Urban Shots by Paritosh Uttam
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Urban Shots is an anthology of 28 urban short stories written by 13 Indian Authors. The book has been divided into 5 sections namely Relationships, Love, Friendship, Angst and Longing. The collection as a whole does look good. You will not know how good a story is unless you read a not so good one. The editor has done a good job in mixing things up  .Though not all the stories give you the feeling of having read a good one, most do.

The first short story is ‘Hope Comes in Small Package’ by Kainaz Motivala. This is the story of Priya, a fashion designer who is married to sumit. She is pregnant and unfortunately loses her child. This story is the about the low in her life due to the incident and how she overcomes it. This was a really well written story and probably the best of the entire collection and maybe that’s why the editor had chosen it as the first one. If you read the rest of the Stories with this one as the benchmark, then only a couple more stories would satisfy you. If you keep an open mind and read the rest, this will be a read somewhere between ‘average’ and ‘Good’.
The next story which impressed me was ‘Liberation’ by Malathi Jaikumar. This is the story of Chamundi, a uneducated mother of two kids, who dreads the weekends which happens to be the eagerly expected part of the week for most of us. Why? And how does she overcome it? The story is so relatable and I really liked the end. Actually I was grinning at the end of the story which does not happen often.

‘Replay’ by Paritosh Uttam is probably the most relatable story of the collection. How often have we come across people in Busses and Trains who ‘request’ us to Part with some ‘Nominal’ amount to them so that they can return to their native town or eat since they have not eaten for weeks together!! This is a story of one such incident. The story does not stand out because it is relatable but the way in which the author has linked the ‘uncommon’ incident to something else in the life of Lata , the lady in the story and how it helps her to solve a confusing issue she has been putting off.

‘Stick Figures’ by Vrinda Baliga is probably the next most relatable story. How often have we been asked to draw something when we were in kinder garden or play school? And what would most of us draw? You guessed it right. Two mountains with the sun setting or rising or something resembling our family members. That is what Tarun does when his mother is late to pick him up from his play school while he is thinking about the Baby sister his mother promised him. The end was kinda expected but still was good.

Some other stories worth mentioning are ‘Apple Pie and a grey sweater’ by Prateek Gupta, ‘Just average’ by Malathi Jaikumar, ‘A cup of tea’ by Paritosh Uttam, ‘Dialects of silence’ by Vrinda Baliga and ‘Driving down the Memory Lane’ by Kunal Dhabalia.
I liked the relationship section the most and Love the least with regards to the no of stories I liked. Overall the book was good and would have been better if 2-3 stories were deleted.

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The Ring by Danielle Steel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved this book.of all the Danielle steel books i have read , I like Zoya the most. after reading this novel , i place The Ring next to zoya.

PART 1
this book is about Kassandra , wife of a very rich banker in Germany, has everything material in her life , but feels that she has nothing , until she meets a German author who is a Jew.she is allowed to see her child only for half an hour every day.she could not sever her ties with the author in spite of her husband telling him the dangers she could face and let the family face.The author dies at the hands of Nazi who humiliate kassandra and leave her to go only when she shows proof of who she really is.she ends her life by severing her wrists in her bathtub.

BOOK 2

This book is also about Ariana , daughter of kassandra.when Germany was taken over by Nazi , ariana's brother is drafted.Her father decides that he would take her brother to Switzerland and then come for her. he dies while returning to Berlin.She is jailed ,her possessions taken except for the signet ring belonging to her mother.she is almost raped but for a gentleman in Manfred , a Nazi officer who saves her and gives her a place to live.She loves Manfred and they marry each other but in a few months tragedy falls in . Manfred dies and she has no reason to live but she had promised to Manfred that she will go onto France and make a living.

Book 3
from France , She travels to US of A. she finds some great souls in the Liebmans.they give her everything from dresses to food to shelter thinking that she is Jew and that she had suffered because of that.she finds out that she is pregnant and she had to do something about her child.so she ends up marrying Paul ,liebman's son without letting him know of the baby.but when paul comes to know he gives her alimony and divorces her.

Book 4
This is also the story of Noel Von Tripp , son of Ariana.he goes on to graduate from Harvard Law and finds a companion in Tamarra , daughter of Paul Liebman!. after some drama noel and tamarra decide to get married and Ariana gives tammy her mothers Signet ring.

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Yajnaseni: The Story of Draupadi by Pratibha Ray
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the First Book am reading on Mahabharata( including Mahabharata )Pratiba Ray has done a nice job in trying to portrait the Psychological picture of Draupadi .This book made me think a lot. made me compare the time when the Mahabharata Happened to the present time.Not many things make sense.the biggest problem i faced was Comprehending the Dharma which used to prevail during the time of Mahabharata.But am at least glad that everyone including Krishna is shown as a human/god with their own weaknesses,Instead of Painting them as god or men without any negative shades. I should have read the Mahabharata before reading this.I say this because not many things were as elaborate as they should be (for example the time before and after the Kurukshetra is shown but not the war!),it is understandable as this book shows the Mahabharata in the point of view of Draupadi as it folds out with lots of emotional outbursts which makes you feel for her.I am eager to read the Mahabharata next and then the other books based on it.

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The Help by Kathryn Stockett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book came highly recommended.i knew i would like this book. but now that i have finished reading this book i feel like "why did this book end" .I really loved reading this book.I thought i Knew about racial discrimination before i read this book and while reading this book i felt that i knew nothing about it. every time Aibileen or the other maids being humiliated i put myself in their position and i cringed. the Afro Am slang Aibileen used put me off for a page or two . then i got used to it.The female Characters are so powerfully(each in their own way) etched and there is not a male character to match any of them. not that it puts me off . its just an observation.maybe because the novel did not require one. But , overall it was a awesome read.

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