Saturday, December 28, 2019

Book Review: The Captive

https://amzn.to/2SqW9ip
Image Source: https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1512569744i/36963429._UY3000_SS3000_.jpg
This was my first attempt to read a book from Romantic thriller genre! It was a great experience and I would love to read more from the Author. There are many twist and turns in the story which keeps your interest intact and you can't stop yourself for reading more of it. As per title it is the story about captivity but it also has a romantic angle between the captor and captive. What? Why? How? these are some of the questions which always comes to your mind while reading the story. I highly recommend it to all who interested reading romance, suspense and thriller stories. Here are some glimpse of the story:
  • We are survivors. As long as we can, we fight. Because being alive is much better.
  • They say that when survival mode kicks in, then the logical part of the brain stops functioning, and everything points to three different options—fight, flight, or freeze.
  • I know we are supposed to love our mother because she is the first person we are connected to, and she is the one who gives us blood and nourishment and protects us while we are inside her stomach. And when we are born, even though the physical cord that joined us is severed, another more important cord is formed. An emotional cord. That’s what matters.
  • Hurting women or innocents is not being powerful, it’s just showing weakness!
  • If I’m going to be a victim of a senseless crime, I will not go down easily
  • The best way to tackle a bully is to show that his taunts and jeers isn’t working on you.












Saturday, December 21, 2019

Book Review: Kuch Rang Zindagi Ke

https://amzn.to/2Y9Svu9
Source: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91ihf9ecYIL.jpg


It is the first Hindi novel I read; I should say a short story instead of novel. I may be biased because author is my brother. Although I am being as honest as possible. It is worth reading and as it is short story it wont take long time to read. It is about a girl and her innocent feelings towards his friends (specially male friends). Language used in the book may look quite offensive but it is usually used in our regular conversations, however, it is not used in writing. Author attempted to be frank with writing and I hope you will like it.












Saturday, December 14, 2019

How to start PhD?

PhD (Doctor of Philosophy)!

I recently completed my PhD and some of my friends have the question, 'How to start PhD?' I believe many of you may also have the same question and that's why I decided to publish an article to answer the question.

Before going into the details I have some small answers for FAQs or lets say background check! First and foremost thing is why? In all the scenarios first question should be 'what' then 'why' and then we can find the answer for 'how'. Here in our scenario, I have already answered the what part in first line. If you are not satisfied with it, you may search it on Google or Quora (sometimes it is better than Google). So lets try to answer 'why?' Major reason which I observe is government policy (you may argue that I have started my anti-modi / anti-government / anti-nation agenda again). But most of the top tier institute allows only PhD holder to appear in the interview process. Only Bachelors or Masters has no value if you are planning to get job in academia or you already are in academics. It is necessary for all academician to have PhD! Second reason may be your research interest. Someone may genuinely interested in doing research to help mankind. Third reason may be you have lot of money and you can buy whatever degree you want. In India, anything can be bought, if you have sufficient money to pay (for further discussion contact Mukesh Ambani)! So, If you are from third category, you need not to worry about anything we are going to discuss here but for category one and two this discussion may be useful.



PhD in a long-term process, it may take four to seven years to earn the degree (I am not considering fake degrees). The only person who is most important in your life during you PhD is your supervisor. Therefore, in my view, selection of supervisor is the most important part of your PhD journey; research area, publications, etc. comes later.

Most of the people approach their supervisor based on their research profile and regret later. Because the person who has good research contribution not necessary be a good human being as well. It is better to have good amount of conversation with your future supervisor before actually joining him/her. Your supervisor should able to understand your personal issues as well because in this long journey, you may have many personal issues and if your supervisor don't understand it, you may end up struggling between your personal and research life!

Next important thing is your area of research. Mostly people ask their supervisor or other seniors about the area of research and problem statement. This may be a good strategy for short term research but here it wont work. You have to identify the area in which you are interested to work. It is something that you can work on 24x7 for four to seven years. In starting, everything seems interesting but after sometimes your research becomes monotonous and you don't like to work any more and you realize that you have chosen the wrong area but now you are a half way mark and no wayout. Sometimes it also happen that you can't find any more problems to solve. There is no research without finding and solving problems. Therefore, it is advisable to choose your area of research wisely.



Now the discussion about the difference between category one and category two aspirants. Major focus of category one people is on degree whereas category two people worried more about their contribution. Therefore, category one aspirants should go for the university or institution which don't have very high publication and contribution criteria so that they can earn their degree easily. Category two should target top tier universities and institutions so that they get better facilities, faculties and work environment.

I hope this article will help PhD aspirants to start their journey.
Please post any of your questions in comments, I will try my best to answer.

“If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.












Saturday, December 7, 2019

Is death penalty enough for rapists?

Recently I read many stories on social media about rape cases and people demanding death penalty to the rapist. I completely agree with the concept and we need to set such examples to avoid any such incidents in future. But the question is, who will decide whether a suspect is genuinely guilty or not? It may possible that someone frame an innocent person with rape charges and he get death punishment. After his death, we may find that he wasn't the one who did the crime but someone had framed him. Can we get his life back? Death penalty is an extreme punishment and it should be avoided. However, I am not supporting rapist in anyway. They deserve the hardest of punishment but first they need to be proved guilty.

What I personally observed over social media is that when something like these happens, majority of people start publishing the stories and status related to the incidents without verifying the source. They just keep forwarding things and believe that we have done our duty. We Indians, are the most civilized people on social media until and unless the topic of discussion is related to politics. We all try to show that we are very law abiding citizen and there has to be a punishment for everyone who does not follow me. My way is the only right way, hence, everyone have to follow me. I also written an article at the time of 'Anna movement against corruption' and I clearly mentioned that if you negotiate with traffic police when you caught breaking a simple traffic rule to avoid high (currently it's very high) penalty, you don't have any right to speak against corruption. You are also the member of the corrupt system and you need to get out of it first and then advise others to do so. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, "Be the change you want to see in the world". Even most of us had listened a story of Mahatma Gandhi advising a boy not to eat so much of sugar. If you don't remember it, you may read it from here or you may search it on Google.




You may think after reading hundreds of words that what is the relevance? Why are we discussing all this non-sense under such a title? The answer is simple. Before, blaming the system (police, rapist, politicians, rich people, etc.) we need to think about ourselves and people around us. All the people working in the system are from the system only. We haven't imported police or rapist or politicians from space (they are not aliens)! They are from our own system, one of us. Then why they are doing such things? why can't we all live with peace? To be honest many of us have friends who make comments on female friends of the group and instead of stopping them we also join them in conversation. Majority of people who talks about women empowerment on social media don't even allow women in their house to live a life according to their wish!

The conclusion is, instead of protesting on social media about such incidents, be the change. Follow the rules and inspire people around you to do the same. If everyone try to be the law abiding citizen, our country will become one of the most disciplined country in the world. Simple rule we need to follow is "Jiyo aur jine do!".

Jai Hind...




Some references:



Some movie references ;):












Saturday, November 30, 2019

हिंदी कविता: बीदाई

Books authored by Mr. Abhijeet Mehta
















Sunday, November 24, 2019

हिंदी कविता: चेहरा

Books authored by Mr. Abhijeet Mehta
















Saturday, November 23, 2019

हिंदी कविता: जरूर आना

Books authored by Mr. Abhijeet Mehta
















Sunday, November 17, 2019

ગુજરાતી કવિતા: જરૂરી નથી

તને ગમે એ બધું જ મને ગમે જરૂરી નથી,
પણ મને ન ગમે એ અશક્ય પણ નથી.
તારા વગર મુશ્કેલ કઈ નથી,
પણ કદાચ શક્ય પણ કઈ નથી.
તારા માટે દુનિયા સામે લડી લવ જરૂરી નથી,
પણ તું મળે તો મને પણ ન બદલું એ જરૂરી નથી.
હા ખબર છે કે નવી શરૂઆત સહેલી નથી,
પણ તારો સાથ હશે તો અઘરી પણ નથી.
તને પ્રેમ કરું એ જ ફક્ત પૂરતું નથી,
પણ ફક્ત પ્રેમ થી પેટ ભરાતું પણ નથી.
પેલી સપના ની વાતો કરતો પ્રેમી હું નથી,
પણ તારા સ્વપ્નાઓ પુરા ન કરું એટલો કાયર પણ નથી.
-અભિજીત મહેતા

Books authored by Mr. Abhijeet Mehta

















Saturday, November 16, 2019

Book Review: Asura

Image Source: https://cdn.shopclues.com/images/thumbnails/25862/640/1/asurafullcover21444303049.png

Asura, the story of Ravana and his people. Most of us already know about the story of Rama (Ramayana). As per Ramayana, whatever Rama did was according to dharma (law) but "history is written by the victors". This book explains the Ravana perspective of Ramayana. The story is well written and all the important events of Ramayana is covered with Ravana perspective. There is a relevance to each event and justification from the Ravana side. This book helps us to see beyond the Gods and mythological creatures. It is written with human touch, hence, in this story everyone is a human without any magical powers. Reader can also relate it with current time and systems. It may change your perspective towards Ravana. I also find comparison between south Indian and north Indian culture at various places in the book.



I have read Shiva trilogy by Amish Tripathi in the past which inspired me to read more mythological books. The writing style of Anand Neelakantan is very different from Amish Tripath and it is obvious too. In this book, I find many words beyond my vocabulary. I usually read books from Indian authors so my vocabulary is very limited and I got an opportunity to add few more words into it by reading this book. I highly recommend this book to all the mythology readers.
Here are some glimpse from the book which may motivate you to buy an read it (to buy you may visit the Amazon link given at the start of the article.):
  • I didn't know then, but I had been born to fulfill someone else's destiny. To allow someone else to become God.
  • Our dharma was based on simple things: a man should be true to his words; he should speak from his heart and shouldn't do anything he considered wrong. One should not cheat even if  one was sure to fail. One should honor women and not insult anyone. If there was injustice, we had to fight it at all costs.
  • We saw temples where the God resided and demanded a portion of the earnings which men strive hard to earn. And we also saw the representatives of those Gods who plundered in God's name.
  • Why were only a few able to control the power and wealth while the rest obliged them, and even laid down their lives to help this small selfish gang oppress them and their children? Was it fear?
  • Money, caste, rituals, traditions, beliefs, and superstitions all conspired together to crush the humble majority.
  • The moment I started asking why, I was branded a hothead.
  • I am no atheist. I strongly believe in God and am always willing to pray for my material and spiritual progress. But for me, God is a very personal thing and prayer needs to be spoken silently in my heart.
  • The rituals, the animal sacrifice, the curse of caste - none of these had the sanction of the Vedas nor were they divine proclamations or edict.
  • What my predecessors had tried to do was to run a republic. They wanted democracy, where each man, like this bunch of idiots in front of me, decided the future of the nation.
  • The rich did not care who ruled, as long as they were allowed to be rich. The poor could not afford to care and nobody asked their opinion in any case. Only the middle class mattered and any half-witted ruler knows how to pamper them.
  • It could have been due to my inborn leadership qualities that this stealing of a subordinate's ideas emanated from me and the bad and foolish ideas had some other father.
  • What would you choose between glorious martyrdom and deceitful victory?
  • Peer pressure is something which even great men find hard to resist.
  • People conduct their business in the market place with elaborate rituals so no one would touch or pollute each other. But they also spat red pan juice all over the street and walked over it.
  • People openly defecated but were still scrupulous about not touching each other.
  • The irony was that the natives were more afraid of being touched by Asuras than of being killed.
  • Do not believe in anyone, especially your siblings, when aspiring for success, for they are bound to be your bitterest enemies.
  • Never trust a traitor, even if he has done the dirty work for you. Tomorrow he may turn against you.
  • It took courage to lose your pride and still survive. It took will power to suppress one's screaming ego and grovel before another man. It took determination to keep one's head down and act humble, when you were seething inside. Ultimately, the victories do not matter, nor pride or glory, only the survival matters - one's life and successors, the clan, race and language.
  • Children need space to grow and it is difficult when their father is a huge banyan tree.
  • Men cheat, betray, love, strive, struggle, fail, fall, getup, and repeat the process to die and vanish forever or be reborn. But the earth remains aloof, distant and unchangeable. I was just a speak floating in the mighty universe. Tomorrow, or perhaps the next minute, I would be gone. Would it matter to anyone? A few perhaps would be sad and others happy for it, but it would only be relevant for a while. Over time, my achievements, my birth and death, would be irrelevant. So the size of my empire was irrelevant and there was no need for any bloodshed. Life was too short for fighting wars and too sweet to throw away on silly things like ambition. I wanted to believe that I was not afraid to die. One day everyone died. That was the way of nature. You had to give way to the next set of living things. Mentally, I had never been afraid to die. But then, how could I ever leave this beautiful life? Wind whistled past my ears and I took a deep breath of the cool morning air. I breathed life.
  • You keep the godhood you gained through unfair means and I'll keep my manhood and die a warrior's death.
  • The king could not drag us to a war over his private affairs. It was a family feud at best but we were paying the price.
  • We would give our blood, our lives and everything we owned, for if we lost this war, we would lose something more precious than life.
  • Claim that God is with you, or better you are God, then anything you do, any adharma you commit, becomes divine play.
  • The emperor uses gold to decorate his roof when men like us do not eat even one square meal a day.
  • Everything the rich and the mighty did, even in charity, pity or generosity, smacked of selfishness.
  • This country will never change. Grab everything whenever you can - that's the mantra. Greed was the basis of this rotten country.
  • Curiosity is a great motivator
  • People loved you not for the short-term popular things you did them as a ruler, but because you were just.
  • Asuras would not be Asuras without betrayals.
  • I was so tired of war. But I didn't have the power to stop it, The juggernaut rolled on. It would stop when the time was right and not when the participants wished.  And it would destroy whatever came in its way - pride, power, life, honor, everything.
  • Save your political speeches to fool the masses. You are fighting this war for your own selfish reasons.
  • The love of a father for his son is always one-sided.
  • When I strove for bigger things - for bigger cities, magnificent temples, wider roads, better ports, larger ships, increased trade, improved business, making a name among the nations of the world, making my country richest in the world - I forgot something simple and basic. I forgot my people. I thought glittering cities marked progress. I forgot about the people who lived in gutters. When I gave lavish banquets, I forgot that most of my people had nothing to eat.
  • I am now mature enough to know that things happen randomly and we poor humans get caught like straws in the wind.
  • I would make military service compulsory, irrespective of whether the person was the son of a rich merchant, ugly priest, or poor beggar.
  • I would make it mandatory for everyone who passed out of the technical or medical schools, to serve for at least five years in the countryside.
  • It was a vicious but meaningless cycle, where the only losers were those who were honest and straightforward. Everybody cheated to their own capacity. And everyone was aware of what was happening.
  • From birth to death, our culture had trained us to bribe and to take bribes and endorse bribes.
  • Do the birds need permission to fly? Do the fish swim on someone's authority? Learning for human, is like swimming for fish or flying for birds.
  • If your dharma needs to be protected from a little boy, by killing him, if dharma is afraid of a few Sanskrit words uttered by a child, think if you can, you ruler of this sacred land, what sort of dharma you are protecting and whose hands hold the strings that control you.
  • The irony was that he was successful in getting Sita back from most powerful king in the world, and yet was powerless to save his wife from clutch of orthodoxy.
  • Ravana was a man who lived life on his own terms, doing what he thought was right and caring nothing for what was written by holy men; a man who lived life fully and died a warrior's death.












Sunday, November 10, 2019

ગુજરાતી કવિતા: પાછો વળી જા

શરૂઆત ના મૂળ ભુલ્યો પાછો વળી જા,
તારો આ મારગ નથી પાછો વળી જા.
ચુપચાપ તું ના ચાલ પાછો વળી જા,
જો શોર નથી થતો તો પાછો વળી જા.
થાય ભૂલ તો જીવન માં હારી ના જા,
જ્યાં થી શરુ કર્યું ત્યાં જ પાછો વળી જા.
ફરી શરૂઆત કરી શકીશ મુંજાય ના જા,
એ તો સપનું હતું ઊંઘ ઉડાડી દે,
ને હવે સપના નું જીવન આવી જીવી જા.
-અભિજીત મહેતા
Books authored by Mr. Abhijeet Mehta


















Saturday, November 9, 2019

हिंदी कविता: रात भर रोना था

Books authored by Mr. Abhijeet Mehta

















Sunday, November 3, 2019

हिंदी कविता: मन ही मन थका है

Books authored by Mr. Abhijeet Mehta

















Saturday, November 2, 2019

हिंदी कविता: इश्क

Books authored by Mr. Abhijeet Mehta

















Sunday, October 27, 2019

हिंदी कविता: राजनीति

Books authored by Mr. Abhijeet Mehta
















Saturday, October 26, 2019

हिंदी कविता: बूट पॉलिश

Books authored by Mr. Abhijeet Mehta
















Sunday, October 20, 2019

हिंदी कविता: परिंदा

Books authored by Mr. Abhijeet Mehta

















Saturday, October 19, 2019

हिन्दी कविता : वो रास्तो पे चल रहे थे, मैं हवा में उड़ रहा था,

वो रास्तो पे चल रहे थे,
मैं हवा में उड़ रहा था,
वो बंध दरवाज़ों में मशहूर थे,
मैं खुले आसमान में बदनाम था।

वो थाली भर खाना फेंकते थे,
मैं दाना-दाना चुन खा लेता था,
वो ख़ुदा से बोहोत कुछ मांगते थे,
मैं बस बदन ढकने उनकी चढ़ाई चद्दर माँग लेता था।

वो कोसों मिल का सफर कर शांति की गुहार लगाते थे,
मैं वो माँ की गोद में सब सुख महसूस कर लेता था,
वो तरक़्क़ी का आहवान किया करते थे,
मैं तो बस अपना गुज़ारा करना चाहता था।

वो हररोज़ अपनो को धोखा दे परायों के दामन चूमते थे,
मैं परायों से मतलब निकल अपनो के दामन सजाता था,
वो सफेद कपड़ो में नँगा घुमा करते थे,
मैं नंगे बदन पे ईमान का रंग लगाए फिरता था।

वो अपने भगवान को खुदा के बंदों की शिकायत करते थे,
मैं तो इंसानियत में मज़हब ढूंढता फिरता था,
वो मशीन से इंसान भावनाओ का लहज़ा भूल गए थे,
मैं उसी लहज़े में ज़िन्दगी बिताया करता था।

वो जातिवाद और अस्पृष्यता की चोली उतारा करते थे,
मैं अपने लफ़्ज़ों से उनका सीना ढक लिया करता था,
किसी नुक्क्ड़ पे कोई भूखा इन्सान मिले,
तो उसे गले लगा ये नज़्म सुनाया करता था।

मैं जला कर दिल अपना कागज़ पे रूह उतारा करता था,
पसंद आए न आए एक शायर सा बस मैं सच लिखा करता था,
मैं सच लिखा करता हूँ।

- अभिजीत मेहता
Books authored by Mr. Abhijeet Mehta
















Sunday, October 13, 2019

हिंदी कविता: वक़्त बदल रहा है

Books authored by Mr. Abhijeet Mehta
















Saturday, October 12, 2019

हिंदी कविता: समय

Books authored by Mr. Abhijeet Mehta
















Sunday, October 6, 2019

हिंदी कविता: दस्तक

Books authored by Mr. Abhijeet Mehta
















Saturday, October 5, 2019

Book Review: Lafz

Image Source: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/31i63bCCO0L._SX311_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
It is a collection of Hindi poems. I cannot write the detailed review about it because the author is my brother which makes my opinion a biased one. However, I request you to read it and write an honest review about it.
Thanks












Sunday, September 29, 2019

Book Review: Introducing Buddha (Graphic Guides)

Image Source: https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41RUTJAQBOL.jpg
Introducing Buddha is a short story about the journey of Buddha and Buddhism from India to around the world. A graphic guide series books has very good illustrations for various important concepts and events which make the book more attractive for readers. The story of the book starts from India where Buddha was born and how Buddhism spread around the world. The different path of Buddhism. Cultural adaptation of Buddhism in different countries. Here is the wisdom I extract from the book:
  •  Much learning is like a poor man counting another's treasure without a penny of his own.
  • Words are not the highest reality, nor what is expressed in words the highest reality. Why? Because the highest reality is an experience which cannot be entered into by means of statements regarding it.
  • Poetry and visual symbols come much closer to reality.
  • The mind must be in a state of wisdom to understand wisdom.
  • We have to make friends with ourselves and be kind to those aspects of ourselves we like least. Learning to be kind to ourselves brings the discovery that fundamentally we are quite soft. We become hard when we habitually deny our own woundedness and blame others for causing our pain. In admitting our own hurt, we become soft and vulnerable.
  • Tantric deities do not exist in the so called “real world”. But nor does Sherlock Holmes or Madame Bovary, even though people may feel very familiar with their characters.
  • People often use their anger at social injustice as a basis for action, but that is unwise. When you are angry you are not lucid and you can do harm.