Review of Cabbing all the Way by Jatin Kuberkar

The Blurb

Twelve people agree to an idea of running a shared transport service from a common residential locality to their out-of-civilisation office campus. Twelve different minds with equally diverse personalities gel with each other to fulfill a common need. At first, the members collide on mutual interests, timings, priorities and personal discipline, but in the course of their journey, they become best friends, make long-lasting relationships, mentor and help each other on various mundane matters. The journey goes on fine until one day some members try to dictate terms over the group. The rift widens with each passing day, the tension surmounts and finally all hell breaks loose… Will the journey continue? Fasten your seat belts for the journey is about to begin…


My Review

Cabbing all the way is an interesting book by the author, Jatin Kuberkar. It highlights many aspects that man has within, but the original element is that Man is a social animal thus he continues to express either by his body language or his speech to his brethren around him thus, making all of us try to understand the many problems he is usually surrounded with.

The story starts with a concern of long commute from work to home and how exhausted it can make the body. Thus, a colleague comes up with a solution: a shared cab. Twelve partners join hands for this daily regime. These fellow workers come from various departments, social backgrounds, and are hardly acquainted with each other's personal lives. The goal is the same. Coming to work without taxing the body, thus, join hands.

The author tries to depict many facets via the incidents that happen when these people commute to the office. It was like riding a roller coaster ride with regards to each of their emotions thus, making each of them unique and stand out from the rest. Jatin did an excellent job bringing out their concerns, however; I could not sympathize with their pain or rejoice in their success. Wish the author had given more background information on them for the reader to relate.

The co-workers started off on a bumpy start, refusing to co-operate with regards to being punctual for arrival and departure thus, leading to many sore mouths but, as they overcame that hurdle; it lead to compassion for each other's personal lives thus, embracing their flaws. That made them go on an excursion around the city while bunking office like school kids. They even handpicked an eatery joint that became their favorite, thus making them celebrate their respective successes at that particular restaurant. I felt like a big family going back n forth via these commutes until a few drop out thus, making the scenario in the cab ugly that again reflected upon punctuality, and sensitivity for each other.

Cabbing All the Way does not have a plot, but the various incidents help a reader peel the different characteristics of a human that molds him thus, making him a unique being on this planet. At times, I felt it was going places where it could have been avoided such as the many jokes that they cracked in the cab. I could not connect to them. Maybe if a bit of their history given (repeating again), it would have helped to associate and connect the dots.

I liked one of the characters Sushant. His philosophy was very soothing. One particular dialogue that struck me,"One way is to think that we are all a group of ‘friends’ with a common goal, so, let’s be together. This is our philosophy. But, there is another perspective, and that is to think that we are just ‘co-travellers’ united with a common interest without any emotional attachment. One has to decide which way to go.”

Overall Cabbing All the Way is a recommended read since it makes you ponder over the various emotions that man can withhold and express under different circumstances.

The Big Brown Dog

"Cappie Go. Go!" I would shout at him as he would come near me.


The fear factor of a four-legged animal creeping onto me was still going strong although that episode happened as a toddler.

The howl, the shriek still fresh in my mind thus, making me very conscious if a dog would come near me.

Today Cappie, the big brown dog, was one of them.

I unknowingly was sitting on his blanket thus making him wag his tail around me, and I was on the yelling end.

Until his owner came and swooped the blanket beneath me.



In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story about a Big Brown Dog.

Cover Reveal: KNITTED TALES: A COLLECTION OF EMOTIONS by Rubina Ramesh

RELEASING ON THE 10th OF OCTOBER 

Knitted Tales: A Collection of Emotions 
By 
Rubina Ramesh

Every tale has a path to follow to reach its destination.. but it may not exactly be the one we should follow.

WHAT IS THE ANTHOLOGY ALL ABOUT?

What forces an innocent girl to become a sex symbol? Her desires? Or cruel fate? 

Is a lifetime enough—for avenging a betrayal? How do you hide secrets that never stopped haunting you? 

Can vengeance and secrets of your past devastate your present? How can long-buried crimes of yours suddenly raise their head? Can sinning be saving?

Is your spouse your soulmate? What if they never understood your feelings? Can you still live with them?

Lastly, does life give only two options? Live or die? What if there is a third?

In her debut anthology, Rubina Ramesh tries to find answers to these questions that are often from the heart and yet makes the mind ponder over the solution. Or is it the other way round? Either way, Knitted Tales is a bouquet of emotions that is bound to touch both your head and your heart.

WHAT INSPIRED ME TO WRITE THIS ANTHOLOGY...

Dear Friends and Aspiring Writers,

My journey as a writer started after I joined Wrimo India. It’s a group of aspiring authors where all members are challenged to write, by the NaNoWriMo ML for India region and the Founder/Admin ofWrimo India, Sonia Rao.  Along with the other admins, Neel Ina and Dola Basu Singh, she made our lives pretty tough if we did not submit on time.

Our work was critiqued, broken to pieces and then mended again by all the Wrimo members. I laugh now, whenever I reminisce about those days. We writers are so passionate about our work that even a little bit of criticism makes us want to hide our baby. But in this group, we trained ourselves to accept all types of honest criticism. We sculpted our stories and life continued. This happened around 2 years ago.

Then, one fine day I found that I had gathered around 17 stories and forgotten all about them. As I dusted away the layers of neglect, I fell in love with my own stories. I am a narcissist. :)  But then, all writers are, aren’t they? I do hope what I have written from my heart, touches you. Here are the stories of a writer who aspires to always write from her heart. With NaNoWriMo just around the corner, here’s raising a toast to inspiration!

Releasing on 10th of October 2016

Add the cover of 
Knitted Tales: 

a collection of emotions 
by 
Rubina Ramesh
to your 

Edited by Inderpreet Kaur Uppal

Proofread by Nikita Jhanglani 

Cover Designed by Sachin Venkatesh

About Rubina Ramesh

 Rubina Ramesh is an avid reader, writer, blogger, book reviewer and marketer. She is the founder of The Book Club, an online book publicity group. Her first literary work was published in her school magazine. It gave her immense pride to see her own name at the bottom of the article. She was about 8 years old at that time.  She then went to complete her MBA and after her marriage to her childhood friend, her travel saga started. From The Netherlands to the British Isles she lived her life like an adventure. After a short stint in Malaysia, she finally settled down in the desert state of USA, Arizona.  Living with her DH and two human kids and one doggie kid, Rubina has finally started living the life she had always dreamed about – that of a writer. 

Her other published works include

'Home is where Love is’ a short story in the anthology Writings from the Heart. 

Ed. by Beth Ann Masarik 

‘You Stole My Heart’ and ‘Let me Go’. Short stories as a part of the anthology 

‘Long and Short of It’ by Indireads

'Wake Me Up' as a part of the anthology ‘Marijuana Diaries’ by Fablery Publishers

You can stalk her @

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Secret Birthday Wishes

"Cheater!" she accused him.

"Prove it!" he demanded.

"You peeped into my paper," she said with confidence.

"I did not," he expressed in an agitated voice, "I just eyed your partner."

"Over what?" she questioned.

"Why do you care?" he said with authority.

"Well, your eyes went past me. So, I am now entitled to all the conversation" she claimed.

"Gosh! You are such a sensitive lassie." he shrugged his shoulders and irked as he opened a birthday card that had wishes all over, and it was addressed to her.

She had glee and guilt all over her face.

---------


In 99 words (no more, no less) write a prickly story. Is it the temperament of a character that is prickly or is it a hardship he or she faces? 

Festival time!

As we enter the month of September, we not only usher the Fall season, but also the many festivals that line up making me very excited at the thought of mingling, dressing, eating, laughing, and anything and everything that is fun.

What I love about Fall is the welcoming of Diwali, Halloween, Thanksgiving that brings along a lot of anticipation, excitement, glee, and joy for the upcoming months until Santa brings in gifts!

Festivals also make me ponder over the many quotes:


Don't just Celebrate Festivals, Celebrate Life!

Festivals are a way to bring you closer to your family!

The greatness of a culture can be found in its' festivals


Celebrating festivals has its' own advantages:

* It helps us keep connected to our roots, culture, our origin and as we celebrate it, we help preserve it.
*It helps people to come together and forget their chaos of life while hoping for a good year.
*It also marks the significant events important to the human race.
*It tells you about mythologies and elevates your faith, giving you lessons from inside those mythologies. You celebrate the good will and teachings you get from them.


Ever noticed that when it's time for the arrival of a festival, the whole aura changes, the whole community gets directed towards a faith, a surrounding full of real hopes, happiness, joy, celebrations is created. It naturally uplifts your bad mood and fills you with positive energy. It gives you an opportunity to forget all the not so good events of past and initiate fresh & new beginnings. You can also utilize this opportunity in all other positive aspects you can think of because your faith is high.

A human is a member of a mysterious species, we don't know about our origin, but with a little faith, we have the power to change the tides and modify this world and create something exceptional.

On a minus note

However, Families mingle, but with caution since; they dread that things could get ugly and egos could clash, which could put a strain on their relationship.

It is said that families have thicker blood to sustain any brunt thus, making their relationship compelling as compared to the friends.

My concern

If families are made of thick blood, then why do we use caution when meeting up with them?

*Maybe this thick blood has high expectations from individuals within the family?
*Maybe that thick blood refrains us to argue and confront each other.

I wish family members ought to be flexible with each other and not let ego's come in their way when there is an argument.

I also think peace is directly related to the celebration of festivals. If we have the tolerance for each other, chances are we will appreciate their presence while accepting their flaws. Thus allowing us to bring in adaptability and buoyancy in our relationships. This will help bring in peace within and beyond.

Mantra for today: Peace is the side product of tolerance and fortitude.



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This has been a Finish the Sentence Friday post. This week’s sentence is “What I love (or hate) about Fall…”

Finish the Sentence Friday is a link-up where writers and bloggers come together to share their themselves with a particular sentence. If you’d like to stay ahead of future sentences and participate, join our Facebook group.  Link up your sentence prompts below! Please no "link dumping." If you include a link, comment on other posts.

Guest Post--FIGHTING FOR TARA BY SUNANDA J CHATTERJEE

Today I welcome another prolific author---Sunanda Chatterjee

She is a Freelance author, blogger, and ex-Indian Air Force physician Sunanda Joshi Chatterjee completed her graduate studies in Los Angeles, where she is a practicing pathologist. While medicine is her profession, writing is her passion. When she’s not at the microscope making diagnoses, she loves to write fiction. Her life experiences have taught her that no matter how different people are, their desires, fears, and challenges remain the same.

 Her themes include romantic sagas, family dramas, immigrant experience, women’s issues, medicine, and spirituality. She loves extraordinary love stories and heartwarming tales of duty and passion. Her short stories have appeared in short-story.net and induswomanwriting.com.

She grew up in Bhilai, India, and lives in Arcadia, California with her husband and two wonderful children. In her free time, she paints, reads, sings, goes on long walks, and binge-watches TV crime dramas.

My Question

From a pathologist to writing books. How did the germs creep into words that became three novels. In short what inspired you!

Her Response

I grew up in a small central Indian town of Bhilai, which was established for the Steel Plant in the 50’s. Almost all our neighbors worked in the plant, and most were engineers or doctors. As such, the pressure to become a ‘professional’ was immense, even more so than the rest of the country. My father is an engineer and my mother a science teacher. My three siblings became engineers and I became a doctor. I think if I had grown up anywhere else, I might have gone into fine art or creative writing, my true love. But as a doctor, I joined the Indian Air Force, then came to the US to pursue a PhD in cancer research. Academics and family became the most important drivers of what I did. I completed my residency training, and became a pathologist.

As a pathologist, I make life-changing diagnoses on a daily basis. Many patients get a clean bill of health, but some get chemotherapy or other harsh medications based on what I find in their biopsy. I carry the burden of the words “carcinoma’” or “melanoma” or other such deadly diagnoses with me. It is a draining, challenging environment.

When I took this job, on my days off, I found myself alone at home, and after all errands were done, I had a few free hours. For the first time since I was a child, I actually had time to indulge in creative activities. Writing for me is catharsis, an escape into a world of my creation, where my characters do as I tell them, where calamities happen, but I give them tools to deal with them. I took up writing as a hobby, but as a die-hard academic, I took writing courses and read umpteen books on fiction writing. As I learnt more techniques, I kept changing my first book several times, and by the time I published it, ten years had gone by.

The second and third books became easier to write.

-------

Stalk her @

                  

Review of Metro Diaries-2 by Namrata

Metro Diaries - 2 is the second book of stories by Namrata. These are stories about the man and his relationship to the many aspects of life that make him trudge along day in and out. The author has personified the many characteristics that personify life thus, asking her readers to live and not just exist in this humdrum of every day.

This book consists of 20 unique stories, and each of them left a trail on my mind and heart. More so since none of them are fiction. They have either been told, heard stories thus, making me very intrigued on all that life has to offer while also making me grateful to have a so-called monotonous life.

Usually, her stories start by encompassing the surroundings and then it nosedives into the character's mind. That gives the reader a clarity and also makes her presence felt with the character that is undergoing a mental and physical change. The writing is crisp, and it made me envision it all thus, NOT allowing me to read these stories at a stretch. I took days to read and finish it. Blame it on the story teller and the kind of stories she had weaved based on what she had heard.

All the stories are unique, but there is a handful of them that I would like to bring it to the notice.
"Charlatan" a tale that had a unique twist to a philandering husband.
"Stain of Love" made me ponder over the definition of love and stain, which usually never go together. But the author contrived these words together effortlessly.
"Veil Thy Love" a one-of-a-kind take on a tale that symbolizes that "all" things existing have feelings!
"A Rare Sight" gives an insight into a love of a parent, and how he liberates himself from the agony.
"The Last Kiss" provides an insight into the kinds of love man is hungry upon.


Then, there were stories that were blunt, raw yet the truth that usually gets hidden in the urban lifestyle of thy man.
"The Plummet"
"Child is the father of the man."
"The Keepsake"


There were also a couple of stories that had a strange twist, and it brought a smile on my face since it ended with a noun that we all want to associate with (hope!), but alas! Get dejected.
"The Darkest Hour"
"Love V/s Hate"
"A Pinch of Love"

"Mou Athena" was a tale that made me hungry for more. I felt the author left the reader dangling :)

"Rags & Riches" was a beautiful tale and Dear Author I would like a novel shape up from this story. As a reader, I wanted more!

Metro Diaries - 2 is a collection of stories that will leave a lingering taste of many emotions in your mouth and make you ponder on the intelligence of man. How he molds himself when in need of affection, when betrayed, loved, in fear, and in denial. This book via the many stories will help uncover each of these emotions of humanity thus making it a recommended read.