The Mistake by Bishwanath Singh (Book Preview) !!!

1788th BLOG POST -->>

After reading two books back to back on Cricket, it was time to pick up something else other than the intense stories that I read which made me pick up the book by the debutante author, Bishwanath Singh, named “The Mistake”. The book has a tagline “a true love story” and is published by Notion Press in around 140 pages. So, this time I won’t be reviewing this book but just be telling you about the book what it is actually based on. Reading the book, I got the feeling that this is quite an autobiographical account of the author himself and you can feel it in few sentences the way they are written. You can understand that author is talking about himself.

If you have been into the college and enjoyed your days by bunking classes, being ragged and then ragged your juniors, got punished for multiple things, dreamed about getting into relationship with a beautiful girl, did everything for friendship you could have done etc. then this book is going to be a nostalgic experience for you.

Author talks about the college life of the protagonist and the wish with which he comes to the college and how he falls in love with a girl- also keeps telling her about his feelings but she never reacts positively. And then there comes a time when having her in his life becomes an impossibility and what happens when they meet each other again after some time. The book also discusses in detail the fun and enjoyment the protagonist does with his friends and how they do things and fall into trouble for no reason at all.

This is a light-read which you can read between heavy books or when you want just casual reading. I completed this book within 2.5 hours. This book is like one of those novels which got published between 2008-2015 where most of them were based on college life, friends, boyfriend-girlfriend relationship etc. I am not saying if the book is good or bad, I wish to know your views this time. Hence, please buy this book, read it and let me know if you feel the author is better version of Chetan Bhagat or not as the book written falls in the same genre. 😊

Thanks.

WRITING BUDDHA 

Czars of the East by Dr. Kisholoy Roy (Book Review: 3.75*/5) !!!

1787th BLOG POST -->>

There are times when you get influenced by one author or genre particularly and you start reading books of the author or genre back to back. This is what has happened with me when it is about books written by Dr. Kisholoy Roy on the genre of Cricket. I recently completed the book written by him with the title “Czars of the East” which is around 90 pages and talks about two Indian Cricketers who ended up becoming Captain of Indian Cricket Team and transformed the game the way it was never played before- Sourav Ganguly known as “Dada” and Mahendra Singh Dhoni known as “Mahi”.

It is great to find a book which is a dedicated tribute to these two artists who played Cricket and led the team not only like an extraordinary sports player but as a painter who draws sketches line by line gradually giving it the shape of a complete portrait. The book covers the 1^st half discussing about Dada and the 2^nd half about Mahi.

The book is divided into different chapters on both the players in a specified format such as The Formative Years (where the author discusses on how they got interested in Cricket and entered the game), Marriage and After (about how they found and met with their better half, got married and little life after that), On Top of the Game (this is where author discusses about their best innings which made them into legends and helped Indian team win difficult matches), Brand Endorsements (how much they earn with their brand collaborations and how popular they are with brands and marketing guys), Miscellaneously Yours (this is where the awards and accolades they have won are discussed along with a summary on their Cricketing life), Statistically Yours (the whole statistics are mentioned in the tabular format the way it is in all the biographies/autobiographies of sportsmen) followed by a Picture Gallery dedicated to each of these two czars of Indian cricket.

I liked how author has been able to collate their whole life together in the book considering that he is not a Sports journalist or Manager of these Superstar players. The research and observation that he must have carried out for this book tells the hard efforts of the author behind this compilation. The language used in making their life understandable to us along with their leadership, management and innovative qualities is very easy to understand and what helps you to complete this book in a single sitting of around 1.5-2 hours. The similarities between both the players are also mentioned in the initial chapter of the book which is very interesting to read. This is not a critical account on these players hence if you are fan of these two players, you shall enjoy the chapters more as author has literally treated them like Czars in the book as mentioned in the title.

Talking about the drawbacks of the book, I would say author should have also included the controversies these players were involved in and his take on them if he felt they were right or wrong. Similarly, I personally felt that very little summarization has been given on their Cricketing life which a Cricket lover for me doesn’t get satisfied with- we like reading detailed account on such personalities, insights etc. Also, there’s a small suggestion I would say and not a drawback- author could have also added quotes said by these players in their match-closing ceremonies as Captain gets to speak in every match and sometimes they end up giving very wonderful insights on leadership, motivation, management etc. and the testimonials spoken by other contemporary players on these stars which gives more prominence to these personalities as this book can also be picked by a reader who is not of this century at all hence he/she would seek validation how big/average/small these players were 50-100 years back.

Overall, this is a very feel-good book on these two loved stars of India- Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni and if you have been following Cricket from last 10-20 years, you will enjoy reading about these modern-day Cricket transformers. I give this book 3.75* out of 5.

Thanks.

WRITING BUDDHA 

11.03.2001 - 15.03.2001 : A Tale of Turnaround by Dr. Kisholoy Roy (Book Review: 3.75*/5) !!!

1786th BLOG POST -->>

Just after watching India’s stupendous performance against West Indies in the recent series, I wanted to read something short on Cricket which made me pick up the book by Dr. Kisholoy Roy named “11.03.2001 - 15.03.2001 : A Tale of Turnaround”. The book is of around 90 pages and I got its e-book version which I finished in just 80 minutes. I should say that author has shown enough guts by dedicating a whole book on just one Cricket Test match. Dr. Kisholoy seems to be Cricket enthusiast just like every 2^nd person in our country which is very much evident in the way he has covered this Test match between India and Australia played in the year 2001 which is still remembered by commentators every time there’s a challenging 2^nd innings going on.

The book covers the 2^nd Test match in the Australia Tour of India which was played in the Eden Gardens stadium from 11^th to 15^th March, 2001. This was the Test match in which Australia asked India to immediately bat for the 2^nd time after their first innings as Indian team couldn’t reach the score needed to avoid follow-on. And this is when the history got created where VVS Laxman played a knock of 281 along with Rahul Dravid who scored 180 runs. They batted together for one complete day and stayed not-out at the end of the day and got out only the next day ensuring that India was safe. Along with them, Harbhajan Singh excelled with his performance by taking total of 13 wickets in both the innings and assured that India won the match rather than settling for draw.

Kisholoy has very beautifully narrated the match which made me imagine the whole play in front of me. I have seen it sometimes back in Highlights and I could relate with whatever author mentioned in this book. Author’s love for the Sports is very much visible the way author has also conveyed his emotions in start of each chapter which describes each day of this 5-day Test match. Right from the Note in which author talks about the change in mindset that this match brought in the way Indian Cricket Team played matches against renowned and champions teams- in and out of India. The way Indian team even continued their form in the 3^rd Test match is covered at the end of the book to describe the importance of the phenomenon that took place in this particular match.

I am glad that author has talked even about the approaches of Captains of both the teams in the match and how Steve Waugh lost it all in over-confidence as Australia was continuously winning Test matches against every country during that time. I was missing the Scoreboard of the matches in between the chapters which I am glad author added in the end of the book but it could have been great if it could have been mentioned at the end of each chapter.

Talking about the drawbacks now- I believe author could have inserted more passion and aggression with much minute details to make this read more interesting and energetic. Also, author could have discussed the immediate history of each important player before this Test match so that readers could understand if they were performing as they were already in-form or the will to win this match and do something special was the key behind their performances. Other than this, I have no other issues with this book and after reading this one, I must say Kisholoy’s way of writing Cricket is almost at par with other great Sports journalist and he should write 300-400 pages on Cricket and describe his experience and view point about Indian Cricket and its evolution through his books. I give this book 3.75* out of 5.

Thanks.

WRITING BUDDHA