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Did You Ever Love Me? Book Review: Can Rithvik singh turn heartbreak into a homecoming?

Did You Ever Love Me? by Rithvik Singh is a tender contemporary poetry collection about love, heartbreak, longing, self worth and learning to let go. Its greatest strength is emotional accessibility: Singh writes directly to readers who feel intensely and care deeply. The collection offers comfort without pretending heartbreak is simple, though its simplicity may occasionally feel familiar to seasoned poetry readers. Did you Ever Love Me? Have you ever loved someone so completely that, after they left, you were left wondering whether they had ever understood what they had been given? Not merely whether they loved you, but whether they ever noticed how much you loved them, how much patience you offered, how many small things you remembered, or how often you chose to stay when leaving might have been easier. There is a particular loneliness in that question because it rarely arrives at a dramatic moment. More often, it finds you while you are doing something completely ordinary. Yo...

The Cloudburst - Rajesh Naiksatam - Book Review

The Cloudburst is an interesting read about 9 strangers meeting under peculiar circumstance. 
A rainy night forces them all to introspect, deeply on their lives, past future and present.




Ganpu Appla is 15 years old and has lost his ancestral home to Capitalists in Dabhol. Now he stays in a shack in Mumbai with his parents, helping them run a tea stall near the BKC.
This story is about one night when heavy downpour of rain strands 9 strangers under the battered roof of  Taplu Tea Stall.

And this rainy night leads the principal characters to delve deep into their lives. From confronting their personal demons, to the issues surrounding them and their families, they reflect and their thoughts them together in an inspiring way. Ganpu saves them all with his quick wit and his exceptional skills.

On the side track, the reader witnesses the lives of the parents and relatives of the children stranded in the horrendous rain. In a frantic search of their children, the parents introspect over their own lives and how they have been raising their children. 

The Cloudburst is a good read, which does not slow down and moves at a consistent pace. The author has kept the chapters brief and the narrative crisp.


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