The Shrine of Death by Divya Kumar

A debut novel. An interesting plot. Came out very well, Divya! First, hats off for your efforts. Before I start the review, I wanted to tell you something. I had the opportunity of visiting few Chozhaa (Chola) build temples in and around Kumbakonam, at the same time I was reading this book. A lucky coincidence that made the reading interesting, and the visits to these temples even more interesting. So, what a coincidence!

As like my previous reviews on any thriller related novels, I won't go into the story as even a bit can spoil the reading for whoever picks the book in their hand. So, I won't do that mistake. The book has everything a typical thriller will have and more - friendship, deceit, suspicion etc., The one that makes this one stand tall is the idol theft which has become very common these days, especially in Tamilnadu where people are finding the idols belonging to the temples of Tamilnadu in remote parts of the world like Europe, Australia and America. The choice of characters and their profession goes really well with the plot. Today, greed is the reason for most of the crimes and that has been covered here as well. There are few places where the story looks dragging, but that does not stop you from your reading.

And, like in many Tollywood and Kollywood movies, love sparkles between two people coming together for a purpose, even when the plot is a thriller and that's here in this novel also. And, as you are progressing, it is not very difficult to guess the culprit. In my humble opinion, a thriller novel can make the reader guess the culprit, but it should introduce enough confusions throughout to change those guesses throughout the novel. The character names could have been chosen better to align with their descriptions/background. The language could have been polished a little bit to make it more professional. I hope things like these will be taken care of next time.

The twists and turns, the surprises, the India-based plot all are very impressive. Especially, I really appreciate choosing the IT professional character involving in such a thriller - something not everyone can think of. All in all, a very good debut novel from Prabha, sorry, Divya. Prabha resides in your mind even after you finish the novel and I am always confusing the author with Prabha. :-). Buy it and read. The novel won't disappoint you!

You Can Achieve More by Shiv Khera

Shiv Khera - the name that easily reminds us of the famous title "You Can Win!" Though there are few more titles that he wrote, "You Can Win!" goes synonymous with his name. Now, that is all set to change, with his new book "You Can Achieve More: Live by Design; Not by Default!". Whoever is in a professional job, especially, the engineering professionals would know how difficult it is to move ahead in the career. Mainly, it is the lack of clarity on what he or she can do to move ahead. And, if you share the same concern, then this book is for you. With a 23 well-crafted chapters, each well-organized and richly filled with examples and anecdotes, Shiv inspires us to take the next step.

The book starts with talking about the very attitude that we all have, saying attitude is the most important thing that decides who we are, and whether we can win. Most of the times, we all feel that we are limited by circumstances, or the people around us, but we never think beyond that. There, Shiv gives the beautiful idea to bring a win-win situation for everyone and everything involved: Change your attitude and things will be pleasant. The next couple of chapters go into the aspect of ‘Life’. The core theme of the book “Live by design and not by default” begins here. The whole point of these chapters is to see those opportunities and grab them. We all come into this life with whatever was given to us, and it is up to us to see what we can make out of those resources. And, this depends on the choices that we make – the design!

I am quite surprised by the chapter that talks about “Spirituality”. You often don’t see a lecture on spirituality in a book on personality development. The author insists on spirituality as the way of life. The next chapter talks about the mind, and the importance of brining in positivity and remove all those negative things that the mind accumulates or has accumulated. And, unless the latter happens, we are limiting ourselves on whatever we are doing or aspiring to do. The chapter on “Making the winner” lists the qualities that everyone must possess to be the winner. The author, in another chapter, also lists the mistakes that one should avoid that prevent us from reaching our goal. The book also emphasizes the values that should be part of our life. Especially, the chapter title itself explains what it is going to explain: “Valuations change, but values don’t”. The character that we need to possess, and the unethical stuff that we need to eliminate forms most important part of achieving more. Unless, we emulate the goodness in the lives like being trustworthy, ethical, with integrity etc., we always hold ourselves. And, beautifully here, integrity finds a whole chapter dedicated to it. The organizational head that I work for stands as an epitome of the principles that are listed here and for him integrity is the foremost.

Many a times, we are on our right path to achieve more, but we forget the most important thing as we go along that path – the balance. We don’t usually feel the importance of balance, but just for a moment if we think, this balance can help us achieve more because we get all the strength and energy from the people that surrounds us and inspires us to do more. It also acts to help us on our mental (st)ability. My first boss used to say, activity is not accomplishment. We are all busy doesn’t mean we are achieving. Over a time, we should stop take a look back and see how far we have come and if our efforts are rewarding. And, if they are, we should take a moment to be proud. And, in our path to achieve more, we should see if we are happy. The author, as he mentions in the introduction (that happiness is defined by three factors: Good Health, Good Wealth and Good Relationships) has dedicated a chapter for wealth. We need to be extremely prosperity consciousness and that is explained by a load of theories on the mistakes that we make and how to overcome them.

If you have been part of the corporate team meetings, you would have heard the word “proactive” a lot. That is of utmost importance as per the author, along with time control. The cost of procrastination is too much: it takes a hit on health, wealth, relationships, work everything. Above all, making good decisions at right time leads you to your goal and helps you leave a legacy for your next generation and followers. The author has beautifully presented. He has in fact mentioned it very clearly that this is a not a book that you should rush to finish. You should take your time to go through each page (several times if necessary), digest it and put the learnings in to action.

Well done, Sir! I am sure you have achieved more than “You Can Win!” with this book!