Lelobooks Excerpt: Buddha-The Story of Enlightenment

Deepak Chopra, through his book Buddha-The Story of Enlightenment has brought the Buddha back to life in this gripping. This bestselling novel tells a tale of a young prince who deserted his heritage to discover his true calling. This iconic journey of his life changed the world forever and the impact has been so much so that it even today, continues to influence every corner of the globe.

 The author, Deepak Chopra has penned this book out of his forte, but has done his job with excellence. The book has been divided into four part each one describes a different phase of the life of Gautam Buddha, as a prince, his time as Gautama the ascetic monk and the shortest section – Buddha, after enlightenment.

The division of each book has been done so that it looks natural transition from the different phases in his life. The initial pages of the book seem to be blurred with the thoughts of the author as while reading about 100 pages I was confused in figuring out Gautam, the monk and Siddharta, the prince in the first half. However, the latter part of  the book, Gautam has been shown with his journey through struggle to realize Nirvana and where the book reveals the deeds after his enlightenment, which is beautifully described.

Here, Chopra surprises the readers and gives them a boost with his imagination and creative skills, making the readers believe that it is his forte, indeed. Here, the author captures the spirit of Buddha and showcases his sufferings along with a transition in the figure which is today, a God to many, with some memorable prose.

In addition to this, the best part lies in the midst of the story, which deals in the enlightenment of Buddha and the author has here done something which is just inexplicable. The interpretation of the life of this Godlike figure, Buddha and his death struggle has been done in such an emotional way that it will move the readers to read more. There, you will get an insight about his life and his determination, which was just commendable, yet the author has forgotten or I should say missed, to include the climax of the book.

According to Chopra, the famous moment when Buddha took his oath to sit in meditation until he attained the truth, even if his body died and decayed and his bones turned to dust, never happened. Instead, he passed through a period of purposeless emptiness – and his enlightenment dawned on him in a way I found hard to understand.Maybe this is because I’m not enlightened myself, but then I do not think that Deepak Chopra is either – perhaps that is the problem.

In spite of all the flaws which I have pointed out, I found this book really enjoyable. I loved that last section so much that I re-read it straight away.

Mr Chopra has offered us a imperfect treasure, that would intrigue the readers.

Retelling of Indian mythology

O Rama of unequaled prowess,
This aerial car shining like the sun,
Moves as one pleases, wonderful and excellent;
This Pushpak of Kuber, robbed by Ravan in battle,
Is retained here for your sake;
The yonder aerial car, looking like a cloud,
Stands here and by which transport,
You can reach Ayodhya without any trouble.
May prosperity attend you!
- Valmiki Ramayan

The above verse describes the Pushpak Vimaan, perhaps the most famous airship mentioned in the ancient Hindu literature. Many Sanskrit epics contain references to such flying machines called the Vimaans/Vimanas. These Vimaans were said to be able to travel into space between different planets and were used by various denizens of the higher Lokas. In this post, we shall analyze the evidence in favor of such flying machines being available to the ancients and their similarities to the modern air crafts.

‘Looking back at the Hindu mythological past, just have a look at this cool dude with a majestic  kingdom, where all people liked him. But, his step-mom or something like his aunt, was kind of a bitch as she coerced her husband, the father of this cool dude to send the latter in the jungles. This cool dude was Ram or I should better say, Lord Rama for like more than 10 years or so. He decided to get along with his brother and wife on their request and had a great time together.’

We all have seen that many people come up with the retelling of the classical Ramayana, which is now popular on various social media platforms.  The point of this humorous snippet was to draw attention to an omnipresent phenomenon in Indian literature today –retelling of mythology.

At Lelobooks, we regularly review the latest books published by both new and experienced authors and has made this trend a popular one for some time now. More and more authors are coming up and taking upon themselves the task of re-construing classics and mythological figures, and giving us contemporary translations of them. For a relatable example, look no further than the Shiva trilogy as it surprised me by the portrayal of Sati, which has another angle that led it to be one of those stories which are different from the bedtime stories that I has always listened to.

So just see what is actually behind this trend? Are we just running out of new material and turning to tried-and-tested sources of wisdom for new stories or are we re-uniting with our pedigree in a newfangled way, while bringing in our thoughts to what might have been? As born and brought up in this cultural country, I would  like to believe and accept our gods and heroes in a more human light. These days, younger readers prefer their heroes to have both the shades of innocence and greys, including calmness and contentedness on one hand and human passions and weaknesses along with flaws and idiosyncrasies, on the other,  in order to civilize rather than glorify them. The whole process will make the people able to understand the how and whys of mythology with a more realistic and logical approach, in preference to recognize through unquestioning compliance or fear is fascinating and is also a positive development.

Author Devdutt Pattanaik is famous for his commonsensical and straightforward portrayal of the figures in ancient wisdom, and he goes so far as to state that mythology can be used as a tool to foster better business practices. This points to an interesting transition in the place accorded to mythology in our lives – from a means of remembering what has passed, to an almost textbook-like material which is very genuine and offers us something concrete that is very applicable to our daily lives.

So give it a thought that will this continue in future as well? Are we going to have more and more wannabe authors taking to ambiguous ancient texts in a bid to make a name for themselves? In light of the success that the present ones are enjoying will bring some change in the world? Well, it depends on how skilled the versions are. For every success story, there is also a handful of books that didn’t make it big, in spite of having tried out the same basic formula. While it lasts though, let’s enjoy the kaleidoscope of insight that this genre provides!

If interested in the genre we have highlighted, then explore this genre of books available at lelobooks.com, an online bookstore in India, which includes Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana and Shashi Tharoor’s The Great Indian Novel.

Sneak a peek into the man behind pornograhic with “Mastram by Akhilesh Jaiswal”

There was a time, when pornography  was read just in the loo and nobody had an audacity to read it openly on the internet. Over the time, the imagination has been soared out and today one sees penning porn for the drooling generation is a great idea for making money. Unzip that reticence!

In the upcoming film "Mastram", if you are expecting playing peek-a-boo with the porn industry, then you are in for an anti-climax. ‘Mastram’ is a fictional biography of a writer who is ready to exploit his literary skills and persuaded to give porn a chance, just to make ends meet. "Mastram" chronicling the life-story of a man who would be kink (y), is a sad, glum, wistful look at the life of litterateur who was persuaded to give porn a chance, just to make ends meet.

 

The protagonist becomes the hottest name in pornographic pulp fiction. The director, Akhilesh Jaiswal in his 98 minutes movie has attempted to do a task which is both different and daring, baring all the hypocrisies of the society that disgraces, makes numb and devours sex - all in the same breath. He lets the porn writer Rajaram, aka Mastram, played by Rahul Bagga in the movie, grow in the world with the subject of sex, a synonym for survival. He is persuaded to write dirty books in order to earn his livelihood. Rajaram is a product of consumerist culture. With creditors knocking down his door, he chooses a life after debt.

There is a marked dearth of frantic excitement in the narrative. If seen as a mating game, then "Mastram" is a lazy evening of half-hearted copulation. But, here in Mastram you will set to feel the pain behind the porn by meeting the man behind orgasms, taking the movie far above from pornographic. Jaiswal has torn out the layers of titillation and feels the soreness and solitude of an artist, who is obligated to sell sex when all he wants is to write literary works.

The movie is all about the consciousness and the quandary of a writer, who is torn apart between art and erotica. The problem with the movie is its narration, which is hell lot languid and staler about such an exploring subject. The story lacks resilience, as the background music drags the plot. The film otherwise, would have been something different and would have caught a lot more attention, but due to some of its weaknesses, it is missing its X-factor.

Rajaram (Rahul), a M.A in Hindi, quits his bank job in Manali to pursue his dream of being a novelist. He finds support only in his sanskari wife (Tara), and even after desperate attempts, all publishers reject his literary work because his kahanis have the matter but lack the 'meat'. Realizing that sex sells like hot samosas and lust 'whets' hungry minds over literature, the struggling Premchand in him begins churning out porn-packed in-paperbacks, under the pseudonym of 'Mastram'.

Mastram was India's Shakespeare of sleaze, the bard of the bawdy who controlled all the mind-fornication there was, that held all of North India in its 'jerky' grip through the 80s. Emphasized by a sense of tragedy, "Mastram" brings a contemplative, misery to the porn writer's life.

However, the film fails to succeed due to its narration. If you want to dig deep into the hearts of porn writers, who are otherwise looked down by the hyprocrite society.

For more reviews, tune in with lelobooks, an online bookstore in India! 

Tips for the online survival of your company

The companies out there which are available in the web world are seeking various strategies to promote the theme of their websites to clients. Everyone in the market is striving hard to make their presence and make a mark in the online industry. Moreover, to make a mark in the internet world to fall in the eyes of the Google and search engines. With the release of updates by Matt Cutt, Google has made it clear that it is going to eradicate old SEO strategies such as directory submissions, bookmarking and many more. Now Google is focusing on websites which have links conveying ‘quality contents’.

Google crawls those websites first which have original contents and resulting to the maximum Google searches of these websites. According to the latest trends in Google, there has been a little stress on the small and medium businesses which are available on the internet and in order to cope up with it these companies lay stress on content marketing, especially on content development, which is one of the most important reasons. When developing content for your website, make sure to highlight those points which attract the attention of Google. However, with the advancement in technology Google Matt Cutt are making things complex and convoluted for SEO professionals. It is a pretty difficult task as to make Google an acquaintance of your website and in order to be friends with Google, a website should be updated with SEO strategies.

Preserve your website with fine quality

While developing content for your website, make sure that you are not giving too much importance to your company. It will make your visitors to go away. Content on the website should have some sort of value and worth as to attract viewers. Be original and avoid the ’cliche languages’. Promote your brand image in such a way that it should interest the visitors. Give your website, such a representation that it looks different in terms of arrangement of contents. Just eradicate that content which have less value and is not worth keeping on your website. For example, if you are planning to open up an online bookstore, then you should keep in mind as not to add the products which show clichés.

Promote your website content by creating a large community

Create your brand image, which will create your market value through your website, which can be possible only by advertising and promoting contents to a large community. Moreover, in order to market your website you need to socialize the contents available on your website through the SEO techniques like valuable blogging, while making your presence in the social media. Google gives prime importance to websites that share valuable and important contents to a large community. Build a massive community through blogging, press release, articles in order to do sharing, which in result by getting active in social media networks such as Facebook, Google+, Twitter, linkedin, YouTube, etc. Create and share your content by sharing it with others. In addition to this, just keep on sharing with others while commenting on others blog posts and question forums, which will keep your website contents and links active, resulting in increasing the ranking of your website. Like, just in case you have an online bookstore in India, then you can make it global and reach out to the maximum visitors and readers through these social media networks as these days people find buying books online as the best option in their busy lives for its 24*7 availability.

Keep your contents lively

You should also consider that a website should also have an option of live chat along with sharing your links on the platform such as Google Hangouts and receive feedbacks as well as comments from connected communities. Moreover, this is an advanced formula of the content marketing and it increases the chances of your contents to reach out to the maximum visitors, which in result also give a boost to the brand image of your website. With that, not to forget about commenting on the posts of others as well, only then you will be able to maintain your presence on the internet world.

Be genuine

This is the universal fact that every time you cannot be 100% original with your ideas for the content in your website. Many a time if you notice that we all elaborate or modify the without completely copying the content from other websites. Even if you are putting an idea that has been used before, make sure that it is represented in an innovative manner or else the content will lose its value and ultimately reducing the ranking. With this, I would like you to know that even if you have opened up online bookstore, the books and the content on it should be of high quality so as to make your customers convinced about buying books online from your online bookstore.

To wrap up with the things with the last word about content marketing is that it is a fast growing trend and the new updates of Google add fuel to its growth. So, just simple blogging and article submission techniques will not work out for increasing Google ranking as Google also demands innovative corporate content writing techniques.

Tips to start an Online Business with the least resources

Ever thought of starting your business in the web world? Then, obviously you would be familiar with the advantages and benefits of having your own website, in order to establish the presence of your organization in the online world. Conversely, there might be certain factors that would be holding you back for example the potential start up costs involved, lack of knowledge or lack of time, leaving you behind with the unfulfilled dream of getting globalized through the internet world.

On the other hand, it may be possible that you might be already having a small business that is not present in the online world. Consequently, in order to create your online presence and get recognized in the global world and give a boost to your business, you need to follow certain important tips that will help you in starting your online business.

Deem over your target market

The first and the foremost step is to simply find out your target market, which means to know about the target audience of your business organization and you want to reach out to them. Moreover,  you want to make sure that you about your ideal customers. For example, do you want to target people who need help reading books  or want some information? Or maybe you want to target individuals who do not have the time for going shopping of books? Moreover, if  you do not define your target market, then your online bookstore will fade its presence in the market.

Get acquainted with your product/service

When it comes to figuring out how to open an online bookstore in India, you must know about your products and should be well informed about them. Moreover, if you are already having business running offline then you might give details about your local business, including your unique selling proposition (USP). You must also make sure that your product/service cater to the requirements of your target market. However, in order to open an online book shopping web portal, you make sure that you are passionate about it or else you would lag behind.

 Uncover an Affiliate Program

Affiliate marketing is considered as a great marketing tool which is used to make money over the internet. In a brief statement, it refers the way to make money while selling the products and services of other people. The trap is to find an associate program which offers a product/service for your anticipated target market.

Create your Online Presence

After getting an affiliated program in place, you will be necessitating a website in order to make your presence and reach out to the global customers. After making your website, you can start off with social media tools and can drag more and more people towards your website. You can also create social media pages for your website like Facebook or Squidoo and can give a great start to your business.

After that you know all about how to start your online business and give a boost to it. Get ready to open up an online business of yours. There are many shopping stores which are available online such as an online mobile store, online shopping store, online bookstore etc. which may interest you and find a target market who can indulge in online book shopping and can buy books online which will lead you to success.

Book Review: If Its Not Forever Its Not Love by Durjoy Datta and Nikita Singh

These days, the market has been flooded with love sagas and at times, it creates a feeling of nausea to some while looking at the cascade of this genre of books at the stores. However, I would suggest you to not to consider this book ‘If it’s not forever, it’s not love’ by Durjoy Dutta in the category of those stereotypes mushy love stories and has been given a sensitive angle to the story by presenting the protagonist as a bomb blast victim striving to achieve salvation. As the title of the book suggests, the story celebrates true platonic love in the most enchanting form. The book has been penned by young writers and the story has been narrated in such a way that youth relates themselves with it.

When speaking about its performance, I would like to mention that it has been ranked as No. 8 by Hindustan Times in today's edition. The publisher of 5 bestsellers, Durjoy Dutta has an average fan base of 1,50,000 readers and Nikita Singh, the co-writer of the novel has 2 best sellers to her credit and has done an excellent job with her third literary work.

The story and narration of the book puts in the initial pages a sense of tension and trauma of Deb, which will give you a ray of hope, of the arrival of something fresh in the upcoming pages.there has been some funny element in the book which makes it more interesting to read. In addition, there are some jokes, I would rather refer them as PJ’s, which actually wins. This time, the authors have described the love story of Deb and Avantika in a different style and have portrayed the consequences of getting addicted to drugs is perfectly drafted, which interests me the most.  In particular, 202nd page made me jump off my bed.

When talking in detail about the writing style of Durjoy Dutta, he is trademarked for the too much sex elements in his books. However, his last book, You were my crush made me to think and buy this book as it had only story and this time no sex.

The book opens up with a scene of the bomb blast and the narrator of the story encounters it on his way to the office.  This time, the author has put in an emotional story and has related the story to what happens to the people in the picture. The central plot gave me a picture of the Tamil Movie Engeyum Eppothum, which dealt with the lives of people getting stuck in a bus accident.

The protagonist of the story, Deb, one fine morning goes to his office and on his way, he encounters, where he gets stuck with a bomb blast. Though nothing happens to him, he gets disturbed by the scenes around him. After a few days of shock, he again visits the blast site and finds a diary.

He reads the diary and gets engrossed with the story of the dead man and his romantic life. The diary is burnt at the ends and hence the ending is yet to discover. So, he sets out to find the story along with his girlfriend Avantika, friend Shrey and his crazy girlfriend, Tiya. The journey makes them travel all across India and in the process, they learn a lot about human characteristics and behavior. The story is crazy in nature and engrossed me with the word ‘Indirect Expenses’ from his MBA. What they find about the so called dead man and his life forms the rest of the story.

The book is just amazing read and is a good time pass. If you want to make your weekend an enjoyable one, then just place your order at lelobooks, an online bookstore in India and get it at your doorstep, as online book shopping will help you to get your products in the comfort of your home. 

Sorry You’re Not My Type by Sudeep Nagarkar

Sorry You’re Not My Type by Sudeep Nagarkar portrays a story of the ricochet affair that takes place when a passionate relationship lands up to a split. The book states the situation where you neither love nor hate it and leaves you where your reaction might be comprised of beatific smile and a slight grimace. While reading, I found that the author’s reputation indeed proceeds his work.

Vikrant, Yuvi and Anamika claim to be the spirit of the book as the story revolves around their lives. They have their band which is recognized as VAYU, an acronym which states V for Vikrant, A for Anamika, Y for Yuvi and U stand for us. The novel throws light on the intra-relationship in the band which makes the most of the book. Moreover, apart from music, the three main characters of the novel have starkly different personas, complementing each other. The supporting characters of the novel are Yuvi’s girlfriend – Kashish, Anamika’s boyfriend – Anurag and his ex Sanaya.

The author has portrayed these characters in such a way that with the details they grow and the narrator of the story is Aditya, who comes to meet his best friend and unpredictably have a rendezvous withVikrant.

The backdrop

The bustling capital of the country, Delhi makes the backdrop of the book. Vikrant, Anamika and Yuvi are all students of the Rajhans College. These three leading characters will take you from swanky restaurants like Mia Bella to the college canteen, appropriately named Lover’s Point, the Lodha Gardens, which offers a welcoming shade for clandestine meetings to the DU campus, which is a glamorous stage for the concerts by VAYU and other college festivals. The novel will also take you to the Delhi Metro, where Vikrant meets his lady love for the first time.

The Plot

Vikrant is a strong-minded perfectionist and is portrayed as a determinant for his music and seeks to get recognition for the band and is loyal in love. Yuvi is a totally an easy going personality, who lives life on his own terms. Anamika is best illustrated as a wild girl, with a twist and is festooned with tattoos, but with a beautiful heart and loving nature. Anamika dates Anurag, the alpha male of the college: the head of the student council who drives an Audi. Yuvi and Kashish are in a stable relationship and love each other very much. Vikrant is passionately in love with his ‘the one’ – a girl he saw in the Metro who took his heart away with just a doe-eyed look.

Anamika’s relationship with Anurag takes a bad state where Vikrant’s relationship starts. They all embark upon a trip together to repair broken fences and broken hearts. The trip that changes the definition and decisions of their lives.

My Take

This book is firmly OK. In the initial chapters of the book, you will get bored of as the author has gone overboard in expressing love and its nuances. The characters themselves with each other start falling in love like that of the Bollywood flicks, giving it an appearance of unreal story. The writing style of the novel is oversimplified and the characters are too much in love.However, the passion for music has been shown in a great way which is really appreciated and applauded.

 A simple read with lucid language and a reasonably appealing story. Available at lelobooks, a leading online bookstore in India. Hurry now and win exciting gift hampers.

Oleander Girl: A coming-of-age novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

“Sometimes — she knows this from her own life — to get to the other side, you must travel through grief. No detours are possible.”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Oleander Girl

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is known for writing stories that are jam packed with truckloads of emotion and drama, which I only read at occasions when I am in some emotional dilemma. However, Oleander Girl is a novel of all moods and seasons and has won over me. The novel is stuffed to sensibility which perfectly suits the protagonist who is seventeen years old and the soap opera plot twists seem par for her course.

 Oleander Girl is a coming of age novel in the best tradition and is the best of its kind. It opens up the story of a heroine, whose evolution has been from inconsiderate pampered blossom to a human being who comprehends risks and consequences and readily bears accountability, which is just plausible and natural. 

The book is a rare contribution to the society which comes up with the elements that everyone would want to savor and will grab the readers’ interest which will convince them to turn up the pages as to find out what happens next in the story. The novel, Oleander Girl is such a delightful read that while reading it, I found myself wishing that it would never end. And when eventually it ends, it leaves you with a lingering effect, to a great extent like that of the scent of oleanders.

 Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni has done it all over again here with this novel as she is well aware of  her craft, the portrayal of characters and the narration of the story that draw you in, along with an effective use of imagery, imposing dialogue that rings true and situations which are experienced and faced by ourselves in our lives.

 The author has represented a fine understanding of human nature with their complexities. The characters in her novels are living and existing people. The novel is written in multi-person narrative style with the voices of Korobi, her fiance Rajat, her grandmother, Rajat’s mother and the family chauffeur Asif. With the progress of the story and moving perspectives in the story, the doubts, fears and anxieties plaguing each person are exposed. The characters in the novel are portrayed as struggling hard to rise above their flaws whereas the readers will find themselves  rooting for them.

 From a country that is just emerging from the 2002 Gujarat riots to a post 9/11 U.S.A., the writer has touched upon concerns and problems of religion, caste, race, gender and economic inequality.  The novel is stuffed with weighty issues on one side and on the other side, it is filled with the emotions like love and relationships including filial bonds, romantic love and all the bonds that encourage us to be the best adaptation of ourselves. Really a gem of a novel.

After having an insight about this wise and transformative novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, who is well known for expressing and portraying emotions in a detailed manner, you might also be feeling the same as I do. So do the same as I am going to do. Purchase it! You can also buy books online through some of the authentic online book stores in India and get your favorite books at your doorstep.

Indian Express, “The voyage of discovery [Korobi] undertakes, and the secrets, lies and buried tensions she unearths along the way — is the stuff of a classic coming-of-age story, with the added excitement of a quest. . . . Divakaruni's language is lyrical. . . . Rajat's transformation from Prince Charming to a more complex romantic interest is one of the book's more pleasurable aspects. He embodies a struggle between the traditional and the modern, the product of a time and a country that has yet to define itself. Divakaruni’s Kolkata is a teeming cosmopolis, the beating heart of the book”.

Tone up your body with Rujuta Diwekar’s “Don't Lose Out, Work Out”

 Rujuta Diwekar is the name in the industry who has taken an attempt to give  revolutionized weight loss treatment to men and women who are caught in the dilemma of fad diets and unsuccessful formulas and most prominently, this personality gave Kareena Kapoor her irresistible size zero figure has come up with her treatments and solutions with a new book which will help you to simplify exercise. She has penned down her valuable tips in the new book-" Don't Lose Out, Work Out".

The author is a nutritionist, qualified in sports science which attracts me for her qualifications and career, which makes her expertise in the field.  Rujuta’s books and her practical approach to food, nourishment and work out is something, which I personally relate to. I love her previous 2 books and looking forward to this one as well. As soon as I have got to know about it, I became curious and took the book, and to me it just took a day and a half to read it. And, attention everyone out there, this book is no fiction.

This is a book dedicated to every woman out there and one of the reasons is that exercise is something that is not taken seriously in our country. Rujuta, in this book has stated various myths about various types that we are usually indulged in, in order to reduce weight. Some of the myths about brisk walking have been introduced by Rujuta and has explained the reason why all doctors on earth recommends to walk without even explicating the details and duration of walk along with at what intensity and pace, you should walk. This book states the exact reason of the benefit of walking and to what extent. In the book, the author has addressed a very important issue of strength training for women. In India, women do the treadmill or exercise through cycle but God forbid, weights!

 “They immediately imagine themselves as bulky weightlifters. Rujuta gives some straight forward gyan about why it is impossible to lose weight (if that is your goal) or stay healthy and toned unless you do weights.”

The author has explicitly stated in the book about the benefits of cardio and Yoga and debunked myths around that. Further, she says about carbs, proteins and fats and how these get metabolized in one’s body. With a tinge of  scientific theory, the author has here directly pointed out how everything is assimilated in our body. Read a cautiously and grasp the info provided in the book as this is really helpful for those who want to shed their extra kilos and want to have great bodies.

The book cover all the do’s and don’t’s of pre and post workout meals, which we all miss to imply in our lives. With this book in my hand, I have now decided to tone up myself with the inputs based on her knowledge and make it a schedule for me. She has also drawn clear lines between staying active and exercising as both are different of course and cannot substitute for each other.

The books is indeed, inundated with nuggets of wisdom. In my context, the book is plain and contains no-nonsense logic, actually making a lot of sense. Through this book, make way to reach out to your health goals and when talking about its price, I would like to say that the book is a goldmine of information.

A profitable book to buy, read! Get this book from lelobooks, a leading online bookstore in India. Hurry now and tone up your body along with that avail attractive discounts, Double profit right!

Book Review: Everybody’s got something

"Regardless of how much money you have, your race, where you live, what religion you follow, you are going through something. Or you already have or you will. As momma always said, "Everybody's got something."

The book is truly an inspirational one as it will teach you while moving on in your life. Penned down by Robin Roberts with the assistance of Veronica Chamber (co-author of Yes, Chef, 2012, etc) the novel Eveybody’s has something and has put across a crucial phase of her life and records her struggles with Myelodysplastic syndrome, which is a rare state that affects the blood and bone marrow.

The author is a renowned news broadcaster, who has worked at Sportscenter and is now one of the anchors in Good Morning America. In this book, the author has represented a part of her life around the year 2007. As in 2007, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and she fought with it very successfully and underwent through surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatment. After that she was cured from this deadly disease, five years later, after returning from her news assignment covering the Academy Awards of 2012, she got to learn that chemotherapy had resulted in some sort of leukemia known as MDS. She learnt that if she would not undergo bone marrow transplant, her projected life was declared as two years. In her journey of life, he searched for compatible donor and got prepared for the transplant, along with the pain of  her aging mother’s health which began to gravely deteriorate.

The author bravely faced her misfortunes with an athlete’s mentality and showed her strength which helped her to stand against both her disease and the loss of her mother. The author of the novel has narrated well about her struggles and this clearly is reflected in her narration, which rarely swerves toward melodrama or self-pity.

The transplantation process has been described in detail along with its aftermath, which has made it among the most intimate part in the book. The author has struggled hard with her pain  and loss, still managed to maintain her positivity which inspires the readers to give their life, such an outlook, no matter what life brings into your life, testing your patience.

However, the author has put the struggles and experiences of her life into words with her best efforts in order to inspire sympathy and compassion, the readers have reminded of her status as a celebrity, which resulted in keeping the essence of the novel at an arm’s length. The sections involving Roberts’ family, partly counter this problem, since it is in these scenes that she becomes any daughter, any sister, any lover, struggling with a life-threatening disease.

The author states “If there’s one thing that spending a year fighting for your life against a rare and insidious…disease will teach you,” she further writes, “it’s that time is not to be wasted.”

At-times motivational chronicle about a battle in a journalist’s life with a serious and a critical disease, along with the pain of loosing her mother and dealing with situations.

Digital Marketing: An Ocean of Opportunities

In the last decade, the market has encountered many changes of its promotion and marketing strategies, which are basically the key skills of digital marketing. With the advent of the internet, the marketing industry has not only globalized the business organizations but also has taken upon a whole new level with these high end promotional and marketing strategies. In the present era, terms like global audience, global outlook  and a globalized marketing trend, which tends to be the need of the hour. People out there, who have just started with  some business or are having some business plans or even the ones who are in the business for a long time yet are not able to make their business to touch that so called Midas touch, then guys, here is a strategy for you. So just watch out this high end strategy of Digital Marketing, following that watch out the boom in your business.

Even in the cut throat competition, the technique of digitization has provided the business entrepreneur a way to promote their business in the global world, thus today digital marketing must be your top priority.  The technique will also help in making a good impression on the audience and leaving your impact.

Today, since everything is just a click away with the Google search and these days more and more people are relying upon the results provided by it. The clearer and faster this technique is used, the more money it will be made, thus for the very fact, solving this problem search engine optimization has come into being. The constant battle of making websites available in the search engines is quite popular as throughout the world there are millions of websites update their products, launch their products and publicize them. Moreover, the survey says that each day thousands of websites are created  and each marketer wants to market their products, thus in order to make their website popular in less time they hire SEO executives or search engine optimization companies.

In the search engine companies, employees, particularly work towards promoting the websites of their clients through high quality write ups and publicizing these websites to others by employing various SEO tools and techniques. The main motive of these SEO executives is to make these websites more and more searchable as to increase more and more traffic towards these websites, which in result will help the owners of these websites to generate more and more profits out of their business.

Search engine optimization services are thus incorporated as to increase the popularity of the websites as the maximum exposure in Google search will only lead these websites to have maximum exposure in the global world. With more and more searches on your website and increased traffic towards your website will help to make a brand of your organization or your services. Thus, it will add up to more and more business and will help in converting your lucid leads to lucrative sales.

The most beneficial part of search engine optimization services is that it does not depend upon the time, place and distance from the company to its clients as no matter where your company is situated, through this online strategy, you can connect to the people from all across the globe. This is only the reason that many companies are getting into this rat race in the online world by taking help of the search engine optimization services and making their global presence. Today, being the pivotal component in the digital marketing, it will help your business to reap out results, thus giving a limelight to the industry of digital marketing with each passing day.

Furthermore, there re multiple advantages of opting SEO for your website. The service is cost effective and undeviating. This not only increases the traffic towards your website but also helps in creating an escalating brand credibility, giving better return value, also increasing the authenticity of your website. Thus, search engine optimization services not only will help you to stand out but also will help in generating more and more profits.

Life is What You Make it by Preeti Shenoy: A Book Review

The best seller fictional novel by Preeti Shenoy, Life is What You Make it. The book opens up with a story of a female protagonist, Ankita, who is somewhere around 20 and is tackling her own issues which have arrived from her past. In the prologue, the novel has made its base with the present state of the protagonist who is shown as sitting on a chair in the doctor’s office and is mulling over the past and focuses attention on a little known disease-Bipolar disorder. The story begins with a flashback and falls upon a place where Ankita sends letters to Vaibhav and his reply to her letter. With the turning up of pages, we are shown off that Ankita’s parents are conservative and not quite like her friendship with the boys. Thus, they start sneaking around her.

The plot is laid down in the 80’s and tells the tale of two cities. Ankita has always been a bright student, and for that she gets admission into one of the South India’s best colleges. The novel has it all what a college girl feels and can do after releasing out of her strict and narrow minded parents’ home. Her journey follows with a set of events including love affairs, tomfoolery along with some studies. However, Ankita soon faces some turns topsy-turvy in her life and is diagnosed with a psychological illness- she develops Bipolar Disorder.

The story revolves around Ankita’s illness and her ability and willpower to fight with it and how she overcomes her destiny with her determination. It is a tale of love and hope. “This is frightening, this world without words, this world of darkness and void. I don’t want to be here anymore. I want to make it stop.. To be trapped like this in one’s own body is a fate worse than death. With death, at least there is an end. Here, the suffering is endless.”Now let me throw light on some of the hits and misses in the story:

The Hits
Starting with the hits I would like to tell you that the opening of the story, in fact the prologue has been done is a well versed way. With prologue only I got impressed as it laid a foundation for the story. The novel opens up with the mental hospital, which made way for the story to rise as it creates curiosity among the readers from the page 1 itself. Then there are conflicts shown in the story which the protagonist faces in her life about choosing between career and love, which is a part of every youngster’s life which helps the store to relate it to the readers.
The novel has well explained about the dreams of youngsters by throwing light upon the protagonist’s life and her innocent dreams. All the characters in the book are well portrayed and has been given accurate space and role in the story, which has given it an additional advantage to the story by giving it a flow and direction.

The author has used a plain and simple style in writing which has turned out to be in favor of the readers as to understand and move forward with the story yet the narration has been done in a very thought provoking manner, which further grabs the interest of the readers. The book seems to be light hearted and breezy in its opening pages and while turning up the pages of the book a reader will get immersed in its intensity which will give a base towards the captivation end of the story. Along with that the story also gives readers an insight about the bipolar, a rare disease.

The Misses
When talking about the misses, in my context the story at some certain points confuses a reader to to what caused the psychological disease that Ankita suffers from. I wish, this part could have also been portrayed well while reading this part I was little bored with monotony. However, it ends with just a few pages and after this part the story moves at a rapid pace.

Conclusion
To conclude with my review, the author Preeti Shenoy has done a great job in weaving of a beautiful and emotional story. She has carefully crafted the characters and their emotions and has showcased the society’s behavior towards them. The author well explains the need of love and affection in the mentally affected people’s lives.
The novel is a simple read along with an intriguing plot in it which inspires the novel. In just 200 pages, a reader will feel satisfied with its moving story that ends on a positive note. It is a perfect weekend read. Hurry now and place your order at lelobooks, an online bookstore in India.