Ash Talks Books

As a young girl in 1988, I remember watching Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (QSQT) on video with a friend in her house in Chennai. Aamir Khan mesmerized us. We were schoolgirls in double pigtails. Life happened. I grew up. My tastes in men and heroes changed. Christina Daniels, the author of "I'll do it my way: The Incredible Journey of Aamir Khan,” says in her epilogue, "On a cold dark night in a boarding school in Panchgani, a group of 12-year-old girls sat huddled under a dormitory bed. The year was 1988. A walkman was passed around, as the girls strained to listen to the song 'Papa Kehte Hain' from the film QSQT that had been released a couple of vacations ago. The name on all lips was Aamir Khan, the film's lead actor. The walkman soon found its way into the hands of the only teenager in the group completely oblivious to the QSQT frenzy that had gripped an entire generation. While the song played on, someone helpfully offered an accompanying line-by-li...

Hell, as seen in Dante's Inferno, is used as a literary device by authors time after time. The author Dan Brown even wrote 'Inferno', which he has now followed up with 'Origin.' 'Prisoner 521' is the story of a morbidly obese man's metaphorical journey through the nine circles of Dante's Hell. What makes this book different is that it talks about a morbidly obese man's relationship with food - gluttony - and how that contributes to his descent into hell. In M.A.Kos's book 'Prisoner 521', the writer details the life story of Jack, who weighs as much as 600 pounds at one point, with searing psychological insight into the way he thinks that makes you look deep within your soul at your own reactions to the morbidly obese. The first chapter 'Sin' was delightfully original and described the obese man's relationship with food. The last line of the chapter ' Your food, just like your family, can make or break you...

For those taken in by the headline, I haven't quit anything! That's just the name of the book I'm reviewing, which was written by Zarreen Khan, who has NOT quit her job either, She is "a mother, cook, maid, doctor and magician for her kids - a very demanding job! And when she gets time off, she works as a marketing consultant." Now, much like Nimisha, the protagonist in the book, who does some 'jasoosi', I looked up Zarreen Khan on Facebook, and I found out that two of my friends have clicked 'Like' on one of Zarreen's pictures. Other than that, I don't know Zarreen at all. Except through her writing. This is for the sake of being totally transparent with my readers. Now, for her book: Chapter one opens with a wedding in Goa. Interesting. Me likey.  Chapter two sees Nimisha, the protagonist, heading to her office.   Loved these opening lines, "Slavery is common in the corporate world. And having committed the s...