I really hope all is going well with/for you. I pray to God and wish it is all good. My sincere wishes to your beaming projects, #ProjectWHY and Stop Acid Attacks. I wish you find the means to support more projects and more children in the coming years. Kudos to your entire team.

I thank you deeply for dropping by to comment on my blog posts. I must say I am always inspired by your comment. Thank you for being supportive.

I secretly wish you drop by and comment too. It’s not a secret anymore, so don’t burden yourself. Still, thank you. I wanted to initially send a long comment in your blog, but decided against it. Hence this post.

I really wanted to write a book review after finishing your book last week. I gathered points and also started framing it for a post. Somehow I felt it was all amiss. I am not a great reviewer.

I always share only my reading experience as a review. How I got the book to what happened during the book and all that. That was definitely not what I wanted to do for yours. I don’t know if this letter would do enough justice to the book you’ve written, but I’ll try to put my thoughts here in the only way I know.

I really wanted to tell you how much I loved reading it, despite the fact, I abandon most books that has affairs. When yours started with one, I was honestly disappointed. I really wanted to ask why was this needed, but as I continued reading it, it all unfolded in a way that changed my opinion.

Amidst taking care of my toddler, the home, some travel, sickness in between, I always felt I needed to keep your book with me. I carried it everywhere and I’ll tell you it fits well in a bag I purchased for my stationary.

I even considered taking it to Tirupati, but decided against it because I cannot read while traveling. I’m strange I know. Let’s forget that for now.

I also kept myself away from reading most of the blog posts/reviews of the book that bloggers had written. When I want to watch a movie that I’ve been waiting to watch, I keep myself away from reading anything about it.

That gives me opinions and I cannot watch it without judgement or knowing everything about it. It doesn’t work for me. It has to be fresh, so I kept away from bloggers reviews.

I pre-ordered the book after a short conversation with you and I knew it will be delivered by the time I reach India. It happened just in time. It reached me a day before my arrival on 1st October so I asked my parents not to open the parcel, but to keep it in my shelf.

Though, I had already seen the cover one thousand times, I always tried to find out something extra about this book. I figured a plot and checked how this is different than the one I had in mind.

How easy it is to get tangled in our own webs? From the little I read from bloggers, due to blog hopping, I understood it was a gripping story that must be finished in one sitting. That was impossible for me. So I let out a sigh and knew it is not going to happen. I didn’t read any further and I was glad most could still sit down and finish it in less than two or three sittings.

You want to know how long I took to finish your book? Don’t be disappointed okay. I think I’d be the only longest reader of your book. 😬 It took me 3 and a half weeks. I finished on November 6th after writing the post about my sick day.

From then till now, I’m thinking about your book, because I want a sequel. No, I didn’t expect a happy ending on this one, did not expect Anjali and Jatin to get married, but expected the case to be closed in an appropriate way.

When I finished the book I had a multitude of emotions rolling at once. I wanted to question you on why you couldn’t finish it well. That’s one of the prime reasons I delayed this post by a week. It took me a week to understand you’ve written things as it is. No extra bits and pieces just to convince the reader that you mean well. That would have made it all a big lie.

Haven’t you put things as it is? The present state of politics, the cover-ups happening everyday, the policemen shifted for working honestly, suspended for trying to work with their conscience, above all the victims dead/still living dead with no justice.

This is all true, I would read your book instead of the daily newspaper. Almost all the news that is written glossily in a newspaper, is in your story.

Being impressed is another thing, but I’m thinking how much time did you spend doing this? What was your emotion while writing all this? You must write something about working on this book. I’m sorry if you’ve already written it, but I missed it.

Right from the miss in today’s parenting, misuse of power, freedom, law, women, little understanding about children with different abilities, extreme tolerance towards issues in our society, affairs, unfair negotiation, there is everything one needs to know about today’s society.

You’ve not touched up for the sake of it, but you’ve done your ground work for everything. I don’t know if you at any point in time felt you need to drop this project, but something or someone pulled you to finish it.

Though these are still tough and unspoken subjects in our society: acid attacks, autism, rape and murder, attacks on women and children, child trafficking and drugs – this is a book I recommend to all.

To women, to know how strong we are in spite of all odds and being self- critical ourselves.

To the men and women in the police as well as other departments who do the ground work to bring justice, but are held back in some way, I understand you.

It is always easy to blame the police or other departments for not doing their work, but don’t the most important jobs have lengthy instructions backed by power.

Aren’t you right about the title of the book? I wonder how this title came up? Did it happen during some conversation or did you really fix on this one first and then began your story? How many of us are really fine in our own skin to think beyond it?

The title is where the thinking begins. Mine began right after seeing your poster, trying to find the girl in it and the girl within. Those eyes in a women without the smile makes sense now.

I’ve personally visited Burns unit previously. I’ve had a couple of incidents in the family and have lost people due to fire. My husband who was once caught in a fire accident while testing a car engine still has second degree and third degree burn marks on his hand. It still itches at times, he says.

To an extent, I know what it is like to be burned off quickly. Intolerable pain and anger go hand in hand most times. Life changes in a moment, it all becomes before and after life. Anjali’s life and all that happens around her just kept me turning pages eagerly.

Though I missed to attach myself to most hindi phrases, that little translation you’ve given helped see some Ghalib’s words of wisdom. However, I couldn’t connect very much with it deeply as I would have preferred to.

Usually when a plot has a lot of characters, it is difficult to remember them all. I appreciate you introducing them gradually and I remember all the characters much to my surprise. It’s all in the way it is connected.

The script handled every character and scene at large from all views. I’m sure you’ve taken years for this and I’m honestly telling you it was worth it.

Somehow I always had this notion of Delhi, “Anything can happen in Delhi”, I still don’t know why. I’m trying to figure out the reasons, or maybe the media fed me this sort of a mindset.

This plot happening in Delhi was again a scary moment for me. Maybe visiting Delhi would calm me about it. Who knows maybe many think about Chennai the way I think about Delhi.

Alright, I think this is a long letter, but I hope I conveyed what I wanted to. You’ve written a gripping crime novel and I’m sure it tops the list of bestsellers and remains there as long as it can to help both the projects as well. Otherwise, hugs Damayanti for such a honest book.

Thank you for this wonderful book, my best wishes for your upcoming ventures.

Jayanthy!

Visit her blog for more about her writing, books and more!

The post You beneath your Skin by Damayanti Biswas #LetterToTheAuthor appeared first on JAYANTHY'S FREE SPACE.

This book has been on my reading list for long. Thanks to @thewritetribe reading challenge. I took this for the prompt: A book with an animal in the title/cover.When I started reading this book, I really wanted to put it down. The betrayal at the very beginning made me furious. The next pages to me were cruelty scribbled on paper. I wasn’t in a good mood for two days straight. I wasn’t really willing to read, but I continued because I wanted to know what really happened to Buck.

•  Did he find good company?
•  Did he believe in people again?
• Did he ever come back to his home?
• What was his state of mind?
• Did he live through it all?

Too many questions, with little answers helped me push the pages. I read like a mad person(not only for the dog, but for some of my madness to be tamed too). I finished it today morning.How Buck changed told me reality of life in itself. We can never become our old self again even if we come to the same situation. Once we change for the better or worse, we just have to move on.

Buck has unbreakable spirit. Moving from a comfortable life to an unknown misery, Buck sees it all overnight. He adapts to the unknown and understands how things work in this new life. Though he longs to go back to Santa Clara, he was moved all the way to Alaska in a cage with little hope . The lessons he learned throughout the journey, the rising of him in his own ways, Buck masters himself and the way of his ancestors. Even with cruel masters, he raises his position to the best sled dog known in the coldest parts of the north.

Even though he is well-skilled and smart, he never knew he longed for love. When John Thronton finds him being beaten up to death, he rescues him and takes care of him. The love between both of them is unconditional and the people around could bet on both to be there for the other anytime.

During their times together, Buck learns his ways in the forests and grows in his wild ways until he senses something is wrong at the camp. This is one of the most splendid dogs you will love in the history of dogs. Though the brutality in this is severe and numbed me sometimes, it is a must read for it shows the brutality of life just the way it is.

We all need the courage to be ourselves and an indomitable spirit that sparks life in us. Read it, I am sure you will love Buck. There will be no one like him!

The post The Call of the Wild by Jack London appeared first on JAYANTHY'S FREE SPACE.

Write Tribe Reading Challenge 2019

Write Tribe has helped me write a lot in the last couple of years. Now, they encourage me to read. I had a plan to set around 15-20 books this year. Per Write Tribe, 24 is the minimum count this year. In 2018, I set 30 and managed only 24. This year I am clear to have a manageable number because this is a special year. Ilakkiya is 20 months old already and she will start school/play school in a year from now.

I choose to spend good time with her and still get my hands on good books. So, I would love to stick to being the book lover. This is the first time I am participating in a reading challenge and I must say I am excited. The prompts are interesting and for now, I am just sticking to 12 prompts.

The post Write Tribe Reading Challenge 2019 appeared first on JAYANTHY'S FREE SPACE.