500 Miles

"How do you dare to unearth the dead ones? How could you do that?", that's like a million dollar question I am asking myself about my own blog. I haven't posted on this blog in so long that I had forgotten that I had a blog even. But as every post that tries to make the blog new one, I wanted to announce a new year with a great news and that is the publication of my first book 500 Miles.

Probably I wouldn't divulge much about the book here as I would prefer readers to read it and give me honest feedback. It has been a long journey to publish this book and over last few years, I struggled to even comprehend that I was writing a book. I doubted many times, I have received amazing support from my friends and family to continue to write. One thing that stuck in mind during this writing process, is to write anything and everything. May be that's why I say 

"I don't have opinions about anything and everything, but my characters do." 

The idea to write book came from the paintings by artist Bijay Biswal, which you can check out at Indian Railways.

These paintings capture the essence of Indian train stations, the work by Bijay Biswal is so real that it brings life to forefront. I couldn't resist, but find my own inspiration in these paintings to write a book about people and characters that I have watched through out my train journeys. I hope that I have done justice to my characters. I enjoyed writing these stories, I hope you enjoy them reading too. Any feedback will be appreciated. 

500 Miles at Amazon India

500 Miles at Flipkart

500 Miles at Pothi.com

Book Review: The Disappearance of Tejas Sharma and other hauntings

With utmost pleasure and interest, I am happy to write a review of a book. This book has more personal connection than any book I have ever read in my life, so I will definitely be biased little bit, but my opinion about the book is 100 percent my opinion and I am proud to say this book is a "Must read"

The disappearance of Tejas Sharma... and other hauntings

Manish starts with a folk story and while growing up in a small village in India, I have come across such stories. The main attraction of the story is the finesse with which Manish tells the account of the happenings in a small village. In general I love the book when I can relate to characters or happenings and probably I love this story even more because there are characters which I might have come across in my life. It is a big thing for an author to achieve this in his first book because it makes the stories personal and unforgettable.

One of the stories have a dangerous and humor touch at the same time. Manish's attempt at the humor is really praiseworthy because you chuckle at the end part of the story and then keep your eyes wide open in disbelief thinking "What just happened?"

Couple of stories have touch of Saki. Manish's writing is incredibly mind blowing and so perfect that you can create the mental picture in your head for these stories. These stories will give you the depth of Manish's  knowledge and research about people and culture.

Story telling is the hardest art and if an author can keep its readers intrigued till the last line of the story, I think author has hit a home run. One of the stories "Her Unkept Promise", have that touch where Manish keeps you at the edge of the seat till the last line of that story. From this story, I can only say that author has so much potential to become a famous author in coming days.

Last time, I was terrified for whole night or there was a chill down my spine, it was when I watched "The Shining". Stephan King and Jack Nicholson is a combination which can create nightmares and cause you sleepless nights. I had a similar feeling with the central piece of the book "The Disappearance of Tejas Sharma". This story is a master piece in story telling and Manish has done a tremendous job. Since I know Manish personally, the certain aspects of the story are very close to my observation and those even make this story more chilling.

Hats off Manish, the book has been incredible piece of your hard work and this is just the beginning. Way to go !!