in a US-based magazine called India Currents. Her writings have a large informal following – readers, bloggers and editors write in regularly expressing their appreciation and delight at her style and content – which ranges from the savagely funny to the nuancedly reflective and empathetic. She holds writing workshops, in which participants are guided to synthesize and transform into writing what they experience, perceive and imagine. She blogs here.

Here's a short Q&A with her:
1) Your earlier blog posts have material published in your columns.Which papers/magazines did you/do you write for?

I have written for and continue to write for the TOI, Express, HT, Outlook, Pune Mirror, Sakaal Times, Namaskaar, Jetwings, Commodity Vision, Gentleman, Mindfields, Mint, Soma, Business India, Swagat, Metroscan, Life Positive, Well-Being, and some Internet content people.

2) What kind of counselling do you do? and for what ages/parameters?

It’s usually personal and family/relationship counselling. Students who come from far and wide to Pune for further studies – they often seek counselling support in areas such as: loneliness/homesickness, adjustment to a new culture, dealing with authority figures, handling money, sexual issues, issues of self-esteem and confidence, experimentation with alcohol, commitment in relationships, perceptions of ‘safe and unsafe’ behaviour, work/exam pressures, etc. I am able to provide not only an empathetic ear, but constructive suggestions and guidance. Having lived in various parts of the world and interacted with a range of nationalities, I am comfortable with a range of accents, which makes it that much easier for students to be understood and communicate freely. Cases in which family members have for long been at logger-heads and have been urged to seek counseling by those around them. I have been able to help them identify the assumptions, misplaced expectations, poor communication and hidden agendas that have fuelled the deterioration of the relationship. Couples who have basically sound marriages but are in a bad phase (related to children, infidelity, career issues, sex-related matters, in-laws etc). I also work with people who are in abusive marriages and are in the midst of divorce proceedings, helping them to let go and part ways in a non destructive way. I also provide secondary support in cases where the person seeking counselling is part of a couple or family in which one person is being treated by a psychiatrist for schizophrenia, alcoholism, etc. The person coming to me for counselling is able to find ways of coping and providing positive support to the partner/family member under treatment. In mid life issues, in the case of men, usually relating to impending retirement or retrenchment; sexual ‘boredom’ and perceived non-responsiveness of the partner, loss of interest in work, search for more meaning, etc. In the case of women, ‘empty nest’ syndrome, work-fatigue, menopause, changing sexuality, etc. I have been able to help them come to terms with certain issues, take some hard decisions, deal with guilt, etc. I work with the elderly – where the issues are loneliness, restricted mobility, disability, perceived loss of worth/respect/independence. Have been able to help in better adjustment to their changed life situation – in terms of finding new careers/hobbies, mending relationships, etc. Also worked with care-givers of the elderly, addressing their difficulties. I also work with young children and their parents. I sometimes work in tandem with a psychiatrist and/or a paedatrician

3) You are a passionate listener of Hindustani classical music. Do you have any formal training in the same?

Yes, I learnt the sitar from when I was about 15, for over 20 years. I also sat in on my mother’s training and riyaz etc during her sangeet visharad ‘sadhana’. I taught the sitar for some years to young/new students. I don’t play now, it seems like there is so much to listen to, rather than to play! I play the harmonium and sing, but not in any formal/performance mode.

4) When do you expect The Bedside Blog to be published?

Someone’s working on the cover and the inside design – I hope to have illustrations and separators and little elements and embellishments along with the pieces. The artist’s name is Junuka Deshpande. She’s in Boston right now, and also a blogger – www.twoinsomnias.com. She is also a musician, filmmaker and so many other things. So bedside blog should be out in September of this year 2010. Under the imprint OMO Books.

5) As a writer, do you feel that your craftsmanship has changed from 3, Zakia Mansion to The Counsel of Strangers?

Not essentially, but yes, I have become less ‘condensed’ and more ‘amplified’. To use a music metaphor, perhaps I am singing in a more ‘khulla awaz’ now. And I am trying a raagmala – of six characters! 3 Zakia Mansion is a single raga explored and presented, perhaps.

6) What are the influences that have shaped you most profoundly?

Is this where I say Mother Teresa? J. ...Well it’s parents who lived life very fully – peopling it with friends, music, food, travel, hard work, a good smattering of irony and sarcasm and humour even in bad times. And also allowed me to meander on to many paths, without any pressure to ‘become’ this and ‘achieve’ that. The three primary kids in my life (now all grown), a niece, a nephew and a deemed daughter as i call her, have also influenced me and continue to do so. They were my fans and now I’m their fan. There are a host of subsidiary kids too – who are now lovely grown-ups. And they have actually influenced the way I look at the world. My friends (to whom I have dedicated the forthcoming The Counsel of Strangers) are also a deep and wide influence. Music is a huge influence. Ok, now this is sounding like an Oscar speech. a

7) Shaheen never gets treated for her psychological issues, and somehow manages to carry on, despite them. As a counsellor, what do feel helped her the most?

Well she did have one small skirmish with a lady therapist! Shaheen had a genuine core and did not run away from her issues. She chose to stare them in the face, and perhaps had that ability in her. She could separate the useless from the meaningful. The coming of Manas and his mother into her life provided anchors and ports at which she could dock. Her daughter too was a force in her life. Once she stopped being embarrassed and burdened by her dysfunctional family, she could deal with things.

8] Who are your favourite authors and literary influences? Gosh, so many. Graham Greene, Naipaul, Alexander McCaull Smith, Sheila Dhar (I would have been her groupie were she alive), Wodehouse, Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie writing non crime), Edward Stewart, and really so many more...poets, bloggers, humourists, screenwriters.

9] Any advice you would give bloggers who are tempted to write books?

Write away! But do get beyond the purely autobiographical. And experiment with genres. And pay your bills on time.

10] What are you working on next?

There’s The Counsel of Strangers and Bedside Blog; also a second ABCs of Parenting – these are ready and in the design/printing pipeline. I plan to go into a second edition of 3 Zakia Mansion, under the OMO Books label. Also the Marathi 3 Zakia Mansion, which is being translated right now by Anagha Lele.

I’m also experimenting with stand-up monologues (not exactly all comedy – a range of narrations from the funny to the sentimental) and am doing these in front of small audiences of about 30 people in Pune, Mumbai and Bangalore.

3, Zakia Mansion

3, Zakia Mansion
Reviewed by Dipali Taneja

3, Zakia Mansion tells the story of a dysfunctional family, largely from the perspective of Shaheen, the oldest of three children. Her parents inhabit strange worlds of their own, and rarely connect with each other. Their father is extremely harsh and autocratic, with strange ideas about child rearing. Their mother, Nimmi, is embittered by her life, and tries to find what succour she can, while remaining quite detached from her children.


Ehsaan, Shaheen's orphaned cousin, lives with them and provides great common sense, humour, and is a rock for the siblings, as is their grandmother, until a tirade against the independent unmarried daughter by Shaheen's mother drives the grandmother downstairs, to live with her other son. Matters have been compounded by Shaheen refusing to marry Sajid, her mother's effete second cousin, who has come to Mumbai looking for both a bride and a job.

Ehsaan's mimicry of Sajid's peculiar English makes you laugh out loud. Dadi moving out gives Sajid an opportunity to woo Nimmi, and her father's drunken proclamation of their affair traumatises Shaheen totally.

A marriage proposal from the Adamji family gives her an exit from her home a few moths later, but her husband is most cowardly in the face of his dominating mother, and Shaheen finds little joy in her marriage, although the birth of her daughter does change her life. Juhi is a child 'who just strolled out into the world and started ordering everybody about', much to the chagrin of her imperious grandmother, whom she constantly challenges.

Many tragedies later, Shaheen leaves her husband, who refuses to let Juhi accompany her. Juhi has developed severe eczema, and while going out of town to seek a cure for her child, Shaheen meets Manas, an architecture student. Many travails later, Shaheen is finally able to piece her life together.

The trouble with trying to review 3, Zakia Mansion is that you get sucked into reading the book again and again. It is a slim book, economical with words and rich in concepts and characters. It is a book that demands to be read and re-read several times over. One central concept is of the betrayal of children by their parents, of actual or virtual orphanhood. Another is of the need for kindness in human relationships. This verse, by Ella Wheer Willcox which appears at the beginning of the book, is also quoted by the holy man at the ashram:

So many Gods, so many creeds,

So many paths that wind and wind,

While just the art of being kind

Is all this sad world needs.

While I am eagerly awaiting Ms.Dange's next book, I do wonder if it will become as much a part of me as 3, Zakia Mansion has become.


Edited to add:  Gouri Dange blogs at http://www.gouridange.blogspot.com/

Smita Jain tells us how to craft a perfect chicklit-crime novel

Smita Jain gave us the howlarious Kkrishnaa's Konfessions, where she placed a murder in the penstabbing world of TV serial scripting and TRP rage. Now she's back with Piggies on the Railway: A Kasthuri Kumar Mystery, about a glamorous Private Investigator suddenly confronted with a corpse of a movie star.

Here is a short Q&A

1] In both your books, Kkrishnaa's Konfessions and Piggies on the Railway, you have gone in for what would seem like an implausible mix of chicklit and crime. What do you think is the reason the mix has has worked?
It has worked?!!!! But, seriously, why wouldn’t it work? The heroine is imperfect, glamour struck and insecure. In other words, she’s totally identifiable. Show me a woman who isn’t all that and I’ll show you a straight male fashion designer. In addition, the narrative is pacy, the situations outrageously hilarious, the tone self deprecating, the language simple, the mystery intelligent, what’s not to like?



2] You've worked across mediums, from scripting serials and films to writing books, and blogging. What are the highs and lows of each medium, according to you?
Actually writing books is not that different from writing film screenplays. After all it is about writing stories and rules for writing stories remain the same whatever the medium. It’s all about character and conflict. About plot points and resolving conflict. The highs and lows are the same. The impatience when the going is slow initially, the frustration when you unable to crack a flaw in the plot or character after weeks of consistent trying, the rush of excitement when you get it, and finally, overwhelming relief when it’s done. The only difference lies in the format of the script or the manuscript as the case maybe, and the language employed. And the tense. A screenplay is always in the present tense while an MS, not always.


3] In Piggies on the Railway, you've created Kasthuri Kumar, a detective with a penchant for Fendi peeptoes and fashion ripoffs, riding a bike, and a sex life that rocks. Isnt she a total antithesis to the profession?
Yes! And isn’t it fun? But seriously, only in India is she an antithesis of the conventional detective. That is perhaps because here the genre is in its infancy yet. In developed markets you have all kinds of characters. I’ve read capers of a woman who is a beautician by day and a PI by night. I’ve read stories of PIs who are models, TV reporters, supposedly idle high society ladies, manic depressives, split personalities, alcoholics...

4] What are your rules for crafting a detective novel?
I usually visualize the crime and then work backwards. So I think to myself, let’s have an old guy who’s stabbed. Then I give the situation some personality. For instance, when and where was he found? What were the circumstances of the crime? Next, I give him family, friends and colleagues. Since the killer is almost always from them, they all get broad back stories, aspirations, motives and opportunities and alibis. So, you see, it’s fairly simple once you get a hang of the rules. It’s intricate, but simple. It’s simply a matter of maintaining detailed notes.

5] How do you see the character of Katie evolving, since Kasthuri Kumar is planned as a series of mysteries?
Hmmm, too soon to tell. But she’s definitely not gonna get less glamorous! Or less sexual!

Q & A with Parul Sharma

I'm always all excited when Parul Sharma comes up in any discussion about bloggers turned authors, because, what the hell, she's a friend, and she's a mommy blogger, and she's a genuine nice person. Yes, yes, I'm biased and this has nothing to do with her hilarious book, Bringing Up Vasu: That First Year, which you must buy to boost up sales and send into reprint.

Here's a Q&A with her:
1] When you began blogging, did you imagine that this would lead to a book someday? Or was there always a book at the back of your mind?

Sure, I dreamt that publishers all over would be flocking to my doorstep once they read my blog, except that they didn't.
Actually, I started my blog to get writing practice and it served me well to that end. I got some readers and loads of encouragement. Yes, I always wanted to be a writer but even I, in my infinite optimism did not start blogging thinking that it would lead to a book deal. I had to go about it the old-fashioned way and so I finished the manuscript and sent it to a commissioning editor and hoped and prayed like hell that she would like it. My publishers came to know of my blog much later when I asked them if I should mention the book on it. I think the exact response was on the enthusiastic lines of yes, whatever but then, mine is not a hugely popular blog.

2] How easy or difficult is it to make the transition from blogging short posts, to writing a full fledged book, what is the shift in mind set required?
Well, I don't think it is particularly difficult but you do need to be oriented differently. There are many things one needs to consider while writing a full-length novel, the storyline needs to be consistent, the characters need to be fleshed out, the level of engagement needs to be high and so on. The stakes are higher while writing a book. Blogging in that sense is more fun and it allows you a lot more flexibility. I write about anything that catches my fancy on my blog. In a book, I need to stick to the story, a singularly tough task. Another thing - because of the comments they leave and the blogs they themselves maintain, one more or less knows who the blog-reader is. There is no such luxury while writing novels.
Also, I get away with using adverbs in the blog, something I have been repeatedly told is absolutely unforgivable if you want to be a good writer.

3] How do you respond to the criticism that most bloggers turned authors recycle the same stuff from their blogs into their books?
I think we end up writing about things that we feel close to and some overlap is inevitable in the first published work and the blog. Debuts do tend to be semi-autobiographical. As the writer gains experience, one hopes she can develop the chops necessary to explore other territories.

4] Who are your favourite authors and which are your favourite books?
I love P G Wodehouse, Stephen King, Bill Bryson, Alexander McCall Smith and Shivani and have read most of their works. I like Murakami a lot too. Amongst the newer authors that I have read I have liked Daniyal Mueenuddin and Suketu Mehta a fair bit. Oh and I am a fervent admirer of Bill Watterson.
My favourite books are To Kill A Mockingbird, City of Djinns, The Lord Of The Rings, On Writing, all Calvin and Hobbes comics, Persepolis...this could go on.

5] Any advice you would give bloggers aspiring to be authors?
The same as I would give to anyone aspiring to be an author - just write. Don't wait for divine inspiration, don't seek the perfect words to come to you, don't await the perfect pitch for your voice. The only way to be a writer is to write. Boring I know, but true. It's like any other job. You get up in the morning and you show up at your writing desk.

6] What should readers watch out for, are you working on a next book?
My second book is due for release in September 2010. The working title is By The Watercooler.

Here are the links to some reviews on the blogosphere of Bringing Up Vasu
Mamma mia me a Mamma
Monika Manchanda
R's Mom
Aneela of Golkamra
Purple Homes
The Hungry Bookworm

(If I've missed out on any links to this book, do send them in, and links to blogs with reviews of other blogger turned author written books are also welcome! Help me out here folks, you know I am scatterbrained at the best of times.)