Author: Adi Sathe

  • With Love; From Aditya’s book-shelf to BlogchatterA2Z

    With Love; From Aditya’s book-shelf to BlogchatterA2Z

    It’s this time of the year when a blogger starts panicking about what should one write throughout the month of April as their entries for April A2Z. Because April is just around the corner and you have no clue about what to write. If you are a part of a community, then a pressure might get more. Few of your fellow bloggers have already scheduled half of their posts. I am one of those who is panicking at the last moment. However, my favorite thing in life has come to the rescue like a best buddy. Yes, I am talking about books cause I can’t write 26 posts about coffee alone.

    Good fellows at Blogchatter; our lovely blogging community; have decided to dedicate this A2Z for “Blogging and Friendship”. And for me, books are the perfect friend who will be with you when you are alone. In fact, a book is a friend who lets you be alone even if you are surrounded by a crowd.

    My love for books is a well known fact for my close friends and family. It has gone to that level that now I don’t get anything but bookish stuff as gifts on various occasions. (I am thinking how no one has thought about the Kindle e-reader as a gifting option? 😉) So I thought it would be a great idea to talk about 26 books which I enjoyed reading during this year’s April A2Z.

    If you have also read the book, we all can talk about it in the comments. Share our notes on what we enjoyed in the book or didn’t. So, don’t forget to join me on this bookish trail for the month of April and enjoy my 26 book recommendations. and for more bookish content, click here.

  • Grandma’s alluring recipe

    Grandma’s alluring recipe

    Grandma's Alluring Recipe with a sketch of an old lady

    When I think about my life of almost three and half decades, I find that my grandma has a lot of influence on me. She developed all the soft skills which makes life pleasurable. She has mastered the art of cooking a perfect recipe which will entice all your senses and bring joy when you are finished with it. This is the one recipe which I find most fascinating and yet alluring at the same time. This is a perfect serving of something which you can enjoy at a table, or when you are lying awake in bed in the wee hours of night, or while lazing on a couch on a Sunday afternoon. Basically, you can just devour this at any moment of your liking. Can you guess what it could be?

    It’s not what you think

    I am definitely not talking about any of cake, bread or some other complicated dessert or some exotic dish from Mediterranean or European cuisine which my grandma cooked. In fact, it’s not anything related to food. I want to decode and recreate her master recipe of a perfect story. There are hundreds of best and renowned storytellers around the globe. However, for me, she is The OG storyteller. I have grown up with her stories. 

    Her stories featured very common characters. If it’s written for children to read, the protagonists will be someone whom you will find playing with you on community gardens or playgrounds. Her stories for an adult audience, plot points were about the general life situation. Even though she wrote stories based on mythological characters, her stories were never fantastical or portraying anything larger than life events. Lord Krishna in her stories would be as human as you would be. And yet his deeds fascinated you.

    I want to create the same magic one day

    I had tried my hands on writing some stories yet I could not find her secret ingredient which makes the story exciting yet relatable. In 2021, my grandma passed on to tell the stories to the gods and demigods above. And I have lost the opportunity to get trained by her, it would have been a perfect masterclass for me. Yet I dream that one day, I will stumble upon that mystery ingredient which makes the recipe of storytelling fool-proof. I will always wait for that day, and in the meantime, will keep trying my hands to perfect this alluring recipe.

    This post is a part of Blogchatter Blog Hop. If you want to read more such posts, click here.

  • नदीसाठी नादखुळा असलेल्या एका नदीष्टाची गोष्ट

    नदीसाठी नादखुळा असलेल्या एका नदीष्टाची गोष्ट

    एखादं पुस्तक वाचण्यापुरते कोणाकडून उसने घ्यावे आणि वाचून झाल्यावर हे पुस्तक संग्रही असायलाच हवे असे फार फार दिवसांनी आज मनोज बोरगावकर यांचे नदीष्ट वाचताना झाले. तसे पाहिले तर हे पुस्तक वाचायला तसा ४ वर्ष उशीरच झाला. अगदी प्रकाशनच्या दिवशी विकत घेऊन वाचण्यासारखे हे पुस्तक आहे यात अजिबात शंका नाही. आमच्या नाशकाच्या वरच्या बाजूला उगम पावणारी नदी पुढे जात जात नांदेडच्या बोरगावकरांना इतकी माया लावते, हे वाचताना केवळ गोदेच्या पाण्यावर पोसलेला अजून एक पिंड म्हणून की काय माझे एक वेगळेच नाते या पुस्तकाशी जोडले गेले आहे.

    विनायक पाटील यांनी पुस्तकाला अभिप्राय देताना म्हटल तशीच पुस्तकाची शैली अगदीच वेगळी आहे. पण पुस्तक खाली ठेवावे वाटत नाही इतकी मनाची घट्ट पकड घेणारी आहे. निवडून काढावे आणि मधून मधून वाचत राहावे असे खूप सारे विचारधन या संपूर्ण पुस्तकात पानापानावर विखुरले आहे.

    मलपृष्ठावरून

    विषय चाकोरी बाहेरचा आहे. शैली पहिल्या धारेची आहे. थेट कोंडूरा किंवा बनगरवाडीची आठवण करून देणारे लिखाण आहे. ‘नदीष्ट’ ही मनोज बोरगावकर यांची केवळ कादंबरी नाही, तो आहे त्यांच्या प्रत्यक्षदर्शी आणि अनुभवसिद्ध घटनांचा कसदार ललित गद्य हुंकार. ‘नदीष्ट’ ही मराठी कादंबरीविश्वातील अकरावी दिशा आहे.
    —
    विनायक पाटील, नाशिक

    पुस्तकाविषयी

    नांव: नदीष्ट
    लेखक: मनोज बोरगावकर
    पृष्ठ संख्या: १६८
    प्रकाशक: ग्रंथाली प्रकाशन
    आयएसबीएन-१०: 9357950702
    आयएसबीएन-१३: 978-9357950701

    माझे रेटिंग

    कथा: ५/५
    लेखनशैली: ५/५
    मुखपृष्ठ: ५/५

    एकूण रेटिंग: ५/५

    कुठे मिळेल?

    तुम्ही वाचायला हवे?

    आजवर जर तुम्ही ही कादंबरी वाचली नसेल तर मग पहिल्यांदा जवळच्या दुकानात जा, तुमची प्रत घेऊन या. आणि अगदीच घरबसल्या हवं असेल तर ऑनलाईन मागवा पण हे पुस्तक वाचायला विसरू नका, टाळू नका. वाचून झालं की नक्की सांगाल, अगदी उत्तम आहे म्हणून….

    माझ्या आवडीच्या पुस्तकांबद्दल अजून माहिती हवी असेल तर इथे क्लिक करा.

  • या तळ्याच्या खोल गर्भी

    या तळ्याच्या खोल गर्भी

    बऱ्याच वेळी आपल्या मनात खोलवर भावनांचे कल्लोळ सुरू असतात पण रोजच्या आयुष्यात सामोरे जावे लागणाऱ्या परिस्थितीमुळे आपण त्यांना खोलवरच दाबून ठेवत असतो. पण आत कुठे तरी हा सगळा ताण, राग, उद्वेग सारं काही खदखदत असते. पण चेहऱ्यावर आपण ओढलेला असतो तो शांत दिसणारा मुखवटा. अगदी या निश्चल तळ्यासारखा. याच भावनेतून सुचलेली ही कविता.

    या तळ्याच्या खोल गर्भी,
    गूढ काही दडवलेले.
    उसळूनी येइल झणी ते,
    शांत जरी ते भासताहे .

    थंडशा पाण्या मधेही,
    दाह तो ना शांत झाला.
    अजूनही फुलतोच आहे,
    धुमसणारा हा निखारा.

    भोवतीच्या या तळ्याची,
    वाफ होईल त्या क्षणाला.
    ज्या क्षणी लागेल बत्ती,
    अन् फुटे अंगार सारा…

    तळ्याच्या काठावरून

    नाशिकच्या सातपूर औद्योगिक वसाहतीच्या मागच्या बाजूला असलेला हा पाझर तलाव. अतिशय शांत आणि हिरवागार असणारा हा परिसर नाशिकमधील एक छान जागा आहे. तळ्याच्या बाजूने जाणारा रस्ता तुम्हाला सातपूर MIDC मध्ये घेऊन जाईल. कधी गेलात नाशिकला तर एखादी चक्कर नक्की टाका. नाशिककरांच्या भाषेत सांगायचे तर एक पट्टा मारून या!

    माझ्या आणखी इतर कविता वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा.

  • Charming Spell of Desai’s “Shriman Yogi”

    Charming Spell of Desai’s “Shriman Yogi”

    In honor of the former president of India late Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Maharashra celebrates “Reading Inspiration Day” on 15th of October. On that occasion I wrote a post about the book which inspired me in the world of books. It cultivated a hobby of reading. It was a Marathi post. Today I have the opportunity to bring that book in front of a wider audiance through Blogchatter’s bloghopping prompt.

    There’s a cupboard in my house, my grandma’s cupboard. It’s filled with all sorts of books. This is the story of my entry into the enchanting world of books. I must have been in 4th or 5th standard back then. But back in those days, my interaction with that cupboard was limited to stealing some glances at them if the door is open. My grandpa used to be a member of big public library in Nashik. So those borrowed books was in house too. But I never felt like picking one up and read.

    But one day, it was all supposed to change.

    I think it was a summer break for my school. I dared one afternoon and opened that cupboard. While browsing through the shelves, reading book titles and author names on spines of well stacked books. However, one particular book caught my eye. It was quite a huge chunky book. But the size didn’t grab my attention. Binding of the book was unique. Unique yellowish hard bound cover was unmarked. It didn’t bear any title, any name. I grabbed that book and took it out. It felt quite heavy at that time, with 1000 plus pages in a hard cover binding. I opened the cover and title in bold orange caught my eye.

    “श्रीमान योगी”. For obvious reasons, i couldn’t understand the meaning of the words. Yet I stated reading it. And man, what a joy it was! Ranjeet Desai is the man who showed me the what joy of reading meant. There must be something about Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj back in school that year, to story in book felt much more gripping and interesting than chapters of my textbook. I was oblivious to the greatness of this author. I finished the book in straight 3 days, loosing track of food, sleep, playtime and all other attractions which a 10 years old kid could have in late 90s.

    After this, there was no turning back

    I got hooked on the habit of reading. I started picking up the books borrowed from library. Many of which I have left unfinished as I couldn’t understand a thing in it at that age. But I have read this particular book number of times. Even now, I pull this one off the shelf and start reading from a random page. It still gives me the same pleasure. Recently I bought two short story collections of Desai’s stories. I have finished बाबूलमोरा and will start मोरपंखी सावल्या now as my next read.

    Fortunately for you all, Vikrant Pande has translated this Marathi book into English and Harper Collins has published it Under Name of “Shivaji: The Great Maratha”. So, grab your copy and let me know what you think.

    This post is a part of Blogchatter Blog Hop. If you want any more book recommendations click here, and to listen to my poetry audiobook, checkout this.

  • Very Moving Tale of Partition – The Map & The Scissors

    Very Moving Tale of Partition – The Map & The Scissors

    2022 is an important milestone for independent India. We are celebrating 75 years of our independence from the yoke of the British Empire. And yet, there is a frill of sorrow to this whole celebration and achievement. On the eve of our independence, our country broke and a new nation was born on our two sides. The Map and The Scissors by Amit Majumdar is the story of this partition and the men behind this.

    Whole partition thing is so tragic that any book on the subject can turn into lament and bashing of the other side. However, Amit has traded this path so nicely that you never feel it has gone down that slippery slope.

    Why you should read it?

    The way Amit builds his characters has a very unique charm to it. You can see them come alive in front of you and start acting out the scenes he has written for them in his book. Secondly, Amit has rightly played on the middle ground and not taken any side. Both the sides are developed equally and got their dues. There no “Right Side” and “Wrong Side” in his book. He has dramatized the history in form of this historical fiction.

    Frankly speaking, I was attracted to this book because of it’s title as I am a professional map-maker. And the fact that there’s a map on the cover sealed the deal for me. I loved the way Devangana Dash has designed this cover. Full marks to the design!

    About the book

    Title: The Map and The Scissors
    Author: Amit Majumdar
    Pages: 330
    Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

    My rating

    Story: 4/5
    Cover Design: 5/5

    Overall rating: 4.5/5

    Where to Buy

    Should you read it?

    If you are looking for unbiased story around partition of India, you should definitely consider this book as your next read.

    This review is powered by the Blogchatter Book Review Program. You can read more of my book recommendations here.