Sanchari Das's Blog, page 14

Cinderella is Dead (Book Review)

The truth is tricky. People want to know it, but when they do, sometimes they wish they didn’t.”

~Cinderella is Dead, Kalynn Bayron

And when it comes to knowing the truth behind the centuries old fairytale with a happy ending, it’s bound to be a shocking phenomenon. The book “Cinderella is Dead” by Kalynn Bayron invites the readers to experience one such stunning journey with her unexpected reimagination of the Cinderella fantasy.

Two hundred years after Cinderella found her prince, the tr...

Isle of the Shadow Souls (Book Review)

“But as they always say, in the end, goodness triumphs over evil.”

~Isle of the Shadow Souls, Elaine Cherain

Evil, no matter how strong it is or how long its rule be, will always have to bow down before goodness. The book “Isle of the Shadow Souls” by Elaine Cherain proves this yet again with its story of witches, wizards and warlocks, phoenix, mermaids and fairies, monsters, goblins and vampire.

Brought up by her father and his books, Laura finds herself in her father’s library after his ...

The Witch’s Boy (Book Review)

“A word, after all, is a kind of magic. Words call the world into being. That’s power indeed.”

~The Witch’s Boy, Kelly Barnhill

Not all Magic can be contained in potion bottles. Not all Magic can be controlled with spells. Not all Magic can be streamed from wands. There are some Magic that works on the power of words. “The Witch’s Boy” by Kelly Barnhill enchants her readers with one such unruly Magic which can only be tamed with powerful words.

When Ned and his identical twin brother, Tam,...

The Ogress and The Orphans (Book Review)

“A lot of things are magic if you think about it right. And some things might not be magic exactly, but they’re pretty close.”

~The Ogress and The Orphans, Kelly Barnhill

Dangling on the thin line between fantasy and reality, “The Ogress and The Orphans” by Kelly Barnhill is a magical story, but one where magic doesn’t flow out of wands, spells or potions, but sparks out of love, kindness, compassion and selflessness.

Once upon a time Stone-in-the-Glen was a lovely town with kind neighbour...

The Girl Who Drank The Moon (Book Review)

“Yes. This is all one story. This is my story. I just don’t know how it ends.”

~The Girl Who Drank The Moon, Kelly Barnhill

And so begins a story of magic, a tale of fantasy, a play of mysticism with witches, dragons and swamp monsters, dancing along the magic from the moon. But “The Girl Who Drank The Moon” not simply a light-hearted fairytale, but a story that’s filled with wisdom, strength and power.

The story begins when Xan, the witch of the forest, accidentally feeds a baby moonlight...

Wilderness Within Me

Society had always tried to curb
The wilderness within me,
With its civil ways;
But when did the wild nature
Ever listen to the civilization?
People forever sought to tame
The wild beauty within me
With its disciplines;
But does the untamed beasts
Ever follow the harsh rules?

They try to tempt my heart
With fleeting promises
Of faded virtues;
But can you ever entice
The fierce waves of the sea,
With your false beliefs
In vain morality?
They try to rule my mind
With momentary gains
Of dull ethics;
But how can yo...

The Liberation of Sita (Book Review)

“Truth does not remain the same forever but keeps changing continuously.”

~The Liberation of Sita, Volga

And in the famous epic Ramayana too, there is no ultimate truth, but one that keeps changing by varying one’s perspective. Volga‘s retelling of the great epic from Sita’s view in her novel “The Liberation of Sita” invites us to look at the mythical tale through a different lens.

Valmiki’s Ramayana tells the story of a triumphant king, Rama and about his exile, his battles, his victory an...

Love in Colour (Book Review)

“Love is tender, tentative, brutal and bold. It’s messy and magic!”

~Bolu Babalola, Love in Colour

Reimagining some of the greatest mythological stories and timeless tales from around the world in her book “Love in Colour”, Bolu Babalola weaves her spell around to create completely new stories, which springs from a different perspective, without losing the charm and essence of the original tales.

In her reimagination of the mythological characters, the author never forgets to pay respect t...

Set Tagore Free

Tagore isn’t just a literary artist,
He is an emotion.
And you cannot put a specific tag
On an emotion.
Art and emotion go hand in hand,
Soaring high above
Religion, Caste, Creed, Language,
And even Nationality.
It stays the same for one and all.
The same goes for Tagore too:
He wasn’t and shouldn’t be
Just a Bengali Poet;
He always was, still is and forever will be
The People’s Poet.
His works should be cherished
All over the world,
They should be relished in
Every single language.
His works shouldn’t be limited...

The End of a Journey || Reminiscence from Ranchi

Endings are the most painful part of a journey.

We roam around travelling through places, from one spot to another, through life, towards some unknown destination. But we forget that the arrival of our destination means the end of the amazing journey too.

And that’s never a pleasant experience—not in a career, not in life and definitely not for a vacation.

But end it did.

Moments after we landed at Ranchi, minutes turned into hours, hours into days, days into nights… and before we kn...