Skip to main content

Book Review Ramayana Game of Life #2 Shattered Dreams

I was reading the first book of Ramayana By Shubha Vilas for the second time when I received the email that I had been chosen to review the second book in the series as well. My first reaction was like 'finaly' the book is out. The first book was simply great but it was just the beginning of a story that changes your life.

The second part starts off with King Dashratha deciding to abdicate his throne in favor of his son Rama. What follows is a series of jubilation and unfortunate heart breaks. This is the beauty of Ramayana. We know how it starts and ends still love to read it again and again.

 Also interesting are the facts and stories that are in between. Shubha Vilas masterfully narrates and explains these to us. He has weaved in various forms and versions of Ramyana, from Valmiki's Ramcharitmanas to Kamba Ramyana and other popular versions of the legendary tale.

As in the first book I liked the idea of footnotes. They are something to look forward to. Each of them are like little gems of wisdom. We move in from Rama's marriage which we read in the first book to Ram's coronation and exile. Like I said before it breaks many hearts but it also shows us inspiration in form of characters like Sita, Bharata, Lakshman. Each one in their own way showing a strength of character which we should emulate in ourselves. Then we have other interesting people in the story like Urmila, Lakshman's wife who pays a heavy price of her elder brother in law's exile.

The book is a treasure of knowledge and their is nothing in it that won't teach you something. The narration is very precise and exact. Their is no overload of mythology or preachings. Plain simple facts and statements.




Comments

Also read

Debate : Do the ends justify the means...

Note : Give it all a fair thought before you jot down... Flaming and religion-bashing will not be tolerated. Your participation is gladly appreciated. I dunno if you folks remember this incident; a couple of yrs back, the UPSC exam had a question where the emainee had to assert his views on *revolutionary terrorism* initiated by Bhagat Singh. As is typical of the government, hue and cry was not far behind... Anyway, let us look at some facts -   Bhagat Singh was an atheist, considered to be one of the earliest Marxist in India and in line with hi thinking, he renamed the Hindustan Republican Party and called it the Hindustan Socialist Revolutionary Party. Bhagat Finally, awaiting his own execution for the murder of Saunders, Bhagat Singh at the young age of 24 studied Marxism thoroughly and wrote a profound pamphlet “Why I am an Atheist.” which is an ideological statement in itself. The circumstances of his death and execution are worth recounting. Although, Bhagat Singh had a...

Does India need communal parties?

I think, it was Tan's post on this blog itself, Republic Day Event, where this question was raised. My answer. YES. we need communal parties even in Independent, Secular India. Now let me take you, back to events before 1947. When India was a colony of the British Empire. The congress party, in its attempt to gain momentum for the independence movement, heavily used Hinduism, an example of which is the famous Ganesh Utsav held in Mumbai every year. Who complains? No one. But at that time, due to various policies of the congress, Muslims started feeling alienated. Jinnah, in these times, got stubborn over the need of Pakistan and he did find a lot of supporters. Congress, up till late 1940's never got bothered by it. And why should we? Who complains? No one. But there were repercussions. The way people were butchered and slaughtered during that brief time when India got partitioned, was even worse than a civil war scenario. All in the name of religion. And there indeed was cr...

Is this the India You Recognise? A Review of The Discovery of New India (Conditions Apply) by Aakar Patel

You pick up The Discovery of New India (*Conditions Apply) expecting a graphic novel. What you get instead is a sharp political conversation about modern India. Through Adi and Seema, and a quietly probing narrative voice, the book examines laws, rights, and lived realities, asking whether the idea of “New India” matches the experience of its people. Discovery of New India book review: Why does the idea of ‘New India’ feel both exciting and uncomfortable at the same time? Do you ever feel like you are constantly being told that India is changing, improving, rising, but no one quite explains what that change looks like when it reaches ordinary lives? You hear the phrase everywhere. New India. It sounds confident. It sounds inevitable. It sounds like progress. But when you pause and ask what exactly has changed, and for whom, the answers begin to feel less certain. That quiet discomfort is exactly where Aakar Patel places you in The Discovery of New India ( Conditions Apply) . Not throug...