pen.books.and.scalpel

BOOK NAME:  MARGINLANDS AUTHOR NAME: ARATI KUMAR RAO GENRE: NONFICTION PUBLISHER: PANMACMILLAN INDIA BOOK BUY LINK:   https://www.amazon.in/Marginlands-Indian-Landscapes-Arati-Kumar-Rao/dp/9395624434 BOOK COVER IMAGE BOOK REVIEW Imagine having to live in a pretentious world where we are constantly made to believe that we are the supreme creatures and that everything and every other living being around is for us to cherish. And suddenly, someone snaps you into reality, showing how we are actually destroying this land in the name of development and modernisation. This book is a hard-hitting portrayal of the man-made destruction of natural resources, some due to overuse and some simply because we could.   The author not only quit her high-paying software job to become an environmental storyteller, but she also made sure to look into the crevices and ripples in the environment to point them out subtly and skillfully. From the ill effects of de-desertifying the 'wasteland'...

BOOK NAME: SATURDAY STORIES AUTHOR NAME: RASHMI BANSAL GENRE: SHORT STORY ANTHOLOGY FICTION PUBLISHER: HARPERCOLLINS INDIA BOOK BUY LINK:   https://www.amazon.in/Saturday-Stories-Rashmi-Bansal/dp/9356993076 BOOK COVER IMAGE BOOK REVIEW Remember how 3 years ago, there was a deadly pandemic that hit the world and put us all to a stop? Is it just me, or does it really feel like a long time ago? The memories of the day we were notified of the first case in the hospital still make me numb. The horror of the number of expanding cases put our lives into hectic schedules defined inside a capsular scrub in a capsule of a cabin makes me shudder even today. Bringing back those days to life, Saturday Stories is a brilliant collection of short stories that revolves mainly around the COVID-19 quarantine period and other topics like partition, grief, feminism and poetry as well. Just as the book's tagline goes, 'A twist in the tale is a tale well told!', each story ends with either a w...

BOOK NAME:  I AM NOT YOUR PERFECT MEXICAN DAUGHTER AUTHOR NAME: ERIKA L. SANCHEZ GENRE:  CONTEMPORARY FICTION PUBLISHER: ROCK THE BOAT - HARPERCOLLINS INDIA BOOK BUY LINK:  https://www.amazon.in/Not-Your-Perfect-Mexican-Daughter/dp/1524700517/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= BOOK COVER IMAGE BOOK REVIEW What a stunner of a book! I can't believe I just read the most impressive young adult fiction ever. I wish it were my teen self reading this book while going through the crisis of my teenage years.  For a brief introduction, this book is about a dysfunctional Mexican family settled in the US. Julia is a first-generation teenager born to undocumented parents who can't make perfectly round tacos like her sister, Olga. Her parents always expected her to be perfect and saintly, just like her sister was. But little did everyone know that Olga was not as flawless as everybody else thought. Things change when Julia finds a scandalous underwear and a h...

As readers, we all have some books that we love, some we hate with all our might, some that are special to us and a few that are a little too unforgettable. The books' genres and names might differ, but the feelings are the same for all readers. So today, I decided to share with you all about a book that is just a little extra special than the rest of my most loved books. And if you know me from bookstagram, you might have guessed it right. It's 'A Little Life' by Hanya Yanagihara .  ABOUT THE BOOK: For those living under the rock and hearing about this book for the first time, here is a little synopsis of the story. This book is about four friends - Willem, Jude, JB and Malcolm who grow up together in New York after meeting through college. The dimensions of their relationships keep changing with each other over a while. It's a story of their haunting past, aspirations, challenges, bond, and love. Although the book revolves around the lives of the four friends, 75%...

BOOK NAME:  I KICK AND I FLY AUTHOR NAME: RUCHIRA GUPTA GENRE:  CONTEMPORARY FICTION PUBLISHER: ROCK THE BOAT - HARPERCOLLINS INDIA BOOK BUY LINK:   https://www.amazon.in/I-KICK-FLY-Ruchira-Gupta/dp/0861546946 BOOK COVER IMAGE BOOK REVIEW A 14-year-old Heera, living in the red light area on the outskirts of Bihar, has been trained all her life for her Bisi Bele, a tradition where Nat girls were married to a banyan tree after reaching a certain age. But Heera knows what comes after the bisi bele. It is a world of living hell that follows, where girls are sold into prostitution by the dance company that acquires them. She has seen women from her family suffer that fate all along and decides to fight back. Heera and her mother retaliate when Ravi Lala gives them a deadline to join the other women, and that is when she finds Rini, a martial arts teacher who teaches kung fu. Heera is captivated by the art and finds her calling in kung fu. She goes to train herself and achi...

This post is an ode to my teachers who didn't even know they were one to me. Yes, you read it right. My patient teachers. But when were teachers ever patient? Maybe a few, here and there. But here, the patient is not an adjective; it's a noun. My most efficient teachers other than my books who taught me subject and life matters were my patients from the start of my medical career. On this teacher's day, I decided to dedicate a post to them.   To all my patients who didn't know they were indeed helping me learn and grow. To my patients who had donated their bodies to medical college as a cadaver so that I could learn dissection. To my patients who let me poke them to learn the signs of the disease even when they knew it would hurt. To my patients who let me attempt an IV line or tube insertion more than twice because they were my firsts. To my patients who responded to me with smiles and wishes because I looked aghast even when they were sick and suffering. To my patient...

All is fair In love and war, they say; Yet biased and crooked, they most often stay. They say they love you as their own Will still ask you "Where’s your makeup gone?". They tell you are too plain otherwise; Too dark, too pale, too plump, too scrawny, Too tall, too short - can't accept any. Too much skin, too much attitude, too much ego; They say doesn't make you a woman and to let go Problem with any and problem with all: Don't speak; the men are speaking Don't sit; stand while the elders are! Shush! You talk louder - do it like a lady; Sit like one but don't cross your legs. Don't stare, don't ask much, don't you dare; But they say they still love you - beware! This isn't fair; this ain't love. We aren't fighting you as our foe. Don't tell me when to marry, when to carry, What to wear, how to eat and whom to meet. Don't try to hold me in your clutches, Or put me through troughs and ridges. Let me free; I won't harm any...

In a world that seems to have moved on to writing assistants and artificial intelligence, I still can't get over my obsession with pens and typewriters. I also know people like me who are just as obsessed with the natural pen-to-paper process and are furious about the growing number of bots and technologies taking over. I am still thrilled every time I hold my pen to write, like the first time I switched over from pencil to pen in school. Holding my pen fills me with a strange sense of euphoria that matches only that of my scalpel. It all started as a harmless way to express my thoughts and display my creativity because I wasn't anything but a nerd. I did not stop even when everyone said what does a doctor have to do with writing so much? Not even when the online appointment system took over, and we had to switch over to no writing days.   As much as writing became easily a habit to me, the words did not come that effortlessly. But I don't mind sitting cluelessly for hours ...

BOOK NAME:  DUDIYA - IN YOUR BURNING LAND AUTHOR NAME: VISHWAS PATIL translated from the Marathi by NADEEM KHAN GENRE:  TRANSLATED BOOK - CONTEMPORARY FICTION PUBLISHER: THORNBIRD - NIYOGI BOOKS BOOK BUY LINK:  https://www.amazon.in/Dudiya-Your-Burning-Vishwas-Patil/dp/9391125654 BOOK COVER IMAGE BOOK REVIEW Dilip Sawar, a civil servant, is posted for election observation duty for 76 days in the naxal-infested parts of a Chhattisgarh village. While this would have disheartened anyone else, Dilip was almost close to celebrating this feat. He had always imagined doing daring works like this and never understood the big fuss about being posted in Chhattisgarh. During his duty, he meets the young and energetic refugee girl, Dudiya, with a strange sense of aura around her that intrigues Dilip. Dudiya then opens up about her life as an Adivasi tribe who was caught between the state administration and the Naxals. While the state administration uprooted them from their homes f...

BOOK NAME:  THE PENGUIN BOOK OF MODERN TIBETAN ESSAYS AUTHOR NAME: EDITED BY TENZIN DICKIE GENRE:  ANTHOLOGY - NONFICTION  PUBLISHER: THE BOROUGH PRESS - PENGUIN INDIA BOOK BUY LINK:   https://www.amazon.in/Penguin-Book-Modern-Tibetan-Essay/dp/0670095125 BOOK COVER IMAGE BOOK REVIEW I am so glad I could lay my hands on Tibetan literature, which is indeed very difficult to find. This anthology is a collection of 28 short stories celebrating the work of 28 Tibetan authors who write their hearts out about their life experiences and their connection with their homeland. Whenever Tibet is mentioned, I can only think of the Dalai Lama, Buddhism, their architectural marvel and beautiful landscapes. But this book provides new perspectives on Tibet through the eyes of these authors. The authors share about their beautiful childhood filled with its rich culture and heritage, which later got disrupted by the encroachment of China into Tibet. Many residents were forced to ta...