Author: Adi Sathe

  • One unfinished pursuit

    One unfinished pursuit

    This has been a long overdue review. I received the review copy from Blogchatter sometimes in 2022. Life happened, I moved houses. Unfortunately, the copy ended up in some wrong box during the move. Recently, I stumbled upon it.

    When you are dialled in for achieving success in your career, your focus on life kind of takes a backseat. Isn’t this a part of the “Career Romance” trope? When you are running behind a successful career, you end up being alone for a longer time. Then suddenly you stumble upon a person who breaks the spell and reveals the joy of life. This is what Pursuit: Drawn by Destiny is in a nutshell.

    Should you read it or not?

    Pooja has written a nice pacy story which hooks you in from the start with a nicely crafted strong female protagonist who is ambitious, courageous and hungry for success. She has developed the story around this character and keeps you interested in the book. On the other hand, the book lacks in the development of other characters. It feels like the author ran out of paint when she reached the portraits of other characters. They feel like abstract forms without much detailing and story arcs of their own.

    Most of the story moves in the expatriot circle of Mumbai. Yet it feels like the story is set in some fictional place. Characteristics of Mumbai are missing from the story. It feels like expats in Mumbai are moving with their own bubble indifferent to their surroundings and dealing with only of their kinds.

    If you are hungry for some romance novel with full Bollywood style masala, this book will grab your attention. A director can see a good movie in this story for sure. As a debut novel, it has done a great job of keeping you engaged enough that you will not put the book down till you finish. Hope Pooja improves leaps and bounds in her upcoming stories.

    About the book

    Title: Pursuit: Drawn by Destiny
    Author: Pooja Poddar Marwah
    Pages: 230
    Publisher: Becomeshakeaspeare.com
    ISBN: 9388573641

    My rating

    Story: 2/5
    Cover Design: 2.5/5

    Overall rating: 2/5

    Where to Buy

    Should you read it?

    If you are in looking for frenemy to lover trope, you will enjoy the book. However, I feel it’s one time casual read.

    This review is powered by Blogchatter Book Review Program and I received this copy of Pursuit in exchange for my honest review. You can read more of my book recommendations here.

    I am participating in blogchatter’s TBRChallenge

  • Crime Fiction And Much More

    Crime Fiction And Much More

    I have been fascinated about the crime fiction novel series called ‘Daisy Dalrymple Mysteries’ written by Carola Dunn and have written all about them on my social media many times. As I have been away from my blog for a long time, you guys haven’t heard about it at all. This is the first mention of Daisy Dalrymple Mystery on Adi’s Journal and I am sorry it’s coming as late as book #22 from the series. So, before telling you about this book in particular, I have to tell you all about Daisy.

    Daisy Dalrymple is a remarkable woman living in the 1920s in London. She’s a daughter of the late Viscount Dalrymple of Fair Acres. After losing his elder brother to World War and father with its shock, she moved to London with her mind made up on earning her own living as a Writer living in London. She stumbles across a dead body as she embarks on her first writing assignment for a magazine article. During the course of investigation she joins forces with Scotland Yard and so begins the journey of Daisy Dalrymple and DCI Alec Fletcher.

    What to expect from this?

    I have been enjoying the audiobook version of this series over the past year and just finished listening to the ‘Superfluous Women’. Carola Dunn has done a great job throughout the series to keep you interested in the story but not with the usual trick of the trade by putting a graphic crime scene right at the beginning. As this is a part of a series where the protagonist is not your usual police officer or a professional investigator, the story has a lot more than just crime fiction juices.

    As all the stories set in England of the 1920s, it has a lot of references and backdrops of post war social situations. ‘Superfluous Women’ in particular comments on a peculiar situation of women in the post war era. After the first World War, Britain had over 2 million women more than that of men. They were called surplus women or superfluous women. It is difficult to understand the situation of these women in today’s day and age after a century. However, during that time, living your life alone had a completely different set of challenges. Carola Dunn has done a great job weaving a story around this issue.

    When Daisy and her husband DCI Alec Fletcher visited her friend for dinner on a Sunday evening, a locked cellar door was mentioned for which a key was missing. When Alec picks up the lock with a hope of some wine bottles left behind by the previous owner, they were hit by a stench of a dead body instead. With a Sunday dinner plan foiled, friends become suspects and DCI is a witness in local Inspector Underwood’s murder investigation. As expected, Daisy with her insatiable curiosity starts poking around to clear her friends’ name as Alec joins forces with local chap becoming ‘Officially Unofficial’ expert from Scotland Yard.

    About the book

    • Name of Book: Superfluous Women
    • Author: Carola Dunn, Lucy Rayner
    • (Narrator)
    • Publisher: Blackstone Audio Inc.
    • Publication date: March 26, 2018
    • Lenght: 11 hrs 32 min
    • ISBN: 9781538485958
    • Kindle e-book Price: ₹ 574

    My ratings

    Stories: 4.5/5
    Writing Style: 4/5
    Cover Design: 4/5

    Overall Rating: 4/5

    Special Mention: a commentory about a social issues faced by women of 1920s in England makes it more interesting.

    Where to get your copy

    Should you read it?

    If you are a fan of crime fiction, I would recommend the whole series. Though you can enjoy the books as a stand alone mystery, I am sure you will like the series. This one is one of my favourites from 22 titles I listened to from the series. I will take your leave now and probably dive into the last one remaining from the series, The Corpse at the Crystal Palace

    For more about my views on books, click here.

  • Good food but not so much detecting – Book Review

    Good food but not so much detecting – Book Review

    My introduction to Japanese literary scene is pretty recent and obviously through the translated works. A few gems came to my way were a couple of short books by Haruki Murakami, Honjin Murder by Seishi Yokomizo and Easy Life in Kamasuri. I enjoyed all of them but, you haven’t heard my thoughts about them here. It’s been a long time I have posted a book review for my lovely blog readers. I hope to restart my blogging journey once again with this one.

    The Kamogawa Food Detectives came on my feed while I was casually browsing windows of labyrinth of Amazon. Being a sucker for crime fiction genre and a foodie, it grabbed my attention right away. Before I knew, I had got it on my kindle and already opened to read.

    What to expect from this?

    The Kamogawa Food Detectives take you on a journey of Japanese cuture, cuisine and short trips to a variety of prefectures across the island country. Though it’s about a father-daughter duo hunting for lost recipes for their clients, the book misses the mark about the “hunting” part. It’s a good book offering culinary and philosophical nuggets spread across its pages. Howeveer, if you are coming in with an expectation to read stories of sleuthing, you will be disappointed.

    From the blurb

    What’s the one dish you’d do anything to taste just one more time?

    Down a quiet backstreet in Kyoto exists a very special restaurant. Run by Koishi Kamogawa and her father Nagare, the Kamogawa Diner treats its customers to wonderfully extravagant meals. But that’s not the main reason to stop by . . .

    The father-daughter duo have started advertising their services as ‘food detectives’. Through ingenious investigations, they are capable of recreating a dish from their customers’ pasts – dishes that may well hold the keys to forgotten memories and future happiness.

    From the widower looking for a specific noodle dish that his wife used to cook, to a first love’s beef stew, the restaurant of lost recipes provides a link to the past – and a way to a more contented future.

    About the book

    • Name of Book: The Kamogawa Food Detectives
    • Author: Hisashi Kashiwai
    • Publisher: Mantle
    • Publication date: 5 October 2023
    • Pages: 209
    • ISBN – 10: 0593717716
    • Kindle e-book Price: ₹ 499

    My ratings

    Stories: 3/5
    Writing Style: 3/5
    Cover Design: 4/5

    Overall Rating: 3/5

    Where to get your copy

    Should you read it?

    Overall, it’s a good “one time read” if you are interested in Japanese culture, food and some philosophy!

    For more about my views on books, click here.

  • Remind me, It’s a wonderful world…

    Remind me, It’s a wonderful world…

    Remind me, it's a wonderful world...
    Remind me, will you?

    Today, when I sat down to write this, I found it to be a nice coincidence. My last post on my blog is a free verse about finding joy in small things. It seems this thought hasn’t left my mind and I have something more to talk about. Being a poet, I have a habit of distilling thoughts into a concise and crisp form of expression. So, it’s very unusual for me. I haven’t felt an urge to write something more on a topic about which I have already written a poem.

    When I wrote that free verse, I was thinking about the possibilities of stumbling on unexpected happiness. The joy it sparks when you wake up to a beautiful symphony of birds singing from your balcony. As if it’s a private concert just for you! Imagine the happiness when you come home after a tiring day and someone offers you a chilled glass of sharbat in summer or a hot cup of tea or coffee on some cold day. These are the moments of happiness in this wonderful world on which we stumble upon.

    But today, I want to talk about us missing out on the joy of these small moments, which seem insignificant in our race to paint the “big picture”. In today’s day and age, we all live in a very competitive world. Everybody is chasing one goal after the other, trying to reach the next milestone as soon as you reach the earlier one. It’s such a rush that we forget to even take a breath and celebrate the achievement of reaching the milestone itself.

    Some added pressure to spice it up…

    I feel social media has added a layer of new pressure to track the numbers. Especially for the creators like us, who have not yet made it large. Numbers do matter to us, but sometimes, the traction of numbers takes us away from the joy we used to get from being creative. Sometimes, we feel stuck in a place where we can’t create anymore. Some say it’s our mind playing tricks with us. But today, when I read Yashavi’s post on her blog, I felt that I am not alone who thinks that creative block is real. We have to make a conscious effort to find that spark of joy. That too, if we are lucky enough to understand that we have lost it in the first place.

    For the past few days, I had been mulling over these thoughts. It feels that one should revisit his or her reservoirs of joy to get rejuvenated. These reservoirs are very personal springs or fountains of joy, exclusive for themselves. For some it might be a trip to the mountains or a wilderness. One might find his fountain just around the corner in shelves of a local library. A music festival might replenish someone’s canteen while others can get recharged just by an early morning jog. 

    Basically, the point is to remove that blockage and get that water flowing again. Remind yourself that it’s a wonderful world out there. Take a moment, and look out.

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  • हो, जग सुंदर आहे!

    हो, जग सुंदर आहे!

    पावलो पावली जाणीव होते, हो, जग सुंदर आहे!

    जग सुंदर आहे जेव्हा तुम्ही सकाळी उठता आणि काही पक्षी तुमची गॅलरीमध्ये वाट बघत असतात.
    हे सुंदर जग शीतल होतं जेव्हा अचानक तळपत्या सूर्यासमोर आलेला एक कृष्णमेघ तुमच्या डोक्यावर सावली धरतो.
    कधी तरी दमून भागून घरी आलात की न मागता तुमच्यासमोर चहा/कॉफीचा वाफाळता कप येतो. किंवा अचानक पाणीपुरी पार्टी ठरते. तेव्हा जग खरंच सुंदर असते.
    अर्थात जग सुंदर होतेच जेव्हा तुमच्या जवळ तुमचा हक्काचा जिवलग असतो.
    आणि जवळ नसला तरी विरहाची सुंदरता फक्त तुम्हालाच जाणवते.

    सकाळच्या धावपळीच्या वेळेत ट्राफिकमध्ये नाही अडकलात तर! न आढेवेढे घेता कॅज्यूअल मंजूर झाली तर!
    आमच्या कोकणातल्या चाकरमान्यांना गणपतीमध्ये गाडीची तिकीटं आणि शिमग्याला सुट्टी मिळाली तर!
    अर्थातच जग सुंदर असतं!

    चित्तथरारक डिटेक्टिव्ह कथा सुंदर असते, मनाला भिडणारी कविता सुंदर असते.
    चुकून आलंच मित्राच पत्र तर तोच काय, पुढचे अनेक दिवस सुंदरच असतात!

    एकूण काय, तर  जग सुंदर आहेच, आपला चष्मा तेव्हढा स्वच्छ हवा..
    —
    आदित्य साठे
    २५-०५-२०२४ 

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  • दोस्त…

    दोस्त…

    दोस्त….

    आज तुम्हारी बड़ी याद आ रही है।
    अब याद भी नहीं की आखरी मिले कितना समय गुजर गया।
    पर वो याद आज भी ताजा है,
    जब पहली बार हम मिले थे।
    वैसे ये कहना झूठ ही होगा की,
    उस मुलाकात का हर पहलू मुझे याद है।
    लेकिन कुछ बारीकियां दिमाग में जैसे के तैसी बैठी है।
    हमारी माताएं दोस्त थी, हमारी दोस्ती होना तो लाजमी था।
    लेकिन दोस्ती निभाना हमारा अपना निर्णय।
    जिस पर सालों से हम कायम है।

    मां की उंगली थामे होती हुई अपनी मुलाकाते
    आगे पाठशाला की रह पर चल पड़ी।
    हर रोज कॉपी, किताबों में मिली,
    धूप में क्रिकेट खेलते ग्राउंड में पकी दोस्ती
    और गहरी होती गई।

    फिर आया वो मकाम,
    जब रोज साथ में चलते रास्ते में एक मोड़ आया।
    जिंदगी की रह पर चलने का समय आया।
    तुमने अपना रास्ता चुना और मैंने अपना।

    मुलाकाते अब रोज नहीं होती।
    अब सालाना दशहरा – दिवाली की छुट्टियों में मिलना होता है।
    ना, ऐसी बात नही है के मैं बिल्कुल जस्बाती हूं,
    और हमेशा पुरानी यादों को लेकर रोता रहता हूं।
    पर कभी कभार, कुछ गाने, कोई चित्र, कोई खुशबू,
    ले जाती है मुझे अतीत के सफर पर।
    आज वैसे ही, तुम्हारी बड़ी याद आ रही है।
    जब आज सुबह मैंने देखा,
    दो माताएं अपने अपने बच्चों को गोद में उठाए बड़े मजे से बतिया रही थी…

    —
    आदित्य साठे
    २२-०५-२०२४

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