Book Review of ‘The Colony Kid’ by Meena Chatty

There are several instances in life when you feel like going back to your childhood and live it all over again. When you are hit with nostalgia and precious memories come flooding by. They warm your heart and give up a tinkling sensation. You know those days would never come back again yet you endeavor to relive them over and over until your heart is satisfied which actually never happens. In my case, this phenomenon has got triggered last week when I started reading Meena Chatty’s book, ‘The Colony Kid’. 

Memoirs are my all-time favorite and I am so glad I picked this one up. Being such a breezy read, it shall definitely dwell in my heart for a long while. Being an 80’s kid, I could very well relate to all the anecdotes therein which touched the deepest corners of my heart. Like Meena has a younger sister, I have a younger brother so the correlation was obviously inevitable throughout. 

About the Book

The Colony Kid is a scrapbook of memories from the childhood of the author. She showcases the delights of the unique times while growing up in the 80s in a residential colony in the metropolitan city of Bangalore. The book explores the stark differences between her childhood and the childhood of kids of the present times. She looks back a few decades in order to illustrate that big happiness is found in small things.

If you are an 80s kid, this book will take you back to those times. If you are a millennial, this book will tell you how your parents’ childhood was.

About the Author 

Meena Chatty is a mother of two, a yoga lover, and a book-mad. She is also enthusiastic about painting, art, and languages. She takes great delight in teaching Mathematics to her children and nephews. One of her most loved traits is to make up stories to help them understand tough concepts or lines that need to be learned by heart. She is an avid learner of everything. Her blog BalconySunrise reflects the myriad emotions she has on life, everyday situations, and everything in between. Contact her at: thebalconysunrise@gmail.com @msrandomgyaan (Twitter) www.balconysunrise.wordpress.com

No. of Pages: 85

My Take On The Book

I genuinely loved devouring the book in one go. It was difficult to put down. For the straight three hours that I was immersed in the beautifully weaved chapters, I was totally at peace and smiled throughout. This book is indeed a treat and a must-read for everyone. For our generation to recall our best times and the coming generation to know what they are missing on. In fact, if there is a way to go back, I will definitely like to send back my son to enjoy the little joys of life author Meena talked about.

In this book, Meena has penned about the precious memories of her valuable childhood. She has also beautifully at the end of each chapter drawn a corollary between her childhood and today’s times. But as I read between the lines I also saw a significant lesson hidden in each anecdote whether it’s about patience, acceptance, or any other value we miss to witness in the kids of the present generation.

Language and Narration 

I must admit another high of this book is the use of highly personalized language by the author. The narrative style is very gripping and I loved the childhood sketches included in the book. How real are they, I and my brother left each other such mails too. I would also like to thank the author for reminding us of the umpteen childhood games we played, I had actually forgotten them. Now I have a list to save my kid from excessive screen time. In fact, I can endlessly keep on enumerating all the things I loved in this book, but I don't want to spoil your experience of enjoying the book yourself. All in all, I enjoyed it every bit.

Brilliant job Meena! Deeply appreciate your effort, loved your book, and wish you all the best for many more literary outings in the coming times.

You can download the #Blogchatterebook here. 

Happiness is Reading a Good Book: It’s All Called Love by Dipika Singh #BookReviewSeries

Happiness has different meanings for different people but I believe it isn’t really very hard to find if you know what really makes you happy. For me, little joys of life give abundant happiness. Joys like reading a good book over the weekend make my day. I am talking about the debut solo book of author Dipika Singh ‘It’s all Called Love’ which was released in the #BlogchatterEbook Carnival this year(where incidentally my 5th book too was published). I completed it yesterday and here are my two cents about the book. If you are a sucker of love stories this one undoubtedly is for you.

About The Book 

True love is hard to find and even harder to hide. 'Successful lawyer Shalini Taneja meets attractive Samar Kumar, past holds them back but their chemistry is electric' - A gripping love story of emotions, bitter past, and a promising future. Love comes in many forms, and not all love stories have happy endings. This is a book that will obsess you with 11 unique shades of love.

About the Author 

Dipika Singh is a full-time blogger, author, wife, and mother of a 7-year-old active girl. She has worked in top-notch international banks for over 10 years and now trains young MBA aspirants. Her lifestyle blog, Gleefulblogger has won many accolades.

Her debut writing piece is part of the anthology 'A Jar of Memories' published by Half Baked Beans. It’s All Called Love is Dipika’s first solo eBook.

Number of Pages: 32

Book Cover and Concept 

To be very honest, I really loved the subtle book cover which was most appropriate to the beautiful depiction of love in the book. The leafy hearts on the cover were indicative of the fact how people exist as unique individuals somewhere in different parts of the universe like varied leaves on different trees,  but their hearts are made for each other and when these hearts meet, some memorable and treasurable love tales get weaved. This is precisely the theme of the book as well, so apt cover.

The book has eleven unique love stories with a garland of emotions so full of love to touch and tinkle our souls. I appreciate the way how the author has selectively and articulately put together a bouquet of love tales in this book which gives a reader a worthy experience of delving in different shades of love and passion. 

My Take On The Book 

When I first picked this book, I expected it to be a romantic novella but getting eleven love stories in place of one was an instant treat for me.

I was smitten from the first one itself which was Reema and Abhay’s cute little love story if we can call it so. Now, that’s the twist in the tales, you find a hint of love in each but whether or not the feelings culminate in love, is why you should read this book because sometimes people made for each other too don’t unite. Destiny has different plans for them at least at the moment.

The stories left me with many different emotions, sometimes a sweet joy while at others a little bitter pain and that’s perhaps what makes a good book if you can feel the emotions of a character in your heart.

I also feel that the title of each story was perfectly chosen keeping in mind the mood of the tale.

The characters are very well fleshed out and stand in front of your eyes as you read about them. Their looks, their heights, their dress sense, and their character traits all are weaved seamlessly in the tales. 

Also,  I would like to say that the author is extremely good at weaving fiction especially in this genre, and has a way with words. It felt as if this genre belongs to her and this is where she should explore her future literary outings.

Language and Narration

The language of the book is full of individual conversations and a plethora of human emotions to make it an enjoy-worthy read. Honestly, I loved this short and crisp anthology with varied hues of love.

The narration is this book is very natural, fast-paced, and strong and it feels like someone very close to the characters has written their real-life stories. At no point, the book lacks pace or slows down and you don’t like putting it down until you finish it in one go.

Each story in the book left me asking for more and each individual has the potential to become a full-fledged romantic novel. I recommend the author to explore the possibility and give us readers a deeper and longer delve into her characters in her next book because I am sure it will definitely make a brilliant read too. 

This is Yours Truly Roma signing off with my best wishes to the author Dipika Singh who is also a dear friend and I have written this post for her #SpeakEasyChallenge to spread happiness around.

Download Link

I strongly recommend this book to everyone. You can download a copy here.

If you like what I write, you can grab the copies of my five published ebooks here: The Fragrance of True Love, Destiny's Favorite Child, Dare to Defy The Destiny , Empowered Women Empower Women and To My GrandChild, With Love

"This post is written for SpeakEasy Blogging Challenge by Ruchi & Dipika"