Tag: Books

  • Can I ask you to be…, October?

    Can I ask you to be…, October?

    Can I ask you to be..., October?

    I reached my office this morning and turned the calendar. Today’s October 1st, and I was particularly looking for a good start to the day. Lines on the new page were,

    हा कोलाहल
    केवढी खदखद,
    आतल्या आत..

    This chaos
    simmering unrest,
    contained within….

    I was just staring at those lines for some time. Yes, I have written this haiku, back in 2023, when I was writing for the desk calendar of 2024. I had designed this calendar pairing these lines to the months, and yet this particular haiku struck a chord as I turned the page.

    It’s a contrast…

    I kept thinking why would I put these lines for the month of October while designing. I am in exactly the opposite state of mind today. Calm, happy and energised with the nice short trip to Kolkata for Blogchatter Retreat. It was an exhilarating experience. I will write more about that in some other post. Emotions in this haiku are exactly opposite to what I am feeling right now.

    October is the month of celebrations, we usually celebrate Navratri and Durga Pooja during this month with a chance of celebrating some of the Diwali days too. Kolkata was bustling with the preparations of Pujo and every corner now hosts a bamboo skeleton for Pandals. I am sure Gujrat must have already started humming the garba tunes and preparations are in full swing. Even in Pune, there are some preparations going on to welcome Mata ji. Even if October comes with a blazing rise in heat after monsoon showers, these festivities make it bearable.

    October, I have some expectations from you.

    If you may, please be calm and quiet when you are free for these celebrations, I have got 4 new books from Kolkata. I am very excited to immerse myself into Ritwik Ghatak’s writing and show my love to my fellow bloggers who have written stories for “Blogchatter Book of Love” anthology. So, if you please, don’t throw any curve balls onto me and let me read peacefully.

    What? About Tagore’s Gitanjali?

    Yes, I agree, Gitanjali poems are not to be read cover to cover. So, I intent to read them leisurely, one at a time! Thanks for suggesting anyway.

    Books I got from Kolkata, 2024 (One more is in transit)

    Top post on Blogchatter

    So if I may request, can I ask you to be a bit calmer, October?

    This post is a part of Blogchatter Blog Hop. Checkout more of my writings here, and to listen to my poetry audiobook, checkout this.

  • 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.

  • From Subscriber to Paperback Loyalist

    From Subscriber to Paperback Loyalist

    Let me tell you my story of my reading habits. It’s a journey which started in my school days and continues till today. I wrote about my love for books and how it all started in a blog post “B for Books” in the 2017 edition of A to Z Challenge. As I recollect it now, my reading habits have changed over the years. The way I read now is completely different than the way it started. As you might have read, it all started with that one big chunky book, bound in a yellow leather jacket. It was a novel by Ranjeet Desai titled ‘श्रीमान योगी’. Even today, it remains the book closest to my heart. From this book, journey started to become paperback loyalist

    A treasure trove called सा. वा. ना.

    My hometown is Nashik where I lived with my family till my graduation. Back in those days, I don’t think I had more than 10 books which were mine. At first, I was dependent on the books owned by my grandma. And later, I used to get my supply of books from our local public library, “सार्वजनिक वाचनालय, नाशिक (सा. वा. ना.)” which housed thousands of books from all genres of Marathi Literature. The first ever English book which I read was ‘Wise and Otherwise’ by Sudha Murthy. One of my cousins gifted it to me. And before I knew it, I was sucked into the world of English literature. Back then I had no clue that all those “English classics” do exist. For me, Sudha Murthy, Shashi Tharoor, Chetan Bhagat, Durjoy Dutta were the English writers. 

    How I became paperback loyalist

    As I shifted to Pune, my connection with the library got severed. I started collecting my own copies of books. Crossword stores became my hangout place where I picked all the English books. Akshardhara’s annual exhibition turned out to be my annual pilgrimage to gather gems of Marathi literature. Emergence of e-commerce sites like Flikart and Amazon has been a boon for bibliophiles like me. I am a proud member of Amazon Prime from the times when they only used to sell a few products other than books. 

    Hardbound books attracted me for some time. I even bought some copies of those fancy hardbounds. Awww, they look so pretty on the shelf. But, I read anywhere and in any posture which you can imagine. That’s when you understand how bulky and heavy these hardbound books are. I soon got over my fascination with hardbounds and embraced lovely colourful paperbacks. In this journey of my love for books today, I have my personal collection of around 300 books with almost three-fourth of them being paperbacks. Does this mean, Am I eligible for the title of “Paperback Loyalist”? Or have I changed into something else now? I will talk about my latest habits in the next one. Until then, happy reading…

    This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon

  • Guest Post #1 – Looking Through My Glasses – Disha Prashant

    DP 20171203_191722Hey guys,

    Here I present you the amazing Disha Prashant as my first guest writer for Adi’s Journal. Disha and my friendship is very modern “Internet Era” friendship as we have met only couple of times. But, the bond we share is cemented with our love for books and the virtual cups of Hot Cocoa we shared when we read at late night. I kind of owe the success of Adi’s Journal to Disha as she is the one who trusted me and asked me to keep writing in English. The next text you read will be written by her. Over to you Disha.

    ~~~

    LOOKING THROUGH MY GLASSES

    IMG_20171203_185235_615.jpg
    Photo by Disha Prashant

    Hola Amigos!! The weekend is almost about to end but since it’s December the entire month seems to be weekend. So here’s to the weekend where in I got an opportunity to interact with all of you through my best friend Adi’s blog. Today I will share insights about my feature write ups and venturing into book blogging. Me and Adi have known each other for long and it is indeed a pleasure to write for his blog.

    Working in the field of journalism I secretly wished to try my luck at feature writing for that is where my soul longed to be. The best thing about feature write ups is that you can put your heart and soul into what you write irrespective of any unknown being judgemental about it. To precisely define it, feature is your perception about things that make you happy, it is about sharing things that would make someone smile or help them into exploring a jazz chapter of their life.

    Thanks to a friend from a newspaper I got this opportunity of writing features for a newspaper and there began a journey for which I had booked my tickets way back (P.S… A lot of waiting you see). What made me happy while writing these features was I met many people belonging to different fields, hailing from different countries, liking different genres and creating a story of their own thereby making this planet a better place to live.

    I came across numerous topics and places which I assumed only existed in dreams and were able to explore them by myself. Writing features not just gave me an identity but it also brought me closer to an altogether unique world of infinite possibilities.

    Walking on unknown paths brings you closer to lovable oblivion as you come back with hands full of little treasures. I was never into reading books as such, rather I ran away from bookstores. A chance meeting with an old friend and the book stars collided. He gave me my first book to read and insisted on reading it. I was not so keen on reading it but then things never go as planned and this time I was glad they didn’t. That one book came like a wild drug and I took a deep plunge into the enigmatic world of books.

    Venturing into book blogging was never on the agenda. However after reading a book I wanted to share all the stories, the excitement, the suspense and a lot more bookish masala to share with fellow readers but failed at finding such company. And again the book fairy struck me and I chanced upon meeting people who were in love with books just the way I am. Adi was that first friend with whom I shared a bookish relation.

    It was this friendship that triggered me into writing book reviews and blog them on my page. So far the journey has been a roller-coaster ride and fingers crossed hope it stays like that. Thank you Adi for believing in me and giving me this opportunity to write for your blog. Awaiting more such opportunities. Till then love you beloved bibliophiles…. HAPPY READING… Signing off LAZY LIZZIE TALES.