BOOK REVIEW-“LYF KI RUMLILA”

This was the time when I was attending a workshop at the Marwah Studios. I saw a tall lady draped in a bottle green chiffon saree with sleeveless blouse. She was indeed a charming lady and “first impression is always the last impression” stood true for her. I offered her the seat next to me in the auditorium and she instantly accepted it. Two ladies are like “birds of the same flock”. We didn’t interact much in the Hall. However, we were quite busy munching the peanuts, crispies and snacks placed in front of us on the table.

Once we were out of the Hall, it was like two kids out of classroom. We started interacting with each other. We introduced ourselves and shared our likes and dislikes, common goals, wishes, etc. Suddenly she uttered, “Ramani I want to give you my book titled ‘LYF KI RUMLILA’ also” (she didn’t know that I was an ardent reader and a bookaholic. She said that the book will be releasing soon and offered me to write some stories for her also. I was simply listening and observing her. I perceived that she is full of life and a very positive person.

After I came to know that her book was released and she was marketing it all by herself (and clicking lots of photographs with those individuals who was either buying her book or she was gifting them her book. Moreover, she was uploading the photographs on her Facebook page). This was something which really urged me to purchase her book and read it. I purchased it through her website and next day she was at my college to handover the book to me. I reached home and unwrapped the plastic sheet enclosing the book to read the stories. I was wondering about the reason why she chose such a title for her book.

Thus, the title of the book is “LYF KI RUMLILA-LYF KICKER-LYF INGREDIENTS”. The name of the author is Mrs. Puja Rasne, however, on the book it is Puja “Titli” (which means butterfly in Hindi language). It was published by Pam’s Publications Pvt. Ltd. and printed by Saurabh Printers Pvt. Ltd. This is the first edition of the book released on June 5^th; 2017.The ISBN is 978-81-931108-0-5 for the hard copy of the book. It is also available in the E-book format with ISBN 978-81-931108-1-2. It is dedicated to the memory of her sister Sonia Malhotra. There are 200 pages in total and the cost is Rs.249. The cover page has an image of a Rum bottle, a glass with three ice cubes and a feeding bottle of a child. At the first glance at it, I was pondering at the metaphorical meaning attached to it. What could it stand for?

There are regular features present at the beginning of the book like acknowledgement, preface and foreword. In the Preface part, I realized that it was a book meant for both children and adults. This justified the design present on the cover page. It is a work wherein the author is trying to share some “heart-warming experiences” from her life. She was trying to understand the emotional and intelligence levels from a child’s perspective. She is very sensitive to gain the knowledge from the world of the children. The way they are sensitive, intelligence, more matured than their age, supportive to their parents and who understood the life.

There are 40 stories present in the book. Each story is unique in its own way. For example, in the first story titled “CAN SURVIVE”, there is a beautiful meaning given to the word “CANCER”. The girl in the story presents a creative understanding and more serious meaning to the word- CANCER, CANSUR to CAN-SUR-VIVE.As a child psychologist and a senior faculty of English Communication, I was amazed at the NEW DISCOVERY level of the child and processing of her mental schemata. It was a very positive and opportunistic approach towards life. Similarly, the story titled “SCHOOL BUS” was equally eye-opener for me. I wish other grown up individuals grab a copy of this book and read it. It is a simple conversation between two children who find they are spending their best time in the school bus. I was wondering what might be the reasons for this. I continued reading further to realize that they learn lot of lessons in the bus rather than in their classes. No wonder why parents are so much concerned with the school transportation. I understood it for the first time in my life. One must read the Chapter.

I am not going to share my views on each and every Chapter of the book. Nevertheless, I will highly recommend every individual to buy and read other stories also. I myself was touched by the stories –

a)      BAGS OF LIFE- In this story, the little girl celebrates her mother’s birthday and gifts her SEVEN DIFFERENT COLORED PAPER BAGS to her mother. She tells her mother, “…these are bags of life…blue paper bag contains happiness, red one contains sympathy, green bag contains sadness, orange bag contains emotions, purple bag contains sensitivity, white bag contains sorrow and 7^TH BAG IS GOLD IN COLOR …CONTAINS ALL THESE EMOTIONS MIXED…THIS IS THE BAG OF LIFE”. This is a story of a divorced mother and her daughter. The daughter observes that her mother is really sad and is working hard to take care of her. She celebrates the birthday and gifts the seven bags to her mother. This was something at which I was totally zapped up. How great some of our life’s lessons are! They are very harsh; however, they teach us a good lesson.

b)      FORMULA 5PBE-This is a story about Aditya with a single mother. He is not good at the subject Mathematics. His mother teaches him mathematics so that he is good at it. However, there is a turning point in the real life itself. He gives her the “MAGIC FORMULA OF 5PBE”.Next question for me was-“what is it?”

To my amazement, “5P’s” stood for “politeness in her approach, playful with him, perseverance in her life, be more prudent and improve her thought ’process’, ’B’ for beautiful mother and ‘E” for unlimited quantities of energy ”. I had to believe this from a small child. I loved this formula of 5PBE and will be presenting to others also. I need to thank Aditya for this amazing formula of life.

One thing that I will like to share with everyone is that each one of us comes across with some kind of learning in one’s life. The question is for all-“How many of us highlight it and share it with other?” We are leading a life of EGOISM. We are happy with ourselves and least interested in what we are gaining and sharing the life with others. However, Puja Rasne has not restricted her life of egoism. She is indeed a “TITLI” who is carrying her share of experiences from one person to another through her book. It is full of “kickers” from the domain of adulthood and “a boomerang kick” can be felt through the intelligence of the small children-who are the TRUE INGREDIENTS for their parents. Finally, in this book, there is a RUM BOTTLE belonging and meant exclusively for the adults; there is a glass with exactly THREE ICE CUBES-one representing the person who has suffered in her/his life, second is PUJA herself witnessing and experiencing both sides of life and third one is the life in-itself which cannot be ignored (all three cubes are present in the glass to relish the RUM) and the FEEDING BOTTLE representing the child in each and every story. The BOTTLE OF RUM facing the FEEDING BOTTLE with a glass with three ice cubes. It is indeed LYF KI RUMLILA for each one of us. Do read the book for other stories. In the end, I would love to tell Puja,” Please do not let the butterfly stop fluttering and let it move further”.