Banker by Chance, Leader by Choice” by Shiv B. Singh is a captivating autobiography that offers readers a compelling insight into leadership within the banking industry from a junior officer to Executive Director at a public sector bank.
Through the book the author has offered an insight into his life struggles, triumphs and life lessons. The book also showcases the author’s achievements and contributions to the banking sector, providing the readers with insights into his innovative approaches and strategic decision-making. This book can also help readers gain a deeper understanding of the industry’s dynamics and Singh’s role in shaping its evolution.
The pictures included in the book add more depth in the narrative and visual treat to the readers giving real insights. His willingness to share both his flaws and strengths makes this memoir particularly candid and insightful. This book was an insightful one for me. Making many complex leadership concepts accessible to readers from all backgrounds.
I wish the book was more emotionally engaging as it’s an autobiography. The book is written in a more comprehensive way with long paragraphs of information.
Oh So Emo! is a children’s book that can work wonders for people of every age group to help understand their complex emotions in simple words. The book starts with how some monks have to change their location due to Chinese soldiers entering in their homes to take over the area. Doji one of the monks is the youngest of them but holds wisdom of worth more than that and has a speaking bird named Sku to whom he has been sharing with all his teachings to part to the world when time comes. When the monks started walking towards a safer spot for them Doji asks Sku to go and look for his first student who needs his help to understand their emotions.
The stories in the book are woven around children who are unaware of the emotions they feel and how they are impacting them. The book not only holds stories but also dedicated pages for different emotions that one feels, the words we use to describe them, things one can do to not let it consume you and affirmations and space for the reader to pen down their thoughts too. Each emotion is well explained in simple words so that anyone who reads it understands that they are not as big as we make them. Emotions can be controlled or understood and can have a positive impact on our life if handled properly.
The book for me was full of impactful things said so simply that they didn’t seem that difficult. My major takeaway from the book is one does have to be in full control of their emotions but can still not let them overtake them if handle them in the right manner, we are humans and are tend to feel things and even overthink too but can’t change the things we have no control over but we can at least control how they impact us.
What a beautiful children’s book that cannot only be a good fit for all readers but also act as a guide to understand the emotions we tend to make very complex and let them overwhelm and consume us.
I recommend everyone to read this book, it might not answer all your questions but will obviously be of some help.
PROMPT – I was cleaning my cluttered desk and found the document beneath a pile of papers….
I was cleaning my cluttered desk and found the document beneath a pile of papers – CONTRACT OF RELATIONSHIP. As they say old habits die hard, I don’t think mine’s gonna die ever. I am habitual of keeping this carefully at various places so that when I need them I’m never able to find it easily. Sometimes I have to let it be and I’m not able to find the thing. Looks like this document has been one of them.
I can’t believe this is still there. I thought I threw it all away when the relationship ended but I guess a few things are hard to let go right, like this one. Manan and I were in a relationship for 1.9 years to be precise and I broke up with him when I was under the understanding that I was loosing feelings for him and the things weren’t the same for me anymore. The way we loved each other was crazy, a fairytale, bollywood romance, a nice romantic novel story like the ones I’m obsessed with reading but the relationship’s fate was kind of also the same. Obviously it wasn’t easy for me to break such news to him nor was it to take it up for him.
But sometimes in haste you make some decisions that you can never forget about your whole life. Before I go more down the memory lane I wanted to check out this contract.
Contract of Relationship ❤️
This is to certify that Ms.Kishika Khurana has deeply, madly fallen in love with this ohh so gorgeous human being i.e., Mr. Manan Chawla. Not only are you a handsome, charming man but also a man who knows how to treat his girl and swoon her off her feet and make her feel loved, valued, understood and heard while never forgetting to respect her.
Through this contract I would love to ask you to be mine for forever and ever and ever 💋 I know I’m cheesy and dramatic but isn’t it the same with both of us which helped us vibe the very first time we started talking. I’ll tell you the rest of the speech once we meet but for now if you accept my love for you please sign this contract and send me back.
Kishika❤️ Manan❤️
Poor guy!! I made him sign it digitally and send it to me. But he did it with all his heart, that’s how much in love we were. I don’t think I have ever forgotten him and the things he made me feel.
But the way things ended took a toll on me even though I was the one who called it all off. The pain I saw in his eyes, his tears broke me.
‘Di, what are you doing here going through these old papers? I’ll sort it out for you later, I had kept them there since I was searching for an important document I had kept somewhere’, Shena my younger sister said.
Guess this habit of keeping things and not finding it when needed the most is in the family..
‘Why are you smiling like that? Smile later ok all you want but right now I need your help in the kitchen’, she said and rushed out of the room.
I quickly kept the contract in my drawer and went to the kitchen.
Blogchatter is a community that I adore not just its members but also the A team. They have helped me read, write and talk about various things in the past year which otherwise wouldn’t have been the same if I wasn’t a part of this beautiful community.
Another season of Heartstopper is here which also means that Issac is giving all the reader audience more amazing books to look forward to. Issac is an avid reader and can be seen reading multiple books across the season.
In the previous blog post I shared with Isaac’s reading list Part 1, now it’s time for part 2:
1. SUMMER BIRD BLUE BY AKEMI DAWN BOWMAN
Rumi Seto spends a lot of time worrying she doesn’t have the answers to everything. What to eat, where to go, whom to love. But there is one thing she is absolutely sure of—she wants to spend the rest of her life writing music with her younger sister, Lea.
Then Lea dies in a car accident, and her mother sends her away to live with her aunt in Hawaii while she deals with her own grief. Now thousands of miles from home, Rumi struggles to navigate the loss of her sister, being abandoned by her mother, and the absence of music in her life. With the help of the “boys next door”—a teenage surfer named Kai, who smiles too much and doesn’t take anything seriously, and an eighty-year-old named George Watanabe, who succumbed to his own grief years ago—Rumi attempts to find her way back to her music, to write the song she and Lea never had the chance to finish.
Aching, powerful, and unflinchingly honest, Summer Bird Blue explores big truths about insurmountable grief, unconditional love, and how to forgive even when it feels impossible.
2. ACE BY ANGELA CHEN
An engaging exploration of what it means to be asexual in a world that’s obsessed with sexual attraction, and what the ace perspective can teach all of us about desire and identity.What exactly is sexual attraction and what is it like to go through life not experiencing it? What does asexuality reveal about gender roles, about romance and consent, and the pressures of society? This accessible examination of asexuality shows that the issues that aces face—confusion around sexual activity, the intersection of sexuality and identity, navigating different needs in relationships—are the same conflicts that nearly all of us will experience. Through a blend of reporting, cultural criticism, and memoir, Ace addresses the misconceptions around the “A” of LGBTQIA and invites everyone to rethink pleasure and intimacy.
3. BIRTHDAY BY MEREDITH RUSSO
Meet Morgan and Eric: born on the same day, at the same time and bonded for life. In this moving dual narrative, we meet them every birthday from the age of thirteen, as Eric figures out who he is, as Morgan decides to live as her true self, and as they realize they are inextricably part of each other.
4. ALL BOYS AREN’T BLUE BY GEORGE M. JOHNSON
In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys. Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well as a reassuring testimony for young queer men of color, All Boys Aren’t Blue covers topics such as gender identity, toxic masculinity, brotherhood, family, structural marginalization, consent, and Black joy. Johnson’s emotionally frank style of writing will appeal directly to young adults.
5. IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST BY OSCAR WILDE
The Importance of Being Earnest is a witty and satirical play by Oscar Wilde that has entertained audiences for over a century. This edition features the original text and a beautifully designed cover. Follow the hilarious misadventures of two friends as they navigate the complexities of Victorian society and love.
Portrays Wilde’s examination of societal norms and pretensions. Features unforgettable characters. Includes masterful use of language, with clever puns, double entendre, and sparkling dialogue. Humorously exposes the hypocrisy and absurdity of rigid social conventions. A timeless classic that will delight and entertain readers of all ages.
6. BOY ERASED BY GARRARD CONLEY
The son of a Baptist pastor and deeply embedded in church life in small town Arkansas, as a young man Garrard Conley was terrified and conflicted about his sexuality.
When Garrard was a nineteen-year-old college student, he was outed to his parents, and was forced to make a life-changing decision: either agree to attend a church-supported conversion therapy program that promised to “cure” him of homosexuality; or risk losing family, friends, and the God he had prayed to every day of his life. Through an institutionalised Twelve-Step Program heavy on Bible study, he was supposed to emerge heterosexual, ex-gay, cleansed of impure urges and stronger in his faith in God for his brush with sin. Instead, even when faced with a harrowing and brutal journey, Garrard found the strength and understanding to break out in search of his true self and forgiveness.
By confronting his buried past and the burden of a life lived in shadow, Garrard traces the complex relationships among family, faith, and community. At times heartbreaking, at times triumphant, this memoir is a testament to love that survives despite all odds.
7. NIGHT SKY WITH EXIT WOUNDS BY OCEAN VOUNG
An extraordinary debut from a young Vietnamese American, Night Sky with Exit Wounds is a book of poetry unlike any other.
Steeped in war and cultural upheaval and wielding a fresh new language, Vuong writes about the most profound subjects – love and loss, conflict, grief, memory and desire – and attends to them all with lines that feel newly-minted, graceful in their cadences, passionate and hungry in their tender, close attention. This is an unusual, important book: both gentle and visceral, vulnerable and assured, and its blend of humanity and power make it one of the best first collections of poetry to come out of America in years.
8. WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THERE BY SAMRA HABIB
How do you find yourself when the world tells you that you don’t exist?
Samra Habib has spent most of their life searching for the safety to be themself. As an Ahmadi Muslim growing up in Pakistan, they faced regular threats from Islamic extremists who believed the small, dynamic sect to be blasphemous. From their parents, they internalized the lesson that revealing their identity could put them in grave danger.
When their family came to Canada as refugees, Samra encountered a whole new host of challenges: bullies, racism, the threat of poverty, and an arranged marriage. Backed into a corner, their need for a safe space–in which to grow and nurture their creative, feminist spirit–became dire. The men in Samra’s life wanted to police them, the women in their life had only shown them the example of pious obedience, and their body was a problem to be solved.
So begins an exploration of faith, art, love, and queer sexuality, a journey that takes them to the far reaches of the globe to uncover a truth that was within them all along. A triumphant memoir of forgiveness and family, both chosen and not, We Have Always Been Here is a rallying cry for anyone who has ever felt out of place and a testament to the power of fearlessly inhabiting one’s truest self.
9. CRUSH BY RICHARD SIKEN
10. WHERE’S WALLY ? THE GREAT PICTURE HUNT BY MARTIN HANDFORD
Wally’s stupendous new adventure is nothing short of a masterpiece. A Where’s Wally? for the Tate Modern generation, the book is filled with a host of extra puzzles, activities and special stickers to complete the game.
In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys. Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well as a reassuring testimony for young queer men of color, All Boys Aren’t Blue covers topics such as gender identity, toxic masculinity, brotherhood, family, structural marginalization, consent, and Black joy. Johnson’s emotionally frank style of writing will appeal directly to young adults.
Another season of Heartstopper is here which also means that Isaac is giving all the reader audience more amazing books to look forward to.
Isaac is an avid reader and can be seen reading multiple books across the season.
Here’s the list of the book he is reading in season 2:
1. BOOK LOVERS BY EMILY HENRY
One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn’t see coming…
Nora Stephens’ life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.
Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters’ trip away—with visions of a small town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.
If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again—in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow—what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.
2. THE AWAKENING BY KATE CHOPIN
The Awakening, originally titled A Solitary Soul, is a novel by Kate Chopin, first published in 1899. Set in New Orleans and the Southern Louisiana coast at the end of the nineteenth century, the plot centers on Edna Pontellier and her struggle to reconcile her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century American South. It is one of the earliest American novels that focuses on women’s issues without condescension.
3. I LOVE THIS PART BY TILLIE WALDEN
Two girls in a small town in the USA kill time together as they try to get through their days at school. They watch videos, share earbuds as they play each other songs and exchange their stories. In the process they form a deep connection and an unexpected relationship begins to develop. In her follow up to the critically acclaimed The End of Summer, Tillie Walden tells the story of a small love that can make you feel like the biggest thing around, and how it’s possible to find another person who understands you when you thought no one could.
4. ACE OF SPADES BY FARIDAH
Gossip Girl meets Get Out in Ace of Spades, a YA contemporary thriller by debut author Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé about two students, Devon & Chiamaka, and their struggles against an anonymous bully. All you need to know is . . . I’m here to divide and conquer. Like all great tyrants do. ―Aces When two Niveus Private Academy students, Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo, are selected to be part of the elite school’s senior class prefects, it looks like their year is off to an amazing start. After all, not only does it look great on college applications, but it officially puts each of them in the running for valedictorian, too. Shortly after the announcement is made, though, someone who goes by Aces begins using anonymous text messages to reveal secrets about the two of them that turn their lives upside down and threaten every aspect of their carefully planned futures. As Aces shows no sign of stopping, what seemed like a sick prank quickly turns into a dangerous game, with all the cards stacked against them. Can Devon and Chiamaka stop Aces before things become incredibly deadly?
5. THE OUTSIDER BY ALBERT CAMUS
The Outsider (The Stranger) is Albert Camus’s first novel. First published in 1942, the novel is a representation of Camus’s absurdist world view. The novel is about an emotionally detached, amoral young man named Meursault. Meursault does not cry at his mother’s funeral, does not believe in the society that persecutes him. God. He kills an unknown man without any apparent motive. Meursault is considered as a threat to society and is sentenced to death. Ultimately, he comes to accept the ‘gentle indifference of the world.’
6. AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS BY JULES VERNE
One night in the reform club, Phileas Fogg bets his companions that he can travel across the globe in just eighty days. Breaking the well-established routine of his daily life, he immediately sets off for Dover with his astonished valet Passepart out. Overcoming setbacks they race against the clock.
7. WE ARE OKAY BY NINA LACOUR
You go through life thinking there’s so much you need. . . . Until you leave with only your phone, your wallet, and a picture of your mother. Marin hasn’t spoken to anyone from her old life since the day she left everything behind. No one knows the truth about those final weeks. Not even her best friend Mabel. But even thousands of miles away from the California coast, at college in New York, Marin still feels the pull of the life and tragedy she’s tried to outrun. Now, months later, alone in an emptied dorm for winter break, Marin waits. Mabel is coming to visit and Marin will be forced to face everything that’s been left unsaid and finally confront the loneliness that has made a home in her heart.
8. LES MISERABLES BY VICTOR HUGO
Blurb- Out of extreme poverty Jean Valjean steals a loaf of bread and then spends many years trying to escape his reputation as a criminal. In later years he rises socially and is a respectable member of society; but policeman Javert will not allow him to forget his past and is determined to expose him.
9.THE LITTLE PRINCE BY ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY
All grown-ups were once children.. but only few of them remember it.?It?s the Sahara Desert and a pilot has crashed his plane. When suddenly a young boy?with golden hair and a loveable laugh and who claims to have fallen to Earth?appears before him and asks him to draw a sheep, what does he do? He draws it!Thus begins this poetic and sublime adventure, an enchanting fable, which encloses in its heart the teachings of love, loss, loneliness and friendship.The fourth-most translated book in the world, the Little Prince has been adapted to multiple art forms and has managed to resonate in the hearts of its patrons every single time.
Do you still have that face etched in your memory? Every detail, every curve, even the curve of their smile and the warmth it made you feel in your chest is still fresh in your memory?
You don’t have the pictures with you anymore but honestly you don’t even need them because those moments are still fresh in your mind and heart. It’s so fresh that you can describe all the tiny details too and the listener can feel themselves in that moment with you.
Actually, you know what not just the smile but those shining eyes, the way they looked at you and only you. Like they never had them for anyone else. The way their cheeks turned red when people used to tease them by your name. The way those lips just called your name, felt honey to your eyes, a name that was just meant for you. The shoulders that were there for you to lean on always, your constant support.
Yes, things didn’t work out the way you both wished for but you never lost the respect you had for each other. It’s still there and both of you are not the villains of each other’s story, the time is.
They still walk into your memory with that smile and those glittery eyes looking at you, might even be seeing through your soul and ready to give you that shoulder again to lean on and support you. But you can’t, just can’t accept them again as you have moved on. But you can’t also let the memory go, as they were your sliver of sunlight through all of your darkest days that kept you going. That made you believe that yes things would get better if they are by your side.
Even though you have moved on in your life, sometimes you like to visit those memories in your heart, visit that person because they help keep you sane even till this day during all the chaos life is.
These people are the ones who are called ONCE IN A LIFETIME people. The things they have made you feel you cannot ever again feel the same way in anyone ever, the warmth they made you feel stays even after it has been years without them, they are still there with you and will always be till the time to prefer to hold onto them.
The above piece is a part of my work in progress novel.
Please do leave your feedback in the comments when you read this.
“Which is more pleasurable – being alone together or being with others, knowing that the one they desire will soon be alone with you.”
Memory of Light is an exquisite tale of conversations, songs and poems that take a reader through the journey of love between Nafi’s Bai and Chapla. The story is set in pre-Independence India, introducing the reader to the world of courtesans, dance, poets, love and friendship.
It has various characters and each of them contributes to make it a different and enjoyable experience for the reader. They are so well woven. The book needs one’s complete attention to fully indulge oneself into the world the author has beautifully and intricately built.
Nafis Bai and Mir Insha are my favorite characters. The storyline is so well thought and written that I found myself transported inside the book looking at everything through my eyes. Same sex love was not a taboo back then and one could own their sexuality without being judged. The backdrop of the narrative is formed in Lucknow, Shahjahanabad, Kashi and Delhi’s local as well as the then British population and Nawabs.
Poetry is what rises above all for me in the book. I would really like to applaud Ruth ma’am for such precise and beautiful use of the right poems and ghazals at the very right point. She has used the work of various well known poets and translated some of the poems to English.
I loved reading the book and would recommend it to everyone.
Entering the Maze is the translation of the autobiographical fiction of Krishnagopal Mallick. The book is divided into four parts- Introduction, The Difficult Path, Senior Citizen and Entering the Maze.
The introduction is the reader’s first look into Krishnagopal’s life and work and of course him. Each part of the book has a different thing to offer but what remains common is the brave and bare style of writing. The young protagonist in the book has various sexual experiences over the time period of a year. Capturing the themes like desire, exploring oneself, complex emotions Chatterjee has done an amazing job to bring Mallick’s work to the English reading audience.
The book also provides a first hand view into the old Kolkata and its slow mundane life. The first story ” The Difficult Path” includes in-depth descriptions of the College Square and the various groups of people visiting it at different times, shows Mallick’s love for Kolkata and also transports the reader to that place. I really liked how the writing feels raw and grips you.
The second story “Senior Citizen” is about an old man seeking sexual pleasure in the expected places and thereby getting threatened for his actions.
“Entering the Maze” , the novella is the story of the coming of age of a 15 years old boy discovering his sexuality.
Mallick openly mentioned himself as homosexual and didn’t use the modern day terms ‘queer’ or ‘gay’. He was away from political correctness, challenging societal norms. The frankness in his work was a very unique aspect and unusual for his time, making him one of a kind. The translator Niladri Chatterjee has beautifully captured his work in its honest and true sense and brought to the readers a queer account that had been long forgotten.
Read this queer fiction to explore the work of Krishnagopal Mallick and also to understand why translations are important.
Twisted Tales and Turns is a collection of short stories from various genres giving a reader access to a lot of different stories around death, family, sci-fi, love, loss, self-love, specially abled people, neurological disorders, rethinking lives, pain, courage and what not. Smita has tried to include something for everyone’s taste.
The book is divided into four parts- Out of This World, Not Too Far into the Future, All Doesn’t End Well and Love Comes in All Hues consisting of five stories each. The writing style is different from her previous book A Price To Love. All the stories in the book have been written before for different writing contests. I liked the range of the stories.
I connected to the book in different intervals. While some stories stirred something in me others made me move to the next one quick. My favourites are Top of the World, Till We Meet Again,Kaleidoscope, My Knight in White and Purchased Love. I wish there was a trigger warning for the first part of the book. Yes, the author has mentioned in her note that this book is going to have some unexpected twists and turns but one never knows what can trigger a reader. I had to keep the book aside for days to be able to read after that part. I also felt that my connection with the book as a reader wavered at different places in the book. I also wished for some stories to be longer.
The book will leave you satisfied and with a smile.
If you want to experience different genres in a single book, pick this book without a second thought.
Hooked with Books 