Sneha Naik

“It happens for a reason” is a thought provoking and emotionally engaging novel written by Preeti Shenoy. Through this book the author takes the readers on a profound journey of self discovery and resilience. Through the characters and the beautifully crafted story, she makes the readers believe that everything in life happens for a reason. The story is about Vipasha, a young 18- year old, who decides to have her baby and gives up her successful modelling career. She even ends her ties with her family and Ankush, the man she thought she was in love with. Fast forward 16 years, Vipasha pursues two careers; She runs ‘Paw Factor’ a dog boarding facility and she is a part-time gym instructor. She stays in Bangalore with her 14- year old son Aryan managing both her jobs to give better life to her son. She has a childhood friend Suchi who always makes attempt at hooking her up with a guy. But then there occurs an incident which makes her close the Paw Factor. This affects her a lot professionally and emotionally which totally devastates her. All goes well until Aryan had the sudden urge to meet the person with whom he shares his genetic traits and Aryan writes a mail to Ankush and then Ankush enters their life and the story takes a surprising turn. Vipasha’s journey from heartbreak and despair to finding her purpose is deeply moving. Through this book the reader can interconnect the series of events which occurs in one’s life. This book serves a reminder that every event though it seems to be miserable at times can shape our path and lead us to unexpected destination.

Everyone is familiar with "Ramayana - the story of the glorious king Ram". We've heard stories about it from our ancestors, watched movies, and some of you may have read it in literature. But have you ever wondered how a 'Sitayana' would be? So here comes the book, 'The Forest of Enchantments' by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, a mythological fictitious novel published in 2019 that depicts Ramayana from Sita's perspective. This book beautifully emphasizes Ram and Sita's love while also discussing the challenges they faced along their journey. The book also discusses all of the unsung women warriors, like Kaikeyi, Ahalya, Surpanakha, Mandodari, and Sita, who faced several hardships throughout their lives and were frequently misunderstood and mistreated. It mentions about womens like Sunaina, Kaushalya, Urmila, and Sarama, whose sacrifices went unacknowledged. The book describes the vast forest and its wilderness, how Sita always desired to visit the forest as a youngster and she discovered how lovely and adventurous the forest was during their stay. She formed a bond with the forest's trees and creatures and lived there in happiness and tranquility. The author describes Sita's captivity in Lanka, how she longed to be with her beloved, and the sorrow she felt that she couldn't articulate. She used to spend time by the Ashoka tree, and the tree would protect her by providing shelter. This book discusses several aspects of love, including how it may bring you both joy and suffering. Love is a golden rope that binds and pulls you in all directions. The book offers voice to all the women who have been suppressed. It teaches women how to persevere in the face of adversity while also indicating when they should stop to maintain their dignity. Something that grabbed my heart was the idea that we never know what life will throw at us, but instead of giving up, being weak, or accepting injustice, we should face the problems head on and deal with them as wisely as we can until we grow stronger than them. The book educates all women to be strong like Sita in all aspects of their lives, as well as how a women should be treated in the society.

“The Forty Rules of Love” by Elif Shafak is a historical fiction novel is a beautifully crafted and enriched with the essence of love, companionship, spirituality and self discovery. This is a novel within a novel which weaves together stories of two parallel timelines. One dated back to 13th century and the other in the 20th century. The former is a story of love, friendship and companionship between Rumi and Shams of Tabriz. The latter is a story of Ella and Aziz who found each other in an unexpected way and fell in love with each other. Ella Rubinstein lives a monotonous and ordinary lifestyle in Northampton. Her husband David was a successful dentist who worked hard and earned a lot of money. Ella had three children Jeannette, Orly and Avi. For forty years Ella’s life was like a still water with a predictable sequence of habits, needs and preferences. Ella found a job during her 40s in a literary agency based in Boston. Ella’s first work was to write a review on the novel “Sweet Blasphemy” written by A. Z. Zahara and prepare a manuscript for the agency. “Sweet Blasphemy” was a historical mystical novel about the remarkable bond between Rumi and Shams of Tabriz. Jalal-ad-din-Rumi was a great scholar and religious preacher. He was nicknamed as Mawlana and he had thousands of disciples. Shams of Tabriz was a wandering dervish in search of a companion. He wandered country to country in search of his companion and finally discovered that he will find him in Konya. Rumi met Shams in the middle of the streets of Konya. From day one Shams had a place in Rumi’s heart. Because of this encounter, Rumi was transformed into a committed mystic, a passionate poet, advocate of love and originator of the ecstatic dance of the whirling dervishes known as Sema. Rumi’s poetry and teachings continue to resonate even today. But unfortunately, the spiritual bond between Shams and Rumi became a target of rumour and attack and ultimately it resulted in their tragic separation. As Ella continues reading while preparing the manuscript, she is fascinated by the novel and the writer and ultimately falls in love with the author Aziz. Her journey towards the path of love and self discovery makes her take decisions which transforms her life as if a stone had been hurled into the tranquil pond. As the name suggest this book contains the forty rules of love prepared Shams and appears in various chapters of the book which contains a glimpse of love, faith and wisdom. Shafak’s ability to blend historical fiction with contemporary events makes this book a must read for anyone interested in experiencing deep form of love and spirituality.