Ekta | wisdomekta

A 448-page memoir published on November 13, 2018, is the saga of how culture shapes life. The book is written by Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama, the first African-American woman who served as the first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. And this is her story of zeal, emotions, and family love. Mrs. Obama's candour dissipates a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling. The book is divided into three sections: Becoming Me (my favourite), Becoming Us, and Becoming More. She invites readers into her world, chronicling her childhood hardships, her efforts during school and college, the hardship of being a professional, and then her public life. There is one baseline of the book (i.e. beside her own life) which is the persistent conversation about her family, her husband, and her journey of motherhood. What I loved about her writing is that she kept it real. The fear, triumphs, anxiety, hopes, disappointments, etc… She tells her full story as she has lived it. The...

  A recent movie adaption of this novel with the same title Where the Crawdads Sing led me to this read. Although the movie is yet to be watched, this book has left me with a spellbinding story. The novel captivated me with its mystery till the end. The story revolves around the wild girl named Catherine “Kya” Clark also popularly called “The Marsh Girl,” or “swamp trash”. She is a figure of paradox and prejudice in the remote North Carolina coastal community of Barkley Cove in the 1950s and '60s. The novel tells the tale in two timelines that slowly intertwine. The first timeline describes the life and adventures of a young Kya as she grows up isolated in the marsh of North Carolina. The second timeline follows an investigation into the apparent murder of Chase Andrews, a local celebrity of Barkley Cove, a fictional North Carolina coastal town. Abandoned by her mother who is no longer able to withstand her drunken husband’s beatings and then by her four siblings, Kya grows up in ...

  Disclaimer- This post is part of trait-series-for-kids which I began to search and write for my kids in 2019. With this series of blog posts containing knowledge-slash-experience, I pray from the almighty that our kids have a simple but magical life. The contents of the series are the outcome of a rigorous search, several readings and first-hand experiences, and self-reflection. Nae Salanghaneun Adeul , (In Korean meaning My dear Sons)      As you grow, there shall be extents in life when you might feel glued. The things around, passing scenarios, existing dilemmas, and even the behaviour of loved ones might not be making any sense to you. Your dreams may be looking distant, the purpose for the moment lost and you may start wondering about the ultimate game of life. The questions about your existence start challenging your efforts and actions. But in these times, you must conserve the highest of hope and faith that some transformation is near. It is because the c...

Looking for a dose for improving the thinking patterns … This is the book. Everyone should read it. That’s it!!! This book is apt for a reader like me who wishes to know about different and exciting concepts related to human behavior and dig deep into the mysteries of human emotions. The whys and hows of the sophisticated concept of human thinking find an interesting articulation throughout the book. It is jotted down in a tone that is easy to understand and outlines the theme deeper in the reader’s mind. Thinking, Fast and Slow talks about varied topics and subtopics which especially include… Concept of "Two selves" (the experiencing self and the remembering self), two types of thinking systems (System 1 and system 2), topics related to illusions of understanding & confidence, the process of choices, WYSIATI (What you see is all there is) , etc. These themes written in finite pages present infinite possibilities of comprehending the “human thinking process” as “ simpl...

This book amassed the highest rating on social media in recent years. And frankly , this is the prime reason for me to read it. But, (sadly!!) my opinion rather than the verdict is that the book is not-that-goo d. For me, the hype of the book is the classic case of media-driven marketing for a lazy attempt to assemble a bunch of write-ups ( and not essays…as the book title says ) claiming to be a self-help book. An Internet search shows Brianna Wiest is a 29 years old blogger-turned-writer. This book is an anthology of her published work on her blog. The featured pieces align to topics like… why one should pursue purpose over passion, embrace both negative and positive thinking to keep oneself on track, see the wisdom in daily routine, and become aware of the cognitive biases that are creating the way one sees her/his life …and these are the "glam" arena for the book. I do not hate this book (or the young author…as I feel that "human age" has no link to "soul ...

  Pic from internet Women have been the silent partners in the building of our world. Seldom has it happened that the efforts are voiced with the same intensity as those for contributions of males in the journey of human progress are shouted . The data gap has widened- in places where the data is collected, there is no sex-disaggregated data; and where we do have data, it is conveniently overlooked. The book highlights the adverse effect of this data gap on the overall grooming of fairer counterparts of the human species. "Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men" is the version of all the good that has happened vis-à-vis the silent and not-generally recognized contribution of another half of the human population, especially in terms of the records and data. With 16 chapters, she has investigated the shocking root cause of gender inequality and took a dive into women’s lives at home, the workplace, the public square, the doctor’s office, and more uni...

  The Kaurava have their strength.  The Pandavas have their weakness.  The Kaurava have their virtues.  The Pandavas have their vices. Lord Ram has his moments of hesitation.  Lady Sita has intensity. Lord Shiva has anger.  Lady Kali has her grouse. Ravan is all hurt.  Kumbarkarna is all heart  Then how do you justify who is more right or less wrong?  Growing up with the Indian epics, the in-depth explained moral virtues of these stories, and my kid-self living in imagination with the fascinating characters from mythology…each possessing unique emotions, peculiarities, and life troubles – Have somehow given me some amazing solutions regarding day-to-day life challenges. Like, there is no "right or wrong" but a "right or left"…because the dharma, action, and reactions in any situation are merely subjectively objective for the person. This last read book “Dharma” is a subtle presentation of the most complicated and intriguing concepts of Dhar...