A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS-Bibitha Mariya Baby:5025

                         'A Thousand Splendid Suns' is a famous novel written by Khaled Hosseini.   Anyone who has read Khaled Hosseini's 'The Kite Runner' will definitely line up for his follow up.He has definitely got the magic in telling events which are unbearable in a readable manner.His narration travels smoothly through the turmoils and slip down easily.                              A Thousand Splendid Suns is a 2007 novel.The work has released on May 22,2007,went up to become a No.1 Newyork Times Best Sellers for fifteen weeks.The first theoretical adaptation of the book premired on February 1,2017 at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco,California.                                                                          The novel narrates the tale of two women-Mariam and Laila.Hosseini remarks this to be a 'mother-daughter story'.He uses the concept of family and focuses the role of women in Afghan  society.Hosseini accredits his inspiration to the women of the Afghan society.He recalls seeing burqua clad women sitting at street children with children trailing them.He was struck by the pathetic condition of their life.But he also states that no real life character inspired the protagonists-Laila and Mariam.It was a myriad of their incredible feats,survival that inspired the novel.                                                                                                           The story is set in the 20th and 21st century in the backdrop of Kabul.The dual focus is being laid on Mariam and Laila.The novel follows their lives and how drastic events make their lives cross.The novel is divided into four sections:Part 1 deals with Mariam and part 2 in Laila,part 3 is the relationship of the two women,and part 4,the only part in present tense is Laila's life with Tariq.                                                Mariam is an illegitimate child of Jalil,a wealthy business man,who visits her every Thursday.One fateful evening,out of the fear of being deserted by Mariam,her mother commits suicide.Jalil,who takes care of her,gets her married to a shoe maker,Rasheed,30 years older than her.Their married life becomes more abusive as Mariam fails to carry a child to term.                                                                                                The next part introduces Laila.A girl from Kabul who develops a romantic relationship with her friend Tariq despite the social boundaries between men and women in Afghan society.On the onset of war,Tariq's family decides to  leave.Laila loses her parents and is severely injured takes refuge in Rasheed's house.She later discovers that she is carrying Tariq's child.Being informed that Tariq is killed in a war,she gets married to Rasheed,eager to have a second wife.She gives birth to a female child,Aziza.This results in Rasheed being abusive to her.She becomes friends with Mariam and they decided to run off.But they are caught mid way by Rasheed and is brutally beaten up.Laila later gives birth to Zalmai,Rasheed's son.By this time,Taliban has become despotic and doesn't allow women to appear in public without male relative.As the war rise,due to drought and unemployment,Aziza is send to the orphanage.Unexpectedly,Tariq appears and Laila reunits with him.On being informed about this,Rasheed nearly strangles her.But Mariam intervenes and kills him with a shovel.She is publicly executed for the same.Tariq,Laila and the kids take a short respite in Pakistan.After the fall of Taliban,they return and visits Mariam's birthplace.They find a package containing some money also and a letter that states her father being sorry for sending her away.They set up an orphanage with the same,where Laila works as a teacher expecting to name her third child,if girl,Mariam.                                                                                           This story reveals the message that there may occur tragedies and drastic events in all our life..But we should overcome it.Laila and Tariq gives nobility to human life.They give hope and aspirations to the human society.                                                                    

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari : Robin Sharma - Agnus Vincent 5026

                 I am writing a review of the book 'The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari' by Robin Sharma,which was published almost 15 years ago.I came to know about this book only during this year.I read this book.It's amazing.I'm lucky to have a platform which helps me to share something useful with as many people as possible.
                 The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari  is a fable about fulfilling your dreams and reaching your destiny.The author is a leadership expert and he fills the book with a combination of mantras for success.
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari is about the story of  a popular lawyer,Julian Mantle,who had a crazy schedule and setting life around money,power and prestige.He represents the current scenario of our society.The story is in the form of a narrative style,told from Mantle to one of his associates,John.But when Mantle has a heart attack,he drops out of his current living and disappears.He sells all his possessions and went for India to have some spiritual existence.Under the guidance of Sages of Sivana, who lives in Himalayas,he become a changed man - physically,mentally and spiritually.He got a changed body,mind and soul.Really,it's as if he's a completely different person.
When you read,you can see that Sharma comes down to a fairly formulative format - a list of seven principles - to create a life of passion,purpose and peace.The author explains these seven principles through mind capturing stories.These seven timeless virtues for an enlightened life is briefly discussed here :
     1.Master your mind : Learn to focus your                mind and consciously eliminate                      negative thoughts from                                      mind.Accept mistakes as lessons                      and opportunities.
     2.Follow your purpose : Discover and                      then realize the priorities that                          bring lasting fulfillment to your                      life.
     3.Practice Kaizen : Focus on continuous                  self improvement and attain self                      mastery over mind.
     4.Live with discipline : Recognise  the                      relevance of willpower and self                        discipline and nurture it.
     5.Respect your time : Focus on your                          priorities and maintain                                      balance.Live each day like it's your                  last.
     6.Selflessly serve others : Cultivate the                      quality of contribution,sacredness                  and kindness and thus building                        strong relationships.
      7.Embrace the present : Live in the                          now.Never sacrifice happiness for                  the achievement,enjoy each                              moment.
                      These points are easy to absorb and can be applied in one's life.Action points at the end of each chapter summarize the important areas which you should be paying attention for.As the author recommends,if we incorporate these habits in our life,it's sure we can experience a great change.These habits can transform one's lives, helps to achieve his dreams,calm him and make him more happy.
                 In my view,the primary theme of this book is to guide us to live a full and flourishing life.Each of these virtues are discussed in detail in separate chapters.Most of them are inspiring and potentially very useful.
                 If you came to conclusion that happiness is the title in front of your name,then it's the time to reevaluate the definition you have given to life.The biggest lesson from the book is how the quality of your life is determined by the quality of your thoughts.
                   We live in a fast paced world where we all wear the busy badge.However,it's important to live like a child and observe and find happiness in every thing.Fill your world with an abundance of positive emotions and that's how will you fee daily.
                     The thought which touched my heart is that,"The only limits on your life are those  that you set yourself". When you dare to get out of your coccon and explore the unknown you start to liberate your true human potential.When you push beyond your limits,you unlock mental and physical reserves that you never thought you have.
                     Likewise,there are so many mind exploiting and thought provoking ideas in this book.It's a fun and easy to read,plus it transmits a strong message for spiritual success.It is  a guidebook to life.



                                       
                                             

Who Moved My Cheese? - Steny Antony 5028

   
                "Who Moved My Cheese ? " by Dr Spencer Johnson is a self-help book on how to adapt to changes in work and life. People are afraid of changes. The book, with its four main characters, tries to represent four typical reactions of people to change.
                The story revolves around Sniff and Scurry, two mice and Hem and Haw, two little men,who live in a maze. They search for cheese spending long hours on it. When they find cheese in a cheese station, they settle down and become arrogant. They establish their routine around the cheese supply. One day, both men and mice find out that their cheese has disappeared. Sniff and Scurry are the first to move on and they start searching around the maze. Soon, they reach cheese station N and find abundant supply of cheese.
               Meanwhile, Hem and Hew are disappointed and angry. Hem asks 'Who moved my cheese ? '. They thought the cheese supply would be constant and when they were suddenly faced with no cheese they could not adapt. But soon Haw suggests to start searching for new cheese but Hem dismisses his suggestion and stay on. They soon start blaming each other for the lack of cheese and Haw once more suggests moving on. The truth is that Hem is afraid of the unknown corners of the maze. They remain without cheese. One day, Haw simply decides to move on and goes into the maze.
               Still in fear Haw writes "What would you do if you weren't afraid? " and ponders over this. Even though he is afraid, he continues his track in search of cheese.  On the way, he gets tiny bits of cheese which nourishes him and helps him to move on. After finding another empty station, Haw returns with bits of cheese to Hem, who refuses them.
             One day, Haw finally reaches cheese station N, where he finds many kinds of cheese. Haw decides not to return to Hem, but let him find his own way.
               In this story, Sniff and Scurry are more practical and they adapt to changes without resistance. They move on and take decisions quickly. But Haw and Hem are lazy and less enthusiastic in searching the cheese when days move on. Later, Haw regains the will to go with the changes and find new cheese.
            "  Who Moved My Cheese?" is a must-read book. It gives us a message which can be applied to our own life. What we could conclude from the book is that we must not waste time on just analyzing and pondering over any changes in our life but to take lead and act. People should cope up with the changes rather than resisting them.

Fault In our Stars- Alphil Maria Joseph 5005

The Fault in Our Stars is the sixth novel  by author John Green, published in January 2012. The title is inspired by Act 1, Scene 2 of Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, in which the  Cassius says to Brutus: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings." 

                              In the fault in our stars written by john green,he builds  a story out of darkness and despair.he takes the tragedy of cancer and immerses us in the lives of charecters that couold very well be real.He brings the story in the form aof a teen girl,hazel grace lancaster.

17 year old hazel grace is a victim of cancer.Although a new drug  has given her sufficient amount of time,it hasn’t put her disease into remission.meanwhile her mother  forces her to attend a cancer support group, hoping that she might make a friend. Hazel loathes what she sees as the false optimism of the group, but she attends to keep her mother happy. One afternoon, she meets Augustus. He has been in remission since the doctors amputated his leg, but is attending the meeting as support for his friend Isaac, who has been told that he will soon lose another eye to cancer.

Augustus and Hazel are drawn to each other almost immediately, and Hazel visits his house after  watching a movie. Hazel, an deep reader, tells Augustus about her favorite book, An Imperial Affliction, a story about a teenage girl with cancer. Hazel relates herself  to the book's main character, Anna, in every way. Not only does Anna have cancer. The great draw of the book, however, is that it doesn't conclude. The story just ends.Hazel felt all empty with the end.

Hazel surmises that it's to show that Anna became too ill to write, or died. But the ending has always plagued her. She wants to know what happened to the other characters in the book. Augustus promises to read the book and gives her his favorite book in return. It's a novel based on his favorite video game. Augustus and Hazel soon become close friends. Together they help their friend Isaac get through the pain of his girlfriend leaving him and the loss of his sight. After reading An Imperial Affliction, Augustus becomes obsessed with finding the author, Peter Van Houten, so they can know what happened to the other characters.They started the search for the author.

Hazel tries to keep Augustus at a safe distance because she knows she is dying. She considers herself a time bomb and doesn't want to hurt anyone when she explodes. Augustus, however, is committed to Hazel, so much so that he tracks down Van Houten through his assistant's email address. The author responds, which prompts Hazel to write him so she can ask him her questions. Van Houten responds several days later. He regrets to inform Hazel that he won't answer her questions in a letter or such conversation for fear she might try to write a upshot  to his story. He  tells her that if she is ever in Amsterdam, where he now resides, she could visit him.

Several days later, Augustus tells Hazel that he has contacted the Wish Factory, an organization that helps grant the wishes of sick children. They agrees to send Augustus, Hazel and a responsible adult to Amsterdam to meet Van Houten.

Before they can leave on their trip, Hazel's lungs fill with fluid, and she is taken to the hospital. Unconscious for several days, she wakes up in the intensive care unit. But the good news is that Hazel's latest scans show no new tumor growth.. More good news arrives when her doctors give her the OK to fly to Amsterdam.

On the following day of their trip,they took a cab to Van houten’s appartment  but the author didn't know of their coming and doesn't welcome their visit. His assistant, Lidewij, had set the visit up, hoping to persuade her employer out of his self-imposed exile.

Van Houten is rude and aggressive  to the teenagers, refusing to answer their questions for the sheer reason that his characters aren't real. They don't continue to exist after the book is finished. Their story ended with the death of Anna. He has never imagined what happened to them later. He then trivialize them saying that they are only living because others pity them and pay for their treatments.

Augustus and Hazel leave the house angry and upset. Lidewij follows them out, after having resigned her position as Van Houten's assistant. She brings the children to Anne Frank's house and pays for their admission. The house has no elevators, so Hazel must lug her oxygen tank up a pile of stairs. The exhaustion she suffers is worth it as she and Augustus share their first kiss at the end of the exhibit. The other tourists around them cheered.

Hazel and Augustus return to their hotel .After breakfast the following morning,  they go out for a walk where he tells her that his cancer has returned and is attacking every part of his body. They return home where Augustus immediately begins the chemotherapy treatments. Isaac visits and tells them he hasn't heard from his former girlfriend since the operation that took his sight..

Days past and Augustus' health quickly declines. As his death draws closer, he asks Hazel to meet him one night at the church where the support group meets. It is after hours and no one is there but Augustus and Isaac. Augustus wants to hear the eulogies that they will give at his funeral. After hearing them, he dies eight days later.

Hazel is shocked when Peter Van Houten attends Augustus' funeral. She and her parents give him a ride from the grave. He tells Hazel that Augustus wrote to him after they'd left Amsterdam. Because Van Houten still acts odd, Hazel makes him get out of the car.

Several days later, Isaac asks her if Augustus ever gave her the paper he was working on. Hazel gets in her car to drive to Augustus' house and is shocked to find Peter Van Houten in the back seat. She tries to get him to leave, but he insists on riding with her to Augustus' house. Along the way, he tells Hazel about his daughter who died at age 8 of cancer.

Hazel realizes that his daughter's death was the reason he became a miserable alcoholic. She eventually leaves him on the side of the road. Hazel search Augustus' computer, room and house, but can't find anything that he wrote. She eventually figures out that he must have sent something to Van Houten. She writes Lidewij to ask if she saw anything. Lidewij responds the following afternoon after visiting the returned Van Houten and obtaining Augustus' letter.

It is a eulogy for Hazel. Augustus asked Van Houten to take his words and turn them into a worthy essay for Hazel. Van Houten told Lidewij that he could add nothing to Augustus' words. The story ends with Hazel reading Augustus' letter. In it, he speaks of his love for her and the way she lived her life........

  The book thus  inspire a millions through the life of hazel grace....

The Painter Of Signs- R K Narayan (Aseel 5019)

"The Painter Of Signs" is a beautiful book by R K Narayan. R K Narayanan is one of the  Indian writers who wrote beautiful short stories and novels potraying the Indian people. Most of  his stories are based in an imaginary town Malgudi which is situated in South India.  Narayan's short stories have been compared with those of Guy De Maupassant because of his ability to compress a narrative. Narayan highlights the social context and everyday life of his characters.

Raman,the painter of signs is a part of the Malgudi town, an imaginary place created by R K Narayan which portraits a typical South-Indian village. He lives with his conservative old aunt.

His life changes when Daisy set set afoot on the Malgudi for conducting birth control campagins in the villages. She enters into contract with Raman for creating  sign boards for her office . Together they travel across Malgudi. Raman travels with Daisy for a 3 day campaign Around The villages for population control messages.  Raman gets attracted by her beauty and eventually falls in love with her.

The story goes on to outline Daisy's complicated past and her eventual admission of a mutual attraction for Raman. The two start spending the nights together, and decide to get married in the "Gandharva" style, the simplest form of marital union. Daisy seems to be unaffected by the relationship though, and tells Raman that she will not change her last name, or house-keep for him

His aunt was not convinced by the fact that he decided to marry out of the cast  ask them and arrange a one way trip to Banaras so that she could spend the  rest of her  life in there. On the day when Daisy was expected to move into his house in Ellaman Street , she changed her mind  realising the that the marriage life would not suit her and it would  put an her independent life.  She decides to leave Malgudi for a three-year family planning initiative in villages all over India.

Like any other of the RK Narayan stories "the painter of signs" is also notable for its simple language. It is a bittersweet novel where at the endthe protagonist is left with nothing but solitude where his wife as well as his aunt leaves him. The story indirectly deals with the characters of women ,both traditional as well as modern and shows  in simple terms the complexity of human relationships and about love and affection.

The Blue Umbrella - Reshma C Raj 5030

The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond is a story about the joy of giving and sharing happiness even in sad moments. Through Binya, Ruskin introduces a sense of kindness among children to get to know.
                           The story is about a simple village girl ,Binya who exchanges her lucky pendant for a blue umbrella which she sees with picknickers. She is from a poor family living with her mother and elder brother ,Bijju in a small hilly village. One day while hearing their cows back home she saw few city people enjoying their picnic. She was fascinated by their way of dressing but soon a blue umbrella catches her attention. On the other hand the city people get attracted by her beauty and the pendant consisting of leopards claw in her neck. Due to her at most desire she exchanges her pendant with the blue umbrella.
                      The blue umbrella is so beautiful that it soon became a topic of conversation among the villagers. They always feel to touch or hold it. Ram Bharosa who runs a small shop was so much envied by the umbrella that he decides to own it at any cost so he extends an offer to Binya which she immediately refused. He was disappointed by her refusal which made him appoint a loyal boy to steal the umbrella from Binya but the boy was caught by Bijju. When the boy reveals Ram Bharosa's name the villagers exclude him and stop purchasing from his shop. As a result Ram suffer loss.Binya feels sad about his condition and donates her umbrella to Ram. In return Ram gifts her pendant with a bear's claw which is considered even luckier than of leopards.
                  The story ends with the message that not everything you can get from desire. If you are truthful and always keeps a smile on your face everything will happen good and all problems will solve automatically.

The witch of Portobello-Thara Charly 5011

I was in a total fix with task of posting a review in our class blog. I spent days contemplating and searching,rather recollecting the name of any one book I had read recently. Just the day before the deadline,the witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho popped up in my mind. So here it goes.

To begin with Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian lyricist,novelist and the author of the international bestseller The Alchemist. The book The Witch of Portobello is the story about Athena,a striking, energetic, fearless young woman who follows the voice of her heart.

The book is not a straight biography or the opinion of the writer on the main protagonist. Rather it is a compilation of various anecdotes that the writer  collected or came over about the protagonist from people who were acquaintaned or associated with her.

As the book begins,Athena ,the protagonist is dead. How she ended up that way,the intrigue to know that sustains the book. Sherine Khalil,better known as Athena,was born in Romania and was adopted by a family from Beirut. She was much loved and much wanted  daughter who grew on wisdom and beauty. From childhood itself she had a strong religious vocation and knew the gospel by heart. With the outbreak of war,her family moved from Beirut to London.

She received the best of education that she left before completing; got married and divorced with a son in twenty; left the Church, on which she had deep faith from her childhood, after it forbade her from receiving sacrament, due to her divorce; a good job in a bank what she left when she was being just more than successful; took the job of selling land in dessert and left that too when she was earning more than enough, a successful Journalist, whom she left, who was ready to leave everything to love her. Her aim was to find the meaning of life.

According to the author,there are four archetypes of women who search for meaning to their lives or for the path of knowledge

The Virgin (not the sexual virgin): One whose search springs from her complete independence and everything she learns is the fruit of her ability to face challenges alone.

The Martyr: The one who finds her way to self-knowledge through pain, surrender and suffering.

The Saint: The one who finds her true reason for living in unconditional love and in her ability to give without asking anything in return.

The Witch: The one who justifies her existence by going in search of complete and limitless pleasure.

Athena was all four at once but the witch dominated her the most.

Athena was not content. She felt that there were blank spaces in her life just like the spaces that exists between each word. Those blank spaces give meaning to everything. She tried to understand those blank spaces by pursuing music,dance and calligraphy. When she felt that they are not enough to make her content,she went in search of her birthmother.

She kept constantly destroying and rebuilding herself. Everything in her life had followed the same pattern: from lost to found; from divorce to new love; from working in a bank to selling real estate in the desert. There was only one thing which remained intact, that was her son. He was the only connecting thread.

Nothing could contend her restless soul; nothing could bring her peace of mind, neither even reaching Vertex through dancing or calligraphy. And finally she went to teach people something she didn’t know, that’s when she was bringing the soul to the surface, and speaking what the eternity, depicted as ‘the Mother’ in the book, wants to reveal through her.

Athena was bringing to the surface the immensely rich world we carry in our souls, without realizing that people aren’t yet ready to accept their own powers. That’s why the writer describes her as a woman of twenty-second century living in the twenty-first, and making no secret of the fact either. That was her biggest problem.

The book talks about free love, a river which overflows its banks, which is above all the concept we associate with love, like desire, possession or betray.

“Love fills everything. It cannot be desired because it is and end in itself. It cannot betray because it has nothing to do with possession. It cannot be held prisoner because it is a river and will overflow its banks. Anyone who tries to imprison love will cut off the spring that feeds it, and the trapped water will grow stagnant and rank”

That’s the path the Witch of Portobello was following throughout her life, until she was brutally murdered.

IT MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE – GOKUL GOPINATH (5057)

IT MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE – GOKUL GOPINATH (5057)

 This beautiful book of George Stephen SJ  brings you heart warming stories from the lives of simple, ordinary people. No one ever thought their lives could make much of a difference. And yet these stories show how they have touched other lives and made a great difference as they respond to people and situations with a caring and loving heart. Fr George Stephen ,once a dedicated professor of mathematics, he shifted to family ministry and retreat ministry. His extensive experience in the ministry led to the publication of his first book.

                                      Indeed these stories are a trove of simple  acts of human kindness and compassion which will certainly infect you as you read on and make of you a more humane person. The heroes in this book have themselves been transformed through their act of kindness to others. In fact, as the author puts it, “these people have become part of the whole transformative process.  By these simple acts of kindness, their belief in themselves, in their innate goodness ad in their own capacity has grown. In a  word, by giving life they have become more alive and more human; by becoming more human, they have partaken blissfully in the cup of the divine. The people in the narratives of this present book are simple people who others thought would not make a difference by their lives. They are people which the author came across during his ministry life . They are ordinary people who went about doing ordinary things. But the manner in which they perceived people and things, the way they responded with caring and gentle heart, has made all the difference.

     

EGO-THE WORST ENEMY AND THE FRIEND - ALEENA K.J- 5059

EGO -THE WORST ENEMY AND THE FRIEND

                                               BY SHAMMI SUKH

The  author of the book Shammi Sukh shatters the misconception, as propagated by many,that all ego is bad;he claims that nurtured properly,the ego prove to be a boon, thereby making life more enjoyable and exciting.This book is a serious attempt to provide an answer to ego problems.This book also helps to change your life for the better because to manage your ego is to conquer the world.
                                      Ego-the worst enemy and friend provides new ideas and visions on managing the ego-our own and others.Ego crisis is the single biggest crisis we human beings have ever faced.There is hardly a family or a person who has remained unaffected by the ego -virus.Ego has scarred numerous relationships and marred many lives.It is the small leak that has sunk many a great ship.Ego management is thus most crucial subject for each one of us,yet this is the most neglected too.The unfortunate part is that most people do not know how to manage others.This book helps in understanding "EGO" and manage it effectively too and enhance your effectiveness in every  relationship .It is equally beneficial for  young and old,males and females,married and unmarried,parents and children and working and non-working persons.By learning  the art of handling the ego,you climb the stairs of success smoothly,apart from leading an emotionally rich,exciting and fulfilling life.
                                 The sole purpose of this book is to help you solve the biggest crisis you face - the ego-crisis - and enable you to lead an emotionally rich, exciting and fulfilling life.This book is a serious attempt to provide an answer to Ego problems.

                                       

HOW TO RAISE YOUR SELF-ESTEEM Anirudhan S : 5070

Nathaniel branden is a practicing psychotherapist in Los Angeles and, in addition, conducts business seminars, workshops, and conferences worldwide on the application of self-esteem principles and technology to the challenges of modern business .In this book Branden focused on the critical need to understand the psychology of self-esteem and its relationship to our daily lives. During his career, Nathaniel Branden wrote nearly 20 books on self-esteem, including such influential works as The Psychology of Self-Esteem, How to Raise Your Self-Esteem, The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem and The Art of Living Consciously.

This book Nathaniel Branden wrote it as a guide. It helps the readers to build their self-esteem. This book is not an extension of the theory of the self-esteem, but an amplification of its practice. Its basic concern is with the actions both mental and physical, that advice self-esteem or undermines it. In this book he describes about various strategies for building our self-esteem.

Self-esteem affects our confidence. Our potential to achieve what we most desire is directly related to our self-esteem. It has two components a feeling of personal competence and a feeling of personal worth. In other words self-esteem is the sum of self confidence and self respect. It affects our behavior and thoughts. It changes how we feel about and value ourselves. To have high self-esteem is to feel confidently appropriate to life. Low self-esteem means that you will have a poor image of yourself and this will result in a loss of confidence. Self esteem will also help you at work. Your confidence and positive attitude will enable you to look and feel your best. The higher our self-esteem, the more likely we are to creative in our work, which means the more successful we are likely to be.

Branden says that self-esteem is the evaluative component of self-concept. Our self -concept is who and what we consciously and sub consciously think we are. Our self-concept shapes our destiny. It influences all our significant choices and decisions and therefore shapes the kind of life we create our selves. According to him the first strategy to raise self- esteem is to live consciously, which means to generate more self-confidence and self-esteem. Living consciously is living responsibly toward reality, living with a respect for facts, knowledge and truth. Branden says that “if the essence of living consciously is respect for facts and reality, then self- acceptance is its ultimate test.” Self- acceptance is a refusal to decay or disown any aspects of the self: our feelings, actions thoughts memories etc… It is the foundation of all growth and change.

The second strategy is liberation from guilt. If we are to protect our self-esteem, we need to know how to assess appropriately our own behavior, and after assessing our own behavior in matters where we feel truly and appropriately guilty we need to take specific steps to resolve the guilt rather than merely suffer passively.

The next strategy to build our self-esteem is living responsibly Branden says that “ Men and women who enjoy high self-esteem have an active orientation rather than a passive one ” They take full responsibility for the attainment of their desires. In order to raise our self-esteem we need to live actively rather than passively, to take responsibility for the fulfillment of our own desires, for our own existence and for our actions and well being. Another strategy to protect our self- esteem is living authentically. Self-confidence and self-respect are sustained by living authentically. This is the courage to be who we are to preserve congruence between our inner self and self we present to the world. Good self-esteem demands congruence which means that the self within and the self manifested in the world we be in accord. He finally says that nurturing the self-esteem of others. Each of us ultimately responsible for our self-esteem. We have the option of supporting or assaulting the self-confidence and self-respect of anyone we deal with, just as others have that option in their interactions with us. In supporting the self-esteem of others we support our own. Thus, self-esteem is served by living benevolently.

By practicing all these strategies mentioned above everyone can live successfully with higher self-esteem. In short this book is more like a workbook or guide and Branden doesn’t let his readers get away with just reading words on a page. He makes them work for their self -esteem 

WISE AND OTHERWISE (A Salute To Life)

           

               WISE AND OTHERWISE

                  (A SALUTE TO LIFE)

                                     -SUDHA MURTHY

             Wise and otherwise (A Salute to life) is a book written by Sudha Murthy, wife of N.R. Narayana Murthy.She is a well known social worker, author and a humanitarian. She is also the chairperson of Infosys. Wise and otherwise is one of her famous works which consists of 51 short stories altogether giving intresting insights about the real India and which are her real life experiences, gathered while traveling across the country.Each story is of three to four pages and makes us introspect about things which come across our daily life and the way in which we see things.

              One of the stories revolves around a man who leaves his father in an old age home. In this story the man introduces his own father as a destitute found on the roads, obtains a place in the Old Age Home, and forgets about him. He returns on the death of the old man whose bag he wants to claim and reveals only then that the old man is his father! The bag contains a passbook showing a balance of over a lakh of rupees. Such stories clearly portrays the present scenario and the reason why, old age homes are day by day increasing in our country. Another story is of a charlatan who barges into the office of Infosys Foundation, and mistakes Sudha for one of the lower level staff member. His aim is to palm off a few substandard books written by him for the libraries assisted by the Foundation. He claims to have known Sudha from childhood and gives a fictional account of how he helped her husband in his career. Imagine his face when he is told that he is talking to the lady herself! Such stories makes us rethink about people and their attitude. Most of the stories says about the real situations of people in different parts of our country like dowry deaths and forced prostitution, changes in personality with passage of time, nostalgic memories about childhood and simple pleasures of life, changing values and morals.

              There are stories that just act as a witness to society, like the discussions between two marriage brokers regarding the impact of the IT sector’s growth has had on their business, a beggar who moves into an area distroyed by an earthquake to take advantage of the aid provided to victims. Most of the stories emphasizes the importance of Moral values and about people’s behavior in different circumstances. The anecdote portrays whole range of human emotions - compassion and greed, jealousy and celebration of others' success, human dignity as well as degradation, charity as well as exploitation.The most intresting fact about the book is that it talks about both good and bad. But one cannot fail to notice that there is more about good than bad as each story with a negative plot ends making us thing about the changes we need to adopt from such stories and creates a positive note to the reader.And one of the most important point which i have noticed about her stories is that whenever we read one, we feel as if we are surrounded by people whom we have already met at some point of our life. This helps us understand more about the real meaning which she tries to portray through her books.

                 The language is quite simple and easily understood by everyone. Rather than a literary masterpiece, give me a Sudha Murty book any day,i would be happy as it makes me think, it makes me introspect, and probably act! The language may be simple, but the message is effective. Sudha murthy is my all time favourite writer and an inspiration to be a good human rather than simply mugging up all what text books and the educational system provides our generation with.

                                          Chanchal A. Nair

                                          2nd Bcom Tax (A)

                                          5040

CONQUERING THE MIND - jewel maria albert (5007)

Conquering the mind (jewel maria albert 5007)

Eknath Easwaran, the teacher of timeless wisdom, shows how training our minds is a glorious challenge, a one that brings joy and purpose to life. Eknath Easwaran was professor of English literature  at the university of Nagpur and during his last 33 years he taught the classics of the world mysticism and the practice of meditation.

                                      We often feel trapped by unwanted thoughts  and emotions, Easwaran  who taught meditation for nearly forty years ,shows a way to break free. In this book he presents the art of training the mind how to respond to life’s challenges, how to take charge of your thoughts and reshape your lives through meditation. Writing as an experienced, friendly coach, Easwaran explains how we can train the mind not just during the meditation but  throughout the day working with difficult colleagues, choosing what to eat, and listening to  child’s needs are all opportunities to try our different, wiser responses. To shed light on the thinking process ,he takes the timeless teachings of the Buddha and other mystics and illustrates them with scenes from contemporary life. He offers practical exercises for taking charge of our thoughts, along with instruction in his own method of passage meditation. He explains how, just as a fitness can create  strong, supple body, spiritual disciplines can shape a secure personality and a resilient, loving mind. When your mind is trained, you can keep this sense of delight and wonder alive always; it will actually grow with the passage of time. This is the greatest wealth a human being can have: relationships that never turn stale or sour but go on growing in depth and beauty.

                                         At the end of the book he have given a very brief summary of the eight point program which he himself have followed wherein you will find instructions in meditation along with an introduction to seven very helpful practices, such as slowing down, which extends the benefits of meditation into daily living. This book without any failure motivates one to conquer his mind  and reshapes his life through the art of meditation.

                         “oppose a negative way of thought with a positive wave of thought”   

-          Buddha 

BOOK REVIEW-"THE MIRACLE OF POSITIVE THINKING" -Aiswarya P.R(5038)

"The Miracle of Positive Thinking" is your prescription for what it takes to be healthy,happy, and terrific in today's world. Consider Dr. Arnold Fox's RX for healthier living through positive thinking as you read this book. Put the ideas into practice and when you finish the book you won't be the same person physically who began it! Be certain to follow the Doctor's orders daily. -Judith williamson, Director,Napoleon Hill World Learning center PRESCRIPTION FOR YOU RX: Wake up! You're Alive Dispense: One Book From: Arnold Fox, M.D. Date: Today sig: * Read Wake up! You're Alive all the way through. * Re-read the book, one chapter every day, over and over again. * Memorize the affirmations in each chapter. * Make them part of your daily routine. * when in trouble, read the chapter relating to your distress. * Do not substitute.

   NEETHU  KRISHNA (5017)

   The   power   of   your   subconscious  mind!!!

                                             -  Joseph  Murphy

International   Bestseller ………………… Over a  million copies  sold…………………

                        

one of the most widely acclaimed self –help books ever written,THE POWER OF YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND has helped over one million people around the world achieve amazing goals simply by changing the way they think 

“What you write on the inside, you will experience on the outside. You have two sides to your life, objective and subjective, visible and invisible, thought and its manifestation."- The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, page 46

"Success means successful living. When you are peaceful, happy, joyous, and doing what you love to    do, you are successful."- The Power of  Your                                                                                            Subconscious Mind, page 175 

T

he Power of Your Subconscious Mind was written by a leading expert on the subject, Joseph Murphy. From my perspective, this book essentially equates your subconscious mind with God.

This book has been sitting on my shelf for quite a while, and it was actually recommended to me by my class sir, when I was in 10^th standard. Murphy’s book can’t be summarized , it’s a treasure of positive thinking.

However, I’d like to share with you the few things I learned from this book.

Murphy emphasis on the following equations of life,

LIFE = MIND = GOD

Murphy saw the subconscious mind as a dark room in which we develop images that are to be lived out in real life. While the conscious mind sees an event, takes a picture of it and remembers it, the subconscious mind works backwards, ‘seeing’ something before it happens. The subconscious is neutral in a moral sense, so happy to adopt any habit as normal, good or bad. We let negative thoughts drop into the subconscious mind every minute of our lives, and then are surprised when they find expression in day-to-day experiences and relationships.

Knowledge of the subconscious mind means we can control the thoughts and images we feed it. This makes Murphy’s 1963 book, an international bestseller .Understanding your subconscious mind as a photographic mechanism removes the struggle from changing your life; if it is just a matter of replacing existing mental images with new ones, change seems easy.

RELAXED   FAITH = RESULT

When a thought becomes a feeling and imagination desire, it will deliver what you want with speed and abundance. Yet Murphy said it is less important to know how your subconscious works than to develop the faith that it can.

                               BELIEVING   IT   TO BE SO

‘The law of your mind is the law of belief yourself,’ Murphy noted. Whatever you give your subconscious, it will register as fact.

HEALTH   &   PROSPERITY

The subconscious mind’s knowledge of ‘perfect health’ is the prosperity of mind, which is the greatest wealth.

WHY   PRAYERS ARE USUALLY IN VAIN

Murphy said there should be nothing ‘mystical’ about getting answers to our prayers. One who knows the workings of the subconscious mind will learn how to pray ‘scientifically’. Conventional prayer (the pleading, wishing, hoping variety) involves no faith.

In a nutshell: By understanding how the subconscious mind works, you can learn how dreams become reality.

Malayalam Novel 'Aaraachaar' {Submitted by, Devika C S (5060) }

Aarachaar.

Aarachaar (Executioner)  is an award winning malayalam novel which is  written by K. R. Meera  Originally serialised in Madhyamam Weekly in continuous 53 volumes, the novel was published by DC Books in 2012. Later it was translated by J. Devika into English under the title Hangwoman: Everyone Loves a Good Hanging 

It is based on the Indian culture of caste and religion, which sets in Bengal, it tells the story of a family of executioners with a long lineage, beginning in the fourth century BC. The protagonist of the novel, Chetna, is a strong, bold and tenacious woman who struggles to inherit this profession.

According to noted literary critic M. Leelavathy, Aarachaar is one of the best literary works produced in Malayalam and follows the legacy of O. V. Vijayan's classic work Khasakkinte Itihasam. The novel received the 2013 Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award. It was also awarded the prestigious Odakkuzhal Award in 2013 and Vayalar Award in 2014. 

22-year-old Chethna is from the Grddha Mullick clan, a family of ‘Aarachaar’ (hanging people, as per court order) who trace their professional lineage back to 400 BCE, and have been witness to historical incidents over the centuries. The pride they harbour about their profession borders on arrogance. When the next rare opportunity of hanging comes along, her 88-year-old father, a veteran of 451 hangings is considered too old.

Since her brother, whose limbs have been chopped off, cannot take over the profession, the mantle of aaraachaar is thrust upon Chethna’s shoulders.  Anyway Chethna has hanging in her blood – after all, she even came out of her mother’s womb tying a noose with her umbilical cord.

Chethna is hailed as a symbol of strength and self-respect for women, but in reality, she is just a cog in the machinations of the men around her. She is hurled into a whirlpool of media frenzy, amidst which she tries to make sense of her own awakening sexuality, questions her own ability to execute a condemned man, and watches as her family is hit by a series of tragedies.  She flounders at first, but then slowly extricates herself, and takes charge of her own life, which finally leads to a perfectly executed conclusion (pardon the pun.) 

The narration is eccentric and complex. Rich with legends and myths about the Grddha Mullick ancestors, these stories alternate with current events in the novel, and form a wonderfully layered narrative, thick with symbolism. Imagination at its best. The novel also deals with poverty, gender, society, media manipulation, and is a study of the place of a woman in today’s society.

The characters are hauntingly well-etched, and present-day Kolkata is also a tangible character in the story. Death looms in every page, leaving a dark trail through the novel. But even something gruesome and depressing as hanging, and death, and details of the dead – is dealt with elegantly. It shocks, but doesn’t disgust.

Chethana is an empowered woman, who is not loosening her hope for her life, she is highly dignified and one can make her as a model. There are lots of things to study from each character; the entire story has also have relevance in the contemporary society, though it has happened before years.

I sometimes felt I was reading the translation of a novel written by a Bengali author, that many efforts K R Meera has put behind her successive work, she had a deep knowledge on everything happening throughout this novel, and she is taking each one of us to very different realties. Undoubtfully it is best Malayalam novel which I ever read.  

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