Book Review - I Know Why the Caged Birds Sings!

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Title: I know why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Language: English
Genre: Autobiography, Biography
Pages: 289
Rating: 4/5

Excerpt:

This book is an autobiography of Marguerite Johnson, pen name Maya Angelou written in 1969. It is poetic and has a powerful diction capable of touching the stoned hearts of the ages and change minds. This book keeps one pondering about how gruesome the world has treated the coloured people and scarred them in ways one cannot imagine.
The memoir recounts Maya's life experiences, through her adolescent years with reflections about growing up black and female during the Great Depression.

My thoughts :
A must-read for any of Maya Angelou's fans. A summary of the book, cannot do justice to the true note of incidents. One has to read it to feel the experience of the writer's life in the poetic narration and appreciate the essence of life and sensitivity with which life threads are woven.


©Shweta, 2020. All Rights Reserved.

Becoming — Obama’s Reign - Book Review

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Title: Becoming by Michelle Obama

Language: English
Genre: Self-help/Motivational
Pages: 400
Rating: 4/5

Excerpt: Grief and resilience live together

The idea of a black woman as the First lady of the US was unthinkable over a decade ago. The country's history always reminded people of the place for a black woman and white woman are different. In such a backdrop, it is difficult to imagine such a thing happening. There has been constant discrimination in the history; ‘white lady restrooms’ within a building and a separate one for ‘coloured women’. The coloured were not called out honorifically and looked down upon for generations. "Becoming", came close to decoding the 2000's where Michelle becomes the First lady in 2008 & once again in 2012, with the weight of this demeaning history.

My Thoughts: I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It is inspirational and intriguing to take a peek into the life of First Lady. Michelle is fierce in giving the details of her journey. The book has two perspectives. One, where Michelle’s role was never defined beyond a silver lining since she married the man — Barack Obama. Secondly, it can be seen as a book in which Michelle takes the world by the hand on a first-hand tour of everyday Afro-American life and aspiration.

©Shweta, 2020. All Rights Reserved.

Hop, Shop and a Leap - A Short Story

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Endless bills pour in the mailbox, which sits in the driveway, regardless of wind and rain. Claire was fighting the urge to buy a great pair of high red pumps, one last time. Another bill won’t do any harm, she thought. There was this endless need for her to buy things no matter what happens in her life, the sky falls, the rain is pouring or the banks are chasing her to pay the credit card bills.

As the year was coming to an end, she wanted a miracle in her life, that will change her life. She has been waiting for, praying for, some kind of top-down change, but now she knows it won’t happen that way. She was fooling herself all along she thought it will.

“I can’t live like this, not anymore”, she cried out loud, stark naked with her emotions being honest with herself instead of swallowing all the things she said to herself earlier — “I don’t care,” “ It is a great stress buster”, “It is a delight to shop”, party line, the famous ones people got away with.

As the year was closing, when the clock struck at midnight, she dug into her purse, with a pair of scissors, and cuts all the cards- credit card, visa, master, corporate, and whatever that is that allowed her to take credit, which has accumulated over the years of a crazy drive of materialism, right through the middle, cutting it into two halves.

Perhaps there will still be people out there chasing that lifestyle we’ve been groomed for from childhood to crave, accumulate, buy more, that life equals consumption, success equals consumption!

© Shweta, 2020. All Rights Reserved.

Lost in Reverie

“You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.” ―Robin Williams

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Imagination! 

“Imagine” my cherished word. 

I have always loved imagining things. Even today, I imagine various story outlines or elements and think about how notions could be divergent from the regular.

That place is filled with friendly faces and peaceful charms. The atmosphere is electrifying with positive energy. I am at the verge of laughter by the end of it. All that is needed is “somewhere else” being me. I can reveal my rough edges and still be welcomed with tenderness. There are no tight muscles in my stomach, or no raised eyebrows, no interrogations or reprimanded for being there. No picking on every inflexion or any antics. Please, don’t bother me right now. I am “somewhere else, in my imaginary world".

Imagination for me has always been a fun and engaging activity. Just imagining outside the usual is so rewarding. I see it this way, we get to visualise how things could be different if a given variable changed. I grew up listening and reading a lot of stories, so I always lived a lot in my head imagining  — the stories, the characters and the entire surroundings. The feeling is magical. Over the years, I extended it to my real life.

We all live in a certain way, we have our schedule, we have our patterns. But what if we suddenly decided to change it all at once? What if we made a new choice in life? Move to a new country, change job, or a city, or even our eating habits, changing our chain of events, perhaps exactly how the COVID-19 lockdown has pushed us to our extremes? What if we imagined something different? Something… less limiting perhaps with endless possibilities.

It is usually a random series of event, and thoughts or situation, from any of our senses which crop from any stimuli — reading, talking, watching or just another event. Imagining yourself in the other person’s shoes and dreaming of yourself there.

Our mind is a fertile ground of creativity. Be it from instinct or serendipity, an open brain is alert for new possibilities, a collection of precious new seeds waiting to grow, waiting to be watered and nurtured. Imagination leading to creativity is combining what is in search of truth and discovery. Both call for freedom and a sense of emotional safety, always.

Isn’t it intriguing how we always want to expand our capabilities and challenge ourselves, cutting through all limitations or anything that chains us down? I always sensed a rebel in my heart. Perhaps, it must be our soul, which is separate from the mind, rebelling against limitations. That is why we want to change reality, or imagine different things and dwell in it, living an imaginary, creative life.

Imagination is where you live in your own world
Your desires appear as if living in a fantasy
the ‘you’ whom you want to be
the things you despair to have
Everything you want to have
or everything you don’t want to be

©Shweta, 2020. All Rights Reserved.

Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda - A Short Story

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As she was embraced by the beauty sleep when the sky turned orange at the sunrise, her alarm went off.

She snoozed it, she was not motivated to get out of the bed.

She wanted to sleep longer, like each morning. She managed to get out of the bed. Sam, went straight into the kitchen to boiled the kettle for that morning, already filled to the brim with water and tea leaves, she busied herself getting the cups and teabags ready. Keeping her distracted, she took another quick glance at the clock of the oven only to confirm that time was slowing down, as her stomach knotted up.

Like any other day, Sam had unattended feelings under the surface, mixed with anxiety and nervousness. Of late, she has been feeling the knot in the stomach, not used to the combination, it’s truly odd and melancholy.

Art, her hobby gave her happiness, art takes her up and anxiety about the future brings her down, so in that combination, she simply focuses on boiling the tea, to shake off the feelings.

Today, it was different after all, maybe perhaps even dreading for Sam. She has been waiting for this day, but she felt the pit of her stomach tightly knotted. Perhaps it’s the same for everyone starting anything new, pleasure at gaining forward momentum, and fear blinding change and uncertainty.

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It is a lot of hard work, but worth it, she thought. She could have started any business I knew, but painting was her passion, it always relaxed her and her regular job was a natural choice, for paying the bills, rent, groceries and whatever. She painted and decorated her walls and garage in the fresh colours of the new season each year and accessorize her rooms with accent colours. The 9 to 5 job can be dull, monotonous even, but it resulted in all the motivation she always needed. It’s tough starting out, taking a chance out there, but she felt reassured, in time her reputation will bring in all the success and business she needs.

© Shweta, 2020. All Rights Reserved.