Sneha Jaiswal's Blog, page 274

Ghosts In The Train

It’s the first time since March that I made a train journey. To those who know me well, they are aware of my love for trains. The rocking of rail coaches over the tracks has the magic quality of putting me to sleep, something I struggle with on a daily basis. There are only two things I look forward to doing in trains – reading & sleeping.

Given that the pandemic is still not under control, we obviously had our apprehensions about the kind of crowd we could possibly encounter on the train. This was essential travel and not a vacation. We were armed with PPE kits and surprisingly were the only people wearing them. Although most people had masks on. Luckily for us, there were only two other co-passengers in the entire coach. A train coach is usually packed with over 70 people.

The humble train turned out to be a LOT less riskier, since we didn’t have anybody around us. The first time I traveled in Covid-era was October end, to the beach city Vizag, to meet my parents. I hadn’t met them in 2020 at all, and they had been asking us to visit since flights resumed operations, which was way back in May. Our October flight was filled to the brim, not a single seat was unoccupied!

So the rail experience was surprising. Needless to say, we’ve never seen such empty trains in India in all our lives. It was a pleasant novelty which assuaged our fears about contracting the virus. Despite having no company, we continued to wear our protective gear and slept in them from the overnight journey.

“The two of us are the only weirdos wearing PPE kits on the train,” I texted my friends who wanted to see pictures.

“You no weird. You awesome. You cool. Those others dumb,” a friend texted back. The broken English was deliberate fun.

Although we were glad that there were very few people travelling, we were surprised that there were no precautions at the railway station, like at airports, especially because it was a major station in Bengaluru (India). There was nobody to check temperatures of incoming passengers at the entry gates. There was no facility to sanitise anything. Although most shops at the station were closed, but that was obviously because of the lower footfall. Anyway, it was a relief to not worry about having strangers too close to us.

And like always – I had a good night’s sleep on the deserted train.

On the return-train journey, there was only one other person on our coach and it was a day train, we weren’t going to sleep, so we just masked up.

I will leave you with a picture of us looking like ghosts on the window, with our PPE kits on.

Imagine Wanting Only This

Finished reading a second-hand hardback copy of “Imagine Wanting Only This” by Kristen Radtke. It’s a memoir that feels very intimate due to the graphic novel format. The novel is an unusual mix of art, myth, religion, travel & modern relationships.

Radtke talks of her emotional connection with an uncle who dies young to a genetic heart disease and of her own curiosity about unlocking the mysteries of the heart (biologically not romantically). At point, it feels like the author is just rambling about various phases of her life. Some pages feel like a travelogue, some pages feel like a diary, and then there are others that feel out of a strange film that banks on nostalgia.

The art work in the panels is not very striking and the digital strokes are oftentimes unimpressive. It reminded me of Mira Jacob’s ‘Good Talk’, although Radtke’s work was published in 2017, a year before Jacob’s memoir in the graphic novel format came out.

In the end, “Imagine Wanting Only This” is a rather offbeat book that might not appeal to the masses, but is worth picking up if you don’t mind a book that’s philosophical and filled with existential dread. Those who have lost a dear one would perhaps identify a lot with its content.

After We Collided Review

The makers of the 2020 film “After We Collided” do the viewer a huge favor and have the lead actor tell us what it’s is about in about about a minute – girl meets bad boy, falls in love, he turns out to be an ass, they break-up, he tries to change, they get back again. Fin.

Director Roger Kumble and his team try to convince us that this is a different story, but it really is not. The protagonist Tessa (Josephine Langford) has recently broken up with ‘bad boy’ Hardin (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) and is an intern with a publishing house. On the very second day of her internship, Tessa gets to attends a super fancy party with her bosses to win over a potential investor. Talk about being a super lucky intern. She gets drunk and calls the ex. Obviously.

It’s just infuriating to watch the lead pine for a boy who seems to have no talent, except for getting tattoos done on his body. Apparently he used to intern at the same publishing house, but doesn’t seem to have a job anymore, yet has the money to buy his ex-girlfriend a kindle and book tickets from the U.S to UK whenever he feels like it. WHERE IS HE GETTING THE DAMN MONEY FROM?

Also, I am so sick of every second romantic film/series having a picture-perfect shower scene where the couple is either making-out or having sex. There is not a single second of originality in the film. The movie also sends out a twisted message to youngsters watching it – that we must continue to love people who do not deserve it, that we must let great career opportunities slip by so that we can chase butterflies with an unemployed romantic interest.

The only reason this film is slightly bearable is because of a good-looking cast, even though their acting skills are quite questionable. It was nice seeing Dylan Sprouse (of Zack & Cody fame) on the screen after such a long time, but he is wasted in a poorly scripted role.

I don’t want this to turn out into a long rant about how I didn’t enjoy this film, so I am going to just wrap it up with a rating – 3/10 from me.

Freedom Hospital – Book Review

The term “chiaroscuro” was alien to me, that is until I read the graphic novel “Freedom Hospital” by Hamid Sulaiman. It’s an art style that involves heavy contrast between light and dark shades. Sulaiman uses stark black & white inks to tell us the story of the Syrian conflict.

Lines are blurred between the rebels & the regime, until one cannot decide which is the greater evil. One of the main protagonists is Yasmin, who runs an underground hospital that helps treat the wounded for free.
During the course of the tale, the hospital is either bombed out of destroyed at least thrice, but she manages to rebuild it again. It symbolises the indomitable spirit of those fighting for a peaceful, free nation.

I felt like there wasn’t any coherent story and the characters were mostly forgettable. As far as the artwork is concerned in the book, unlike most critics who seem in awe of the artwork, I felt like it was slightly chaotic and sort of made the reader lose interest in the panels. Some might feel like the artistic chaos is metaphorical of the human tragedy & mayhem in Syria, but cleaner drawn figures would have made it more engaging. The artwork just didn’t work for me. It’s a 3/5 for me.

The Walking Dead Season 10 Review

Rejoice Rick Grimes’ haters, he is not in the latest season of ‘The Walking Dead’ at all! He only appears in some flashback scenes, or during those annoying hallucinations of the past the characters have in the series. If you are an Andrew Lincoln fan (the actor who plays Rick Grimes), sorry, some of just don’t like the overbearing bossy cop hero.

Season 10 has 15 episodes and starts with all like-minded community training for an eventual skirmish with the ‘skinnies’, the group that wears zombie masks and walks with the dead. Episode one was pretty good and reminded me of the game ‘Age of Empires’, with people farming and training for war with medieval weapons. I just don’t understand why man-genius Eugene can’t make more bullets for everybody though?

Episode 2 was completely skippable, because it delves into Alpha’s past, who is the primary antagonist of the series now and leads the pack of skinnies. The original comic did not give us any background and for good reason, because her past and how she met Beta was completely inconsequential, pointless and boring. Episode three in contrast was pacy, with a countdown set between scenes, as the communities battle waves of zombies circling them. Alpha gives the ‘good guys’ a warning against stepping into their territory and cuts off their hunting grounds, pissing off a lot of people.

The rest of the episodes is back to plotting and strategising on how to defeat Alpha and her horde of the undead. A lot of the secondary characters get more screen space, Michonne who leads the Alexandria community gets a whole boring episode to herself, where she is off to an island to find weapons. Oh and she hallucinates a lot about her past. Back at Alexandria, Siddique the doctor also slowly loses his shit and keeps zoning out, imagining things. Daryl and Carol’s friendship is back in focus – a LOT of time is wasted on philosophical conversations between them. It’s not just them, you have the usual rambling between different set of characters, which makes you want to hit the fast-forward button.

The biggest problem with this season is that Samantha Morton as Alpha is just not badass enough. For a pack leader who believes in living like animals in the wilderness with the zombies, she is just not fit enough. Alpha from the comics was tall, fierce and fit like an athlete. Alpha in the series is a short weird wack-ass mom with an annoying countryside accent. There are no major battle level confrontations in this season and it’s like a loooong foreplay before the final act.

Towards the last few episodes, things get only slightly better. For what it’s worth, one finally sees one of the most interesting character in the comics debut in the last episode – Princess. The cheery young woman with pink hair and loud clothes, who brings some comic-relief (the only comic-relief really) to this dead as fuck season.

[image error] Khary Payton as Ezekiel, Eleanor Matsuura as Yumiko, Josh McDermitt as Dr. Eugene Porter, Paola Lazaro as Princess – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 15 – Photo Credit: Jace Downs/AMC

Quick Review of 9 Seasons of The Walking Dead

After binge-reading all 193 issues of the comic series by Robert Kirkman, it was inevitable that I check out the live-action remake of ‘The Walking Dead’. Since season 10 has come out on Netflix today, I think a quick review of the previous 9 seasons would be an apt write-up.

Season one is only six episodes long and finishes off in a blink. While watching it on Netflix, I hadn’t even realized I was already on season two (perils of binge-watching). Right from the first episode, one can spot a lot of differences between the comics and the adaptation. But the differences work in a good way, because the surprise factor remains for those who’ve read the comics. In the first season, the protagonist Rick tries figuring out what the hell is happening and is introduced to rules to surviving the walking dead.

Season two introduces one of my favorite characters Glenn, who is a sweet young Korean-American man in charge of hunting down supplies for his camp. Steven Yeun is a total casting winner, because it’s hard to imagine anybody else as Glenn. He helps Rick fight his way through zombies and is reunited with his wife and son. Rest of the season is about differences in the camp and their efforts to get to a safer place. A bunch of new crucial characters are introduced, including Hershel the farmer’s family. The writers try to give more back-story to Rick’s best-friend Shane to justify their eventual fallout.

Another one of my favourite characters is introduced in Season three – the katana wielding Michonne. Unlike the comics, we see an unlikely friendship between Andrea and Michonne, shown as two lone women surviving by themselves through a cold-harsh winter in the land of the dead. This little new plot twist was pretty kick-ass. Rick and group on the other hand find refuge at a prison. While in the comics, a lot of slicing & dicing takes place, the action in the series was underwhelming. Despite being 18+, a lot of dark stuff, (the kind that will fuck with your head) does not find place in the series. One of the first major villains – the governor – comes on screen, but somehow, he is not as vicious as the one in the comics. Norman Reedus as the bowman Daryl really grows on the viewer and is perhaps the best new character that didn’t exist in the original story.

Things kind of slow down in season 4 – Rick’s group gets sort of comfortable at the prison, but they realize danger is never too far off. His wife Lorry is as bitchy and annoying as she was in the comics, got to give credit to the actor though. However, in a major departure from the comic series, there is a deadly flu that spreads through Rick’s group, making things hard and bloody for them. On the other hand, we get to see Governor losing his people and yet managing to get back on his feet and launching an all out attack on the prison. The latter episodes of this season focus on different members surviving after the fall of the prison. A lot of hallucinations and excessive focus on each character’s story drags the pace down.

Season five was also boring-ish, with some episodes being completely skippable, especially the one focussing on Maggie Rhee’s younger sister Beth. A few more episodes are wasted on the main characters trying to rescue her. It’s in this season that they finally find ‘Alexandria’, a relatively safe community that is open to offering refuge to people who are willing to earn their trust and keep. Season 6 is unnecessary long and focuses on the group getting used to their new life in Alexandria and making the community safer from not just the dead, but more importantly – the living. It’s in this season that they finally realize they are not the only lucky survivors and that there are several flourishing communities and they all might have a common enemy. There are a lot of zombies in this one.

Season 7 – We finally get to meet the most formidable villain in all his glory – Negan. Jeffrey Dean Morgan however makes the role slightly monotonous, with the same distinct style of dialogue delivery, as if he is on Broadway or something. The most brutal killings take place in this one, with a beloved character meeting a horrible end. Again, I feel like from season 5 onwards, things get very slow, and season 7 was no exception. A new community by the sea is discovered and Rick’s group is trying to gain as many friends they can get to unite against Negan’s manpower. We know that a war is brewing.

Season 8 is all about everybody trying to pool in efforts to find a way to defeat Negan and his men. A lot of differences crop up between people from the same community. Things are just slightly better here, but I expected a lot more kick-ass action. Instead there is too much drama and tension. You have no idea how much fast-forwarding I did on this season.

By season 9 I was just tired and irritated by the series. The fact that the makers create so many sub-plots and rivalry within the group gets on your nerves. It was super-disappointing that they didn’t just kill off Rick’s character completely, because by this time, you get really sick of him. Rick however is no longer in the season post episode 5, so 11 more episodes without him were a welcome change. Another major villain called Alpha who leads a savage band of men makes her appearance in this season. So there is more blood and gruesome deaths, however, the makers play it safe and do not kill any major characters. Too bad. The last episode of this season was so blah that it killed any interest for season 10. But considering what a loser I am, I am going to watch season 10 anyway.

Free Book Giveaway

Two readers this past week left me kind messages on how they availed my free book offer on ‘Love, Loss, Lockdown’ and really liked the book. So here I am, running a free promotional offer for the weekend again. The short-story collection about the diverse lives of 10 different people is free across all Kindle stores & apps – download your copy now.

And yes, it’s free for even those who do not have a kindle unlimited subscription. You don’t even need a kindle device, all you need is the free Amazon kindle app on your phone and you’ll have access to several books like mine without having to pay a penny.

Following are some country specific links to ‘Love, Loss, Lockdown’ –

Amazon India

Amazon U.S

Amazon UK

Amazon Germany

Amazon France

If I’ve missed your country, look for it on Amazon or on your kindle store. Book reviews mean a lot to independent authors, so try and leave a little review when you are done reading it.

Hope you have a great weekend!

P.S. You can find me on  Facebook, GoodReads and Instagram 

The Room On The Roof Review

A rainy day seemed like a perfect pick to start reading Ruskin Bond’s first ever novel “The Room on the Roof”. I was prompted to buy his debut book after being rather disappointed by “Landour Days”, a compilation of journal entries. But “The Room on the Roof” is a far cry from the non-fictional musings of an old man in the hills.

It’s the tale of a teenage boy called Rusty, who breaks free from the tyrannical reins of his British guardian and starts a new life under the guidance of his new-found friend in the town of Dehra. Set right after the independence, the book brings to life the simple adventures of teens living in the faint shadows of colonial rule; where the white man was still referred to as “sahib”. But Rusty is no sahib and his friends are endearing imps who make the reader smile with their antics.

Considering the novel was written in the first half of 20th century by a seventeen-year-old Ruskin, all the exchange between the teen boys has a refreshing warmth. Their camaraderie is palpable through the pages. The protagonist sees a slow, mature transformation from a shy, lonely boy to a independent youth with close friends.

At the heart of it, “The Room of the Roof” is about male friendships and how a cycle ride could change your life. Ruskin Bond’s storytelling is lucid, even comforting, like a quilt soothing you on a cold rainy day.

A Rainy Day

The unwelcome patter calls

A chill comes with the drops

Seeping through all our walls

Like serpents to suck our spirits

Invisible yet overwhelming

Burdening the air with sorrow

Relentless in its humming

Pit-pat-pit-pat-pit-pat-pit-pat

Rapidly ferocious & murderous

Drowning those poor blooms

Left unattended on the terrace

In need of only a light spray

But clouds are always fickle

Unpredictable in their offerings

Sometimes an amorous drizzle

Or knell for fateful endings

Note: It’s been raining the whole day in my part of the world, and while for some, such showers might be romantic, for me it’s cold and depressing. So I wrote this poem, echoing my mood.

Chhotu – Graphic Novel Review

Chhotu by Varud Gupta and Ayushi Rastogi is a graphic novel set during the India-Pakistan partition. As the title suggests, it’s about an orphan boy Chhotu, who falls in love with a classmate and attempts to solve a case of disappearing potatoes on the sides.

The story is part satirical, part pop-culture overload. Despite being set in the 1940s, it has a lot of 90s Bollywood references, with even a Harry Potter phrase thrown in somewhere. All of that makes the story-telling quite chaotic. The writers probably thought it would make it more relatable to modern readers, but come across as “trying too hard”.

I expected an earnest tale like “Munnu”, a graphic novel by another Indian writer, that was a beautiful book about growing up in Kashmir. Guess it’s an unfortunate case of ‘expectation vs reality’ for me, but I didn’t enjoy the book very much. Might be a fun read for younger bibliophiles. It’s a 2.5/5 for me.