Ekta | wisdomekta

  “Smart without being a smart ass. Talented without being boastful. Not afraid to roll up their sleeves and clean a floor or cook a meal.” To recover from the hangover of my last read, which was “cold” and “brutal,” I needed something “warm” and “light.” My Goodreads list never fails me, and this time it led me to a laugh-out-loud read with a wonderfully Hollywood-style charm. It was the kind of book anyone finish in one sitting. So, the story goes like this- Abbey thinks she is about to have the best day of her life — maybe even a proposal — but everything falls apart when her boyfriend tells her he has met someone else. As if that is not bad enough, she also loses her job. In a bold attempt to reinvent herself, Abbey spends her wedding savings on an apartment in the building she is always dreamed of living in and builds a new life, complete with a wardrobe to match. But keeping up the perfect new image gets complicated when her family invites her ex, who is still a close family ...

Kafka's writing is never dull. This is my second novel after    The Metamorphosis , but the grimness and nightmarish feeling still linger. After reading this one, I see a pattern in Kafka’s novels: the main character is introduced to an unusual situation, suffers, and then gradually meets his demise. “The Trial” is about a lone man, Josef K, a senior bank clerk who is arrested on his 30th birthday for an unspecified crime by unidentified authorities and due to faceless bureaucracy. Bizarrely, he is not jailed and is told he can go about his daily life as he navigates an incomprehensible, endless judicial process. The nature of the crime is never revealed to the reader or even to Joseph himself. Joseph progresses through various stages of confusion and paranoia, trying to understand his situation as he moves from one strange situation to another. Somewhere in the middle of the novel, I felt as if Josef K. is paranoid, and that he is not on trial at all. The novel presents a co...

  “Instead of dividing democracies from totalitarian regimes, a new Silicon Curtain may separate all humans from our unfathomable algorithmic overlords.” Thrilling, chilling and a shift-thinking book!! With his unique ability to unite both history and its grandest megatrends in a single view, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI is my next read. It took me longer to read because I kept rereading certain parts. This is not because the book is difficult, quite the opposite, but because I wanted to understand the author’s point of view and let it sink into my head. It is that kind of book which direct towards many futures depending on what kind of present steps we are venturing!! The book takes a holistic viewpoint, considering the history of communication, knowledge, human networks, inorganic networks, and, finally, computer politics. This broader lens makes the book especially powerful, because it shows that today’s technological revolution is part...

Disclaimer: This series, “My Old-soul Twinkle,” is my heartfelt attempt to capture the endless stream of thoughts racing through my mind. At times, these musings may seem confusing—or even a little "out there"—but I genuinely welcome your counterpoints and insights. Dive in and share your thoughts! Whether it is the newlywed bride crushed by the invisible weight of emotional labor, the corporate employee drowning in the "next task" without room to breathe, or the quiet caretakers of our everyday world, we are burning out our maintenance crew. My old soul never understood some of the ways our systems work . Like the obsession with the starting line. We throw parties for the ribbon-cutting, “heavily” celebrate the newlywed couple, and cheer for the fresh graduate landing their first big job. Over time, we have collectively built a society that deeply appreciates, demands, and richly rewards primarily creators and builders. And look, there is absolutely no harm in tha...

  “Everything is going to be fine. Just keep thinking that and keep looking forward.” A tale of family, 3 generations, one decision and a secret - this latest book was a perfect quick read. Thanks to Amazon Kindle for this suggestion! The author of the book, Vasundra Tailor, was born in India and raised in Zimbabwe, then called Rhodesia. She is a qualified pharmacist, and this is her first book. The Secret of Elephants is about a family torn apart by a shocking and secret event that occurs in 1950s India, and the uncovering of that secret in modern-day Zimbabwe. Penniless and trapped in a loveless marriage, a young mother, Nirmala from Navsari, India, discovers a mysterious letter addressed to her long-dead father from Zimbabwe, opening a door to a past Nirmala never knew existed and a future she never imagined possible. “You know what bullies are like. The minute you show your fear, they bully you some more. Don’t ever let them smell your fear.” With themes of family, class, trag...

  “Yes, my dear Noora, and then, as you say, God is a river! All religions are like rivers, and they flow to the same sea.” The River That Remembers is yet another gem from amazing writer Mona Verma. This is my third read from the writer after Daivya Sutras and Lost and Found in Banaras . The book binds the lives of Yashveer, Mahua, Devika, Amy, Emma, and Noor against the backdrop of India’s struggle for freedom from the British Raj, culminating in the Partition of India in 1947. The story tactfully yet emotionally shows how history enters ordinary homes and changes everything. It is a novel about love, faith, family, loss, and the memories that remain long after violence has passed. At the heart of the novel is Mahua from Ghakkar Mandi, now eighty years old, frail, and drifting between past and present. Through her fading memories, the story slowly unfolds, revealing the emotional lives of those around her.  What stands out most for me after reading novel is - The painful t...