List and write-ups of books we read in June
The monsoon not only lowers the temperature but also elevates the mood. The summer heat exhaustion dissipates. For some people, the pitter patter is a visceral experience like a lullaby. Apparently the sounds of the rain give the brain a tonic signal from white noise that decreases the need for sensory input, thus calming us down, enhancing our mood, and even giving us relief from anxiety. It is also said that that our sense of smell interacts with our memories. People who love rain associate it with beautiful memories. …
List and write-ups of books we read in May
Our MayReads saw a slight uptake on the numbers. Our write-ups are normally mini-reviews. But this time, one of them has poems and another is a full review.
Write-ups
Manohar Grandhi (on The Alamanack of Naval Ravikant): This book is an insight of one of the most successful persons in Silicon Valley. There are a lot of brilliant teachings in this book. But the biggest takeaway is about leverage Vs non leverage. He says, to be rich be a person can code or be a youtuber or podcaster.
On mental health…
Books we read in April and a few micro-reviews
April saw a fine increase in our reading list - a good start to the second quarter of the year - as if the summer heat that put us down in March reading was rebuffed by us by reading more.
First a few write-ups and then the reading list.
Write-ups
Muralidharan Parthasarathy (on Stepping Out): In the late 20th century American New formalism and expansive poetry were taken forward by Frederick Feirstein and Frederick Turner. The movement was broadly a revival of formal poems with the scope for depth and freedom in…
From the editor’s desk, Table of contents and download links of the inaugural edition.
FROM THE EDITOR’s DESK
By Lavanya Nukavarapu
It was Sunday morning. Father Carlos Munevar was getting ready to address the crowd in the church. Today the subject he chose for his sermon was the power of forgiveness. He went through the topic in his mind running over a few quotations and verses from the bible.
Father Carlos Munevar started the address with his usual ritual and few verses from the Bible. The hall was full like every Sunday but today he felt the gathering was huge, a bit more than the usual Sundays.
Halfway through the sermon, he could not help noticing a beautiful…
By Drishika Shah
I turned around and saw a spooky shadow and it vanished. A cold shiver ran down my spine. There was thunder and tremendous lightning. At first, I thought that someone was playing a juvenile prank on me as I suffered from phasmophobia but then I started to realize it was all real. I started to walk towards the place I had seen the shadow. I felt a very atypical feeling as though someone was stalking me. I told myself, ‘There are no ghosts or repulsive creatures in this world’. I couldn’t walk an inch. I sat down…
By Swapnil Saurav
थोड़ी तीख़ी थोड़ी नरम
आओ बिरयानी की बात बताये हम
टाटा खाये बिरला भी खाये
ऐसा लज़ीज़ खाना सबको भाए
चावल के लम्बे दाने
उसके ऊपर काजू इलाइची लगते सुहाने
किसी में होता मीट मटन
तो किसी में होता सब्जी मशरुम बटन
बहुत बढ़ाते प्यार बिरयानी
जब मिलके खाते चाचा चाची नाना और नानी
नमक ज़रा सा और गरम मसाला
हल्दी जीरा मिर्च भी डाला
मुँह में पानी तब भर जाता
पैराडाइस की जब कोई बात झेड जाता
जैसे ही इसकी खुशबू हवा में आती
मेरे दिल की धड़कन अक्सर बढ़ जाती
आओ मिलके करे भोज प्रारंभ
आज करे बिरयानी से ही शुभ आरंभ
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Swapnil Saurav started writing in the year 2013 with technology books and in 2018, he also started writing fiction stories and novels. He writes about common people and describes things which can happen in anybody’s life.
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By Krishna Ahir
To the kings who don’t think queens rule them
You are right when you say that a man is the head in the relationship
But what you’ve forgotten is that women are the necks that guide it
Overlooked and underestimated
Over emotional and underprivileged
Us women
Are the reasons for your smiles
The reasons for your orgasms
The reason for your first breath into this world
Yet, like dark family secrets our values are locked behind closed doors
Our worth is something negotiated with a label
Fuck you who said you can’t turn a hoe into a…
By Pratima Jaidev
“Oh God! I had a terrible backache yesterday, was alone at home, not in a position to get up from bed to get myself a hot water bag and relax my strained back muscles,” said Maria while she was having lunch with her office colleagues.
I have heard such similar stories from many successful women across different industries or fields. I started wondering why that was the case? Soon, I realised that though women act as harbingers of change which they make possible by overcoming many complex and challenging situations; when it comes to their self-care, they…
Special events organized by HydRAW during the period January to March, 2021.
Interactive Novel — Jan/Feb/Ongoing:
HydRAW collaborated exclusively with Story Mirror in India’s first Interactive Novel contest designed to provide an opportunity to the readers to decide what course of action the characters of the story take and there is no better way to motivate, reaffirm and refresh themselves than by participating in this contest.
Interactive Novel is different from a traditional form of writing a novel and is based on an author’s imagination; and the plot is based on how the reader wants to choose the story flow…
HydRAW
Hyderabad Readers And Writers
