Thursday 22 January 2015

COVER REVEAL OF KALEIDOSCOPE BY RACHNA GUPTA.




Cover Reveal

Kaleidoscope
“Every beating heart will confess that once, 
at least 'once in their lifetime they were in love.”
by 
Rachna Gupta 

Blurb 


The collection of poems in this book talks about an emotion so strong that it has the potential to create and destroy! Love in all its capacity has that aura around it; it  needs to be felt and when it resides in your soul you find it giving rise to feelings never experienced before. There is passion and tenderness when being together, estrangement and pain when two souls are apart and then there is joy and relief when bound together again. The 37 poems in this book talk about this amazing feeling called love!

About Rachna Gupta

Rachna is an educationist, content writer, book reviewer and blogger. Being a thinker, her mind is always brimming with ideas that are transformed into poems, prose, quotations and stories. She chooses to use writing to speak about things that matter to her. Her poems are made up of simple yet meaningful words. When she is not writing, working with an NGO or busy with her chores, she is lost in the imaginary world created by other authors! Her first book of poems and prose titled Myriad Hues, was published in March 2014. You can find out more about her from her website - www.rachnagupta.in 
You can also connect with her on Twitter - @GuptaRach


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Book Launch by:

Tuesday 20 January 2015

COVER REVEAL: SHE LOVES ME, HE LOVES ME NOT by ZEENAT MAHAL.




Cover Reveal

She Loves Him, He Loves Her Not
Stripped of her illusions, Zoella creates her own twist in the fairy tale, beating him at his own game.

by 
Zeenat Mahal 

Blurb 


Zoella’s been in love with Fardeen, her best friend’s gorgeous older brother, since she was ten, but he’s always seen her as a ‘good girl’—not his type—and he can barely remember her name. Besides, he’s engaged to a gorgeous leggy socialite, someone from the same rarefied social strata as the imposing Malik family.

Zoella has no chance with him.

Until a brutal accident leaves Fardeen scarred and disfigured, that is. Suddenly bereft of a fiancee, Fardeen is bitterly caustic, a shell of the man he used to be, a beast that has broken out of the fairy tale world he once lived in. And a twist of fate lands him his very own princess—Zoella.

The beast, however, is a far cry from the Fardeen of her dreams. Stripped of her illusions, Zoella creates her own twist in the fairy tale, beating him at his own game.


About Zeenat Mahal 

Zeenat Mahal (@zeenat4indireads) is an avid reader and has been writing for as long as she can remember. She has an MPhil in English literature from Government College Lahore and holds a MFA in creative writing from Kingston University, London. She won a BBC short story competition in 2001 and has been a regular contributor to newspapers. Zeenat has eclectic tastes and an insatiable desire to learn. Her romances are a heady mix of the traditional and the contemporary, old world values face the challenges of a shrinking globe that impinge upon and help shape South Asian sensibilities.

‘Haveli’ is Zeenat’s first published novella. Currently she is working on a literary novel with elements of magical realism, while continuing to write romances. She can be contacted on her FB page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zeenat-Mahal.

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Book Launch by:

Thursday 15 January 2015

Ri - HOMELAND OF UNCERTAINTY: BOOK REVIEW AND GUEST POST.




Ri - Homeland of Uncertainty
by 
Paulami Duttagupta 




The Blurb
Ri- Homeland of Uncertainty is adapted from the National Award Winning Khasi film by the same name.

Trapped in the limbo between ideology and conscience, Manbha finds him himself part of a terror outfit. An unexpected opportunity, anger, squalor and disillusionment - followed by and armed combat and injury lead to the soul- searching that form the substance of this moving tale.

My Review:
 
The story opens with the police inspector addressing the press about the recent encounter with the terrorists. As it is the norm, the media does not buy the statement given by the police.Familiar isn't it? 

There are three main voices in this story - the one of the law enforcement, second, that of the terrorists and last, the voice of the people. Like any other region rife with violence and terror activities, Meghalaya was also one such state that was filled with uncertainty between the years 2000 - 2004. Ri, documents one such story...from the perspective of all the three voices. The people are terrorized, the businessmen and merchants were subject to extortion and murder. Curfews, bundhs and living in fear had become a way of life for the people.

The law enforcement agencies were trying their best to stop and eliminate terrorism while trying to protect the people, which was a very idealistic thought but not impossible.

The terrorists' filled with misplaced ideology that they were freedom fighters is pitiable highlighting that the youth can be brainwashed so easily to commit crime for the vested interests of some.
 
The story moves quickly and is gripping that it is difficult to put the book down. The character of Kyndiah, Manbha and Emika is well described. Kyndiah comes across as a dedicated and disciplined police officer who has no personal life to speak of. Manbha, the youth with an ideology of being a freedom fighter and not a terrorist. Emika the journalist turned teacher, who is a victim of terror, who believes in the rehabilitation of the young terrorists.
 
What I did not like:
 
The story becomes preachy towards the end. I would have loved to read more about the actual fears and insecurities of the people. And Emika not afraid of a gun toting terrorist seems a bit far fetched. The conflict could have been pronounced.

My question to the author:   
Ri is a fictitious depiction of various mindsets of people of Meghalaya. Yet, some amount of research must have gone into writing the script which must have been drawn from the real life incidents. Can you tell us the research that went into the writing of Ri? How did you come about writing the script of Ri?
Paulami: At the scripting level there was a lot of research for every scene. Case studies and news paper clips had helped me to make the story closer to reality. I have also referred to a lot of geography texts to stay closer to the feel of the region. A lot of it is also first person account. Since we were dealing with a very sensitive subject, I had to be double sure before putting down a scene.  Manbha or SP Kyndiah are maybe people I have seen around me in Shillong. These are just names that I have given to add flesh to my story. Ri talks about a treacherous phase of Meghalaya, and through different layers and emotions I have just tried to tell that story. Sometime when I read it, I almost feel I am reading nonfiction. The killing of Agarwal, or the shootout that kills Emika’s father has all happened and had left bloody spots on the hilly abode.  Cinema in India has talked about Kashmir and Naxalites.   Ri was our opportunity to reach out to India with our story. Thus research was the backbone of the script.

Buy @


Watch It 



Meet the Author





Born in Shillong, many moons ago, with schooling at Loreto Convent, and an English Honors from St. Edmunds College, Paulami Duttagupta started her career with All India Radio Shillong. She had written and also given her voice to a few shows there. Later she came down to Kolkata and got a post graduate degree in Comparative Literature from Jadavpur University. She had also taken up a fancy to learning Spanish, but today confesses that she has forgotten most of it.
She has written for ‘The Times of India’ in the ‘Guwahati-Shillong plus Edition’ and also ‘The Shillong Times’. Television had always attracted her and was connected to the Bangla TV industry for about 6 years. She was associated with ETV- Bangla, Akash Bangla and Sony Aath in this period.
Having left her day job in 2012, Paulami took up full time writing. Her first novel, “Pinjar” released in early 2012.
Her second novel “Unplanned Destinty” released in 2014. She is also the screenplay writer of the national award winning Khasi film – “Ri Homeland of Uncertainty”.

“Ri” has been adapted into a novel and was released on September 14,2014

She is currently working on her next project as movie script writer.

Apart from writing full length novels, she has written several short stories and articles. She has also contributed to the “Minds@work Anthology” and the “Family Matters International Anthology” in 2013.

Recently she has contributed to the “Learning and Creativity Anthology” , “Her Story Anthology”, and “Celebrating India – Love across Borders Anthology”.

When she is not writing or watching movies, Paulami is either reading biographies or classic pieces of literature. Cricket, food, cinema, books and music are an integral part of her life. 


You can stalk Paulami Duttagupta  @

                          

           
       

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Some extra Info on the book 
This book is an adaptation from a movie. Why? The author will answer that in one of our blogs which we will post soon. Stay tuned !!!


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