Ekta | wisdomekta

  The Curious Secrets of Yesterday by Namrata Patel turned out to be such a pleasant surprise. I didn’t expect to get pulled into the story so quickly, but Tulsi Gupta’s journey kept me engaged from the very beginning. Tulsi is restless, reluctant, and quietly searching for a life that feels truly her own. She works with her mother, Devi, and grandmother, Aruna, in their family spice store Rasa, where she is being trained to take over the business of healers someday. But beneath that expectation, she is still trying to understand who she really is and what she feels called to do. As the story unfolds, Tulsi begins to question the beliefs she grew up with and the future everyone seems to have imagined for her. That inner conflict makes her story feel honest, relatable, and deeply human. While the main thread of the story is about self-discovery, the book has so many smaller layers that are just as interesting. There is a sweet romance, a mystery around Tulsi’s father, a social media...

  “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...

And the story continues to flow smoothly like water. The charm and emotions follow Days at the Morisaki Bookshop . In this novel, we find a deepening of the relationship between Takako, her uncle Satoru, and the people in their lives. The book roams around themes of family, love, grief, healing, and personal growth, as well as the magical power of books and bookstores. Takako, the protagonist from the first book, is in a much better place. No longer the heartbroken, directionless young woman seeking refuge above her uncle's shop, she's now confidently pursuing a career in design while still lending a hand at the Morisaki Bookshop. Her relationship with books has deepened, and it's a joy to see her enthusiasm for literature blossom. But the real heart of this story belongs to Takako's aunt and uncle, Momoko and Satoru. Their reunion at the end of the previous book hinted at unresolved tensions and doesn't shy away from exploring the complexities of their ...

, “Naam Bade aur darshan chote” (Review in one line!!) Well, I chose this book purely because it is an international bestseller and because I had a fair experience reading Malcolm Gladwell’s Outlier. However, this time it was a little disappointing to read from him. Throughout the book, I found baseless arguments and irrelevant examples trying to prove some or other points. “The tipping point” with a glowing matchstick ‘i’ in “po i nt” (book cover) poofed my interest with the 1st chapter titled Three Rules of Epidemics wherein the point was made that just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. The book is generally written from a socio-economic perspective and discusses how information spreads among people, why some ideas/products spread quickly and effectively, and whether there are kinds of people who are better at transm...

Book review- Satyayoddha Kalki: Eye of Brahma (Book 2) & Mahayoddha Kalki: Sword of Shiva (Book 3) by Kevin Missal Dharmayoddha Kalki—The Avatar of Vishnu (Book 1) was a two-part story - ‘The Battle of Sambala' and' The Rise of Kali’. Satyayoddha Kalki: Eye of Brahma (Book 2) starts with part three of the story, ‘The Coup at Indragarh,’ and ends with ‘The Dandak Rebellion’. Kalki, accompanied by Kripa and Padma, moves towards the Mahendragiri mountains to attain a higher power. Meanwhile, Arjan is captured by Kali's force and forced to entertain royals employing the duel. Kali's sister attempts to reveal her assistant's true motive and, in that process, meets with a new ally, the daughter of the king of Indragrah. Manasa enters the Naga Kingdom and is met with several shocks and tragedies. Overall, book two of this Kalki series is an exciting story woven with multiple important characters and their part in it. The author has wonderfully portrayed ...

To finish this 550-page book “Thank You for Being Late: an Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations” , I had to become a fan of Thomas Friedman. This is not merely for the sake of finishing the book but also because, as I have completed the book, I can visualise the beauty and the ugly of the world's progress going hand in hand. The book revolves around the theme that technology (Moore’s law ), Market (globalisation) and nature (climate change and biodiversity loss)- the confluence of these three accelerating forces driving human life which are caught in the nebula of supernova (a term given by the writer for the ever-expanding e-world) are transforming the workplace, politics, geopolitics, ethics, and community.  However, amidst these dizzying accelerations, he requests us to allow ourselves to slow down and be late for pausing to appreciate this extraordinary historical epoch we’re passing through and reflect on its possibilities and dangers. The...

  To be forthcoming, I chose to read this book because someone gifted me Beyond Order by Jordan Peterson (his second book) and somehow I guessed the book would be more insightful if I first completed the introductory book of the series. I am yet to open Beyond Order…just pausing for the overwhelming read “12 Rules for Life” to get settled inside my limited psyche. At the end of this read, I find that this book is like a handbook having a counter-intuitive strategy for a population hooked on the instant gratification of ideological conformity and social media likes. It provides the ‘logic’ and ‘sense’ to the impulses of the new generation and works as a contemporary self-help book wherein the writer attempts to explain that our norms and culture exist for a reason. 12 Rules For Life, as the title says, lays out a set of 12 simple principles that can help us become more disciplined, behave better, act with integrity, and balance our lives while enjoying them as much as we can. T...