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Book review: Harappa – Curse of the Blood River by Vineet Bajpai A fast paced thriller with parallel story tracks running across the book. The present day story reflects and runs parallel to another one from 1700 BC – a time when the seemingly planned cities and seemingly advanced civilizations of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro were flourishing. The story has a lot of suspense and buildup to keep the reader on the edge-of-the-seat. The book has a captivating beginning and the author does not lose his grip on the reader till the very end. The story telling is excellent with the reader kept at the edge of his seat in a quick succession series of events and action unfolding without a break. The pace of the book is maintained and the story does not slow down.   The parallel story telling format builds the story bit by bit on both fronts, increasing your anticipation as you jump from one story to another, knowing fully well that the stories are running in parallel and exp...

  An interesting set of Books on Project Management. The book has an interesting cover design which seemingly has no connection to project management but take a pause a think deeper and you will see the connect. Book 1 Review: Being a Project Manager: The Beginning   In a simple manner, through the story, the author explains the various facets of starting and forming a start-up business along with several life lessons and lessons about social contribution & personal growth. All this .. with a complex and varied audience of school going kids (seniors), their parents and even their teachers. It is indeed a difficult task to explain the complex world of start-ups to anyone. Add to that the additional responsibility of teaching some life lessons and moral / social responsibility in a non-preachy manner as part of the story telling. The author has done a good job of simplifying things while keeping a wide coverage. While all this was good, ...

  The book is titled ” The Benefits of Failing Successfully: 10 Hidden Benefits of Making Mistakes And Failing ” and it does live up to its title in some ways. The 10 hidden benefits are introduced with the help of Dr. Jagdish’s personal life incidents and his learning from them.   At the core, it is a simple straightforward book on how to deal with Failures.   Dr. Jagdish narrates real incidents of failure from his personal life and what he learnt from them as well as how the seemingly failed attempt at doing something proved to be beneficial.   The author has pointed out that failure teaches valuable lessons that you wont learn if you were successful in your first attempt at doing something.   The benefit of having the real life incidents from Authors' life is that most readers will connect easily as something they themselves might have experienced.   At the core, the book attempts to align the attitude of the reader towar...

The complex world of start-ups simplified   In a simple manner, through the story, the author explains the various facets of starting and forming a start-up business along with several life lessons and lessons about social contribution & personal growth. All this .. with a complex and varied audience of school going kids (seniors), their parents and even their teachers. It is indeed a difficult task to explain the complex world of start-ups to anyone. Add to that the additional responsibility of teaching some life lessons and moral / social responsibility in a non-preachy manner as part of the story telling. The author has done a good job of simplifying things while keeping a wide coverage. While all this was good, i did find that in order to cover all facets, it became an overload. The average senior student of the school might eventually find the book heavy on concepts. This is a personal thought and may not be true, considering the generation of kids thes...

"All prepared for the interview?"   "All prepared for the interview?" - One of the most common questions you get asked by your friends (and sometimes by your colleagues too, if they know) (I started writing this as a simple comment but as i wrote and went on writing, it became a whole article. Well, read patiently) And somehow, this has always stumped me. Practically, because I never 'prepared' for an interview. I could never figure out what to prepare for when facing an interview. During my early days in Engineering college as well as for MBA institute admissions, I was told to prepare for some basic questions like 'Talk about yourself', 'What’s your strength / weakness", "Why do you want to join our company", "Where do you see yourself in 10 years" etc. I did prepare for them, unconvincingly. 'Talk about yourself' Except for the fact that i need to keep it short and concise, i never ...

~ Release Day Blitz ~ Avishi by Saiswaroopa Iyer   Long before the times of Draupadi and Sita Immortalised in the hymns of the Rig Veda But largely forgotten to the memory of India Is the Warrior Queen with an iron leg, Vishpala Brought up in the pristine forest school of Naimisha, Avishi reaches the republic of Ashtagani in search of her destiny. When Khela, the oppressive King of the neighbouring Vrishabhavati begins to overwhelm and invade Ashtagani, Avishi rises to protect her settlement. But peril pursues her everywhere. Separated from her love, her settlement broken, with a brutal injury needing amputation of her leg, can Avishi overcome Khela? Goodreads * Amazon Read an Excerpt “I am the Queen! This will be my throne!” The seven-year-old chirped leaping from the middle of the porch towards the broken mortar which served as a mock throne. “You will be my guard!” “Guard?” the man pondered scratching his unkempt beard....

Vishwamitra by Dr. Vineet Aggarwal Indian Mythological Fiction   When Satyavati, wife of Rishi Ruchik, exchanges with her mother the magic potion for bearing a child, they change not just their children’s destiny, but also the history of mankind. Born of this mix up is Vishwamitra, the son of a Kshatriya, who strives to become a Brahmarishi—the ultimate and most powerful of all Gurus. Vishwamitra is the powerful story of a brave but stubborn, haughty yet compassionate, visionary king of Aryavarta who not only acquires material wealth through military conquests but also becomes one of the most well-known sages of all times. Goodreads  | Amazon If you like to read about India's rich, ancient history, in an easy to read manner, you will love Vishwamitra If you have ever wondered if the ancients had any knowledge of space & science, you should check out Vishwamitra, the story of the man who created an entire new star system! ...

Greed   Very Short Story (VSS) 030   Naah. I am not Greedy.   I am a man of simple needs and desires.   I am the only son of a multi Billionaire. My dad is practically the richest man in the country in real terms; not by stock value or other financial jugglery. He has hard cash, property, gold and diamonds.   What difference does it make if those are not legal. Their value doesn’t change.   And yes, back to the point.   I am not greedy. I just want to double up the wealth.   And I have no qualms about the means I use to do that.   ------------------------------------   Presenting the third story of the Seven Deadly Sins Series - Lust, Gluttony, Greed , Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Pride - 5 more to go.   Thought this one would be an easy one to write but the writer’s block seems to be acting up. But managed to write it. One of those times, which was stuck in the beginning ...

                                                                     Gluttony            Very Short Story (VSS) 029   Did you know that not only desserts spelled backwards is stressed, but when you are stressed, desserts are fantastic stress-busters. They take you to the blissful world of ‘Taste Heaven’ where the sorrows of heart are forgotten and the tongue and stomach take charge of your life sensations. She left me today, informing me on whatsapp. Heart broken and shattered into a thousand pieces. I now seek solace in the unlimited Maharaja Thali followed by late nig...