Product Review 3 Product name: Anour Treat Yourself Green Tea Slush Body Scrub Quantity: 100g Price: Rs 350
The product shown above is the trial pack that I got from Smytten. The quantity and price mentioned are of the actual packs available on their website/Amazon.
What is written on the bottle: With the rejuvenating properties of Green Tea, Green Tea Slush Body Scrub is a gentle yet effective skin exfoliator. It acts as a cleansing exfoliator and has antioxidants & scrubbing beads that protect from sun exposure. The scrub softens, hydrates & refreshes the skin. The scrub also helps to control acne breakouts. Recommended for normal to oily skin, regular use can help get an even-toned healthy skin.
Bottle design (trial pack): Made of plastic and not very appealing
Fragrance: Hardly any fragrance can be felt
Texture: Light grainy texture but it is not too harsh on the skin
Colour: Light green with dark-coloured scrubbing beads
Pros:
Not harsh on skin
Suitable for those who do not prefer any fragrance/extremely light fragrance
Cons:
Scrubbing effect not felt
Does not lather at all
Not great if you like products with fragrance
Did not work for my oily skin
I am very disappointed with this product. This is my first product from this brand. I felt no difference after using this product so I will not recommend this body scrub.
Product name: Blossom Kochhar Aroma Magic Mineral Glow Scrub Quantity: 100 ml Price: Rs 190
What is written on the tube: I am free of harsh chemicals, alcohol, parabens, phthalates, sulphates, artificial colouring & fragrance. My triple action scrub formula made of natural exfoliators of cornflower and grain almond meal gently buffs away dry skin and dead cells resulting in fresh, young, energised and healthy skin. Rice bran oil and aqua minerals remineralise and enrich your skin reducing fine lines effectively. My aromatherapy blend of tea tree, rose and lavender essential oils helps to balance the level of oil in your skin and protects it from daily pollution and dirt. The goodness of moisturizing agents like beeswax and glycerin keeps your skin smooth, radiant and nourished.
Tube design: Design is catchy and the tube has a premium look and feel Fragrance: Very light and medium pleasant Texture: Grainy texture, not very harsh on skin Colour: Beige with green/yellowish tinge
Pros:
Gentle on the skin
Light fragrance for those who do not like strong fragrances in products
Lathers well so only a small quantity is required and one tube will last for a long time
Cons:
Does not work on oily skin even when it says it is suitable for all skin types
Leaves skin oily after wash
No difference is felt even after extended use
Expensive when compared to other brands of face scrubs.
The product instructions suggest using it once a week. I read a lot of positive reviews and picked up this product. But I am extremely disappointed as it does nothing for my skin. I would not recommend anybody to use this especially if you have oily skin.
Pandeymonium: Piyush Pandey on Advertising by Piyush Pandey
Book Review 161
Name of the Book: Pandeymonium: Piyush Pandey on Advertising
Author: Piyush Pandey
Publisher: Penguin Random House India
Year: 2016
Category: Non-Fiction (Memoir)
Blurb:
What makes Piyush Pandey an extraordinary advertising man, friend, partner and leader of men? How does he manage to exude childlike enthusiasm and bring such deep commitment to his work?
You’ve seen most of the things that Piyush Pandey has seen in his life. You’ve seen cobblers, carpenters, cricketers, trains, villages, towns and cities. What makes Piyush different is the perspective from which he views the same things you’ve seen, his ability to store all that he sees into some recesses of his brain and then retrieve them at short notice when he needs to. That ability combined with his love, passion and understanding of advertising and of consumers make him the master storyteller that he is.
In Pandeymonium, Piyush talks about his influences, right from his childhood in Jaipur and being a Ranji cricketer, to his philosophy, failures and lessons in advertising in particular and life in general. Lucid, inspiring and un-put-downable, this memoir gives you an inside peek into the mind and creative genius of the man who defines advertising in India.
Review:
I picked up this book with high expectations as Piyush is one of the gurus in the field of advertising and I enjoy knowing about advertisements and their making. Having read many memoirs that influenced me deeply, I was disappointed with this book. The book skims through Piyush’s life, his career with Ogilvy and iconic advertisements created by him. It starts on a good note where he talks about his family but after that, it was confined to Ogilvy and we rarely get to see his personal side. It felt like a PR campaign for Ogilvy at some point. For a person like me who does not enjoy cricket, he has used examples from cricket without getting too technical or boring. If you are even slightly knowledgeable about advertising, this book is not recommended as it is very generic and does not give any specific information on advertising. I expected to be taken through his thought process and the making of his popular advertisements but the book did not cover any of it. The only thing I enjoyed was revisiting some nostalgic advertisements from my childhood. Piyush also mentions a lot of names which meant nothing to me as there was no context. This book is a good start for someone who wants to start taking an interest in advertising or a light read to reminiscence their childhood through nostalgic Indian advertisements. For others, this book can safely be skipped.
All The Young Men by Ruth Coker Burks and Kevin Carr O’Leary
Book Review 160
Name of the Book: All The Young Men
Author: Ruth Coker Burks and Kevin Carr O’Leary
Publisher: Grove Press (an imprint of Grove Atlantic)
Year: 2020
Category: Non-Fiction (Memoir)
Blurb:
All The Young Men, a gripping and triumphant tale of human compassion, is the true story of Ruth Coker Burks, a young single mother in Hot Springs, Arkansas, who finds herself driven to the forefront of the AIDS crisis, and becoming a pivotal activist in America’s fight against AIDS.
In 1986, 26-year-old Ruth visits a friend at the hospital when she notices that the door to one of the hospital rooms is painted red. She witnesses nurses drawing straws to see who would tend to the patient inside, all of them reluctant to enter the room. Out of impulse, Ruth herself enters the quarantined space and immediately begins to care for the young man who cries for his mother in the last moments of his life. Before she can even process what she’s done, word spreads in the community that Ruth is the only person willing to help these young men afflicted by AIDS, and is called upon to nurse them. As she forges deep friendships with the men she helps, she works tirelessly to find them housing and jobs, even searching for funeral homes willing to take their bodies – often in the middle of the night. She cooks meals for tens of people out of discarded food found in the dumpsters behind supermarkets, stores rare medications for her most urgent patients, teaches sex-ed to drag queens after hours at secret bars, and becomes a beacon of hope to an otherwise spurned group of ailing gay men on the fringes of a deeply conservative state.
Throughout the years, Ruth defies local pastors and nurses to help the men she cares for: Paul and Billy, Angel, Chip, Todd and Luke. Emboldened by the weight of their collective pain, she fervently advocates for their safety and visibility, ultimately advising Governor Bill Clinton on the national HIV-AIDS crisis.
This deeply moving and elegiac memoir honors the extraordinary life of Ruth Coker Burks and the beloved men who fought valiantly for their lives with AIDS during a most hostile and misinformed time in America.
Review:
This book is the memoir of Ruth Coker Burks, a woman who stumbled upon an HIV affected patient who changed her life in unexpected ways. Since HIV/AIDS disproportionately affected the LGBTQIA+ community more, the disease itself became stigmatized and this prevented many of those affected from getting the right treatment. At a time, when the LGBTQ community was being ostracized and HIV/AIDS patients were being disowned by even family members, Ruth had to go against society to support them. She and her daughter were attacked by neighbours, not allowed into the church and alienated by friends and family. However, these did not deter Ruth from the path of love and compassion. She did the unthinkable, which most people even now after all the scientific development and research might not be willing to do. She treated everyone like her own family and they reciprocated it in their way. She worked with many including teenage prostitutes, drag queens and so many others who still face discrimination from both the law and other people. She actively tried to engage the government and local ruling bodies to bring attention to this grave problem. The memoir is written with honesty and no saviour complex, but with pure love and regard for every person whom she met in her life. I read few reviews where people did not like the book as Ruth includes her religious beliefs in the book. I did not think that these were not overdone at any point. Since she is a religious person, it is only natural to include that important aspect of her life in her memoir. Her work is of immense importance and it paved the way for a different and informed way of treatment and outlook towards HIV/AIDS. This is an extremely important book that everyone must read to understand the social context of the disease and to develop empathy towards those suffering from the disease. It is also an important historical document that reflects on the treatment of the LGBTQ community and the disease that affected them severely.
How do you say goodbye to your family for the last time?
Poppy Day is thirty-two and married to her childhood sweetheart. She’s a full-time mum of two gorgeous children and loves her homely little cottage in the countryside. It’s the life she always wanted.
But Poppy is so busy caring for others she hasn’t noticed how tired she is, or the menacing lump growing on her breast. It’s unthinkable that cancer could defeat such a strong and amazing woman. But life doesn’t always give you what you deserve…
Review:
I was looking for a happy and magical romantic novel and picked up this book based on the cover. I expected something like a Cecelia Ahern novel but I was in for a surprise. This was such a heartbreaking novel. After I completed the book, I realized that it was the sixth book in the No Greater Love series. Yet, each book can also be standalone. Though the plot might be slightly predictable, the story-telling is so brilliant. It is an extremely emotional book and very well written. If you love Nicolas Sparks books, you will love this book and probably all books by Amanda Prowse. Be ready to be emotionally drowned in the world of Poppy Day and her family.
Ever since the day her classmate vanished, Sandy Shortt has been haunted by what happens when something – or someone – disappears. Finding has become her goal.
Jack Ruttle is desperate to find his younger brother who vanished into thin air a year ago. He spots an ad for Sandy’s missing persons agency and is certain that she will answer his prayers and find his brother.
But then Sandy disappears too, stumbling upon a place that is a world away from the only one she has ever known. Now all she wants, more than anything, is to find her way home.
Review:
Cecelia Ahern, true to her style has weaved a magical world so real that it is impossible to not be captivated by it. Right from the beginning, the reader is taken on a roller coaster ride and we are always anticipating the next twist or event. Once you start this book, it is impossible to put it down unless you reach the end. The book has some really interesting characters and each of them is interesting and realistic. Towards the end, it almost becomes predictable but there is never a boring moment. My favourite part was the analogy with The Wizard of Oz. There were loose ends in the book and the ending was kind of hurried and incomplete. I would have enjoyed it even more if the end was as perfect as the beginning. If you want to pick up a feel-good book that will transport you to another world and make you forget your worries, this is the perfect one.
Publisher: Sceptre (imprint of Hodder & Stroughton, division of Hachette)
Year: 2015
Category: Fiction
Blurb:
At first sight, Ove is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet. He thinks himself surrounded by idiots – neighbours who can’t reverse a trailer properly, joggers, shop assistants who talk in code, and the perpetrators of the vicious coup d’etat that ousted him as Chairman of the Residents’ Association. He will persist in making his daily inspection rounds of the local streets.
But isn’t it rare, these days, to find such old-fashioned clarity of belief and deed? Such unswerving conviction about what the world should be, and a lifelong dedication to making it just so?
In the end, you will see, there is something about Ove that is quite irresistible…
Review:
#unpopularopinion
This was a book that I picked up with a lot of expectations as I have not read a single negative review about it on bookstagram. I am not sure it is only the weight of high expectations that made me not enjoy this book. The protagonist is Ove, an old man battling depression, the trauma from the death of his wife and probably unhealed childhood trauma. The chapters take us back and forth between Ove’s past and present. The story itself is a cliché–a grumpy old man who hates the modern world, who is finally softened by the love of the surrounding people. It would have worked for me if at least the narration was interesting, but the writing fell flat. The character of Ove was not just unlikeable but at certain points also unbelievable. It is still unclear why his wife fell in love with him as I am not convinced by the story. The first half of the book tries very hard to make Ove look unlikeable and then suddenly there is a switch and he is an angel. It felt like the transition was not organic. It also becomes really difficult to forget what Ove did to others which is not just impolite but also cruel to many people in the beginning, whatever his reasons were. The book was unnecessarily long and in between; I struggled to keep up my interest. This book could have been so much more. It had the potential to be amazing as the movie ‘Intern’, but couldn’t be far from it. I think the only reason this book became popular is that it was written in straightforward language and there is an anti-establishment sentiment that many people can connect to. There were a few emotional moments but besides that, the characters did not draw me in and I could not empathize with any of them. It lacks a certain nuance and is very black and white which borders on preachy. There is also some amount of body-shaming and other regressive thoughts by Ove which I could not excuse as an ‘old person behaviour’. What I would have appreciated with Ove being able to work through his issues with the help of the people around him or a therapist and understand his shortcomings.
The Population Myth: Islam, Family Planning and Politics in India by S. Y. Quraishi
Book Review 156
Name of the Book: The Population Myth: Islam, Family Planning and Politics in India
Author: S. Y. Quraishi
Publisher: Harper Collins
Year: 2021
Category: Non-fiction
Blurb:
The Population Myth reveals how the right-wing spin to population data has given rise to myths about the ‘Muslim rate of growth’, often used to stoke majoritarian fears of a demographic skew. The author, S.Y. Quraishi, uses facts to demolish these, and demonstrates how a planned population is in the interest of all communities.
The book delves into the Quran and the Hadith to show how Islam might have been one of the first religions in the world to actually advocate smaller families, which is why several Islamic nations today have population policies in place. This busts the other myth – that Muslims shun family planning on religious grounds.
Based on impeccable research, this is an important book from a credible voice about the politicization of demographics in India today.
Review:
Population control and family planning is an important part of every country’s policy. But it is also an area that is highly controversial and sensitive and policymakers need to understand nuances of culture, religion and gender while making decisions.
A right-wing narrative that has been around for years is that Muslims are averse to family planning and their population is increasing at an alarming rate and the Muslim population will soon overtake the Hindu population. The author has done a brilliant job of fighting each of these myths and propaganda with the help of solid facts derived from data obtained from credible sources. The book is an example of how data can help us in dispelling myths and separating facts from fiction. It takes the deft hand of a policymaker to explore this theme in an organized manner and cover every angle in such depth. Quraishi was the 17th CEC of India. He had introduced several electoral reforms such as the creation of a voter education division, the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management and the National Voters Day. The data, calculations and their interpretations can be easily understood to all while also maintaining the level of detail and accuracy.
The book begins with India’s family planning story since Independence till date which sets the context. It further explores the data relevant to this study and the factors that have an impact on family planning. Then the family planning among India’s Muslims and other communities is compared. It can be seen that the fertility rate of Indian Muslims is decreasing steadily with improvement in living standards among them. The next chapter, ‘Tenets of Islam and Family Planning,’ studies the views of religious authorities and scholars on the stance of Islam on family planning. It can be concluded that Islam is in fact, the forerunner of the concept of family planning. One of the most enlightening chapters is the one that explores population policies in Islamic nations. This is highly informative as it completely dispels the myth that Islam is against family planning. It would do India a lot of good to study some of the Islamic countries that have been successful in the implementation of family planning policies to see how we can adapt some of them which will face lesser resistance from Muslim populations. The next biggest factor to explore is how different religion perceives the idea of family planning and how they evolve with time and the environment.
Religion is extremely subjective and at times have been misused to fulfil certain agendas by people in positions of power. But we can see that most of the major religions are not vehemently opposed to birth control, although they encourage fertility as they were formed during times when this would ensure the survival of their community due to the presence of high infant and child immortality rates. Finally, the politics of population is looked into as politics has emerged as an influential factor and has led to religious polarization for selfish political agendas. From its analysis, the book concludes that family planning is not a Hindu-versus-Muslim issue as both communities have similar statistics. It is the socio-economic indicators that influence family planning behaviour and Hindus and Muslims have very similar and region-specific socioeconomic conditions. The author has also given some brilliant suggestions for the way forward which I hope will be considered seriously by policymakers.
Another important snippet in the book is the use of a mathematical model and census data to answer the question of ‘Will Muslim Population Overtake Hindus?’ This once and for all puts to rest the highly debated question as we can see that it is mathematically impossible. This is an excellent book to understand family planning and its politics in India and is an important book under the current political and social environment.
Name of the Book: A Sea of Glass Searching for the Blaschkas’ Fragile Legacy in an Ocean at Risk
Author: C. Drew Harvell
Publisher: University of California Press
Year: 2016
Category: Non-fiction
Blurb:
It started with a glass octopus. Dusty, broken, and all but forgotten, it caught Drew Harvell’s eye. Fashioned in intricate detail by the father-son glassmaking team of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, the octopus belonged to a menagerie of unusual marine creatures that had been packed away for decades in a storage unit. More than 150 years earlier, the Blaschkas had been captivated by marine invertebrates and spun their likenesses into glass, documenting the life of oceans untouched by climate change and human impacts. Inspired by the Blaschkas’ uncanny replicas, Harvell set out in search of their living counterparts. In A Sea of Glass, she recounts this journey of a lifetime, taking readers along as she dives beneath the ocean’s surface to a rarely seen world, revealing the surprising and unusual biology of some of the most ancient animals on the tree of life. On the way, we glimpse a century of change in our ocean ecosystems and learn which of the living matches for the Blaschkas’ creations are, indeed, as fragile as glass.
Drew Harvell and the Blaschka menagerie are the subjects of the documentary Fragile Legacy, which won the Best Short Film award at the 2015 Blue Ocean Film Festival & Conservation Summit.
Review:
When I was a kid, I remember religiously going through all the colourful pages of encyclopedias, reading about life underwater. I was equally fascinated by the mysterious life under the ocean as I was by the world beyond the sky.
Reading A Sky of Glass was a very similar adventure where I swam with deep-sea creatures of all size, colour and shapes. I discovered the glassworks of Blaschkas recently, and I was highly fascinated with their ideas and creativity of using glass to make exact replicas of underwater creatures. I looked them up and came across this book by C Drew Harvell, inspired by the same work. I instantly decided to pick it up, and was an exciting adventure.
The author has presented a case for the conservation of our ocean ecosystems and the species of flora and fauna that live in this ecosystem through this book with the help of the glass lookalikes of marine invertebrates at Cornell University. This book explains in detail the trip undertaken by the author and her team to spot all the animals of the glass collection in their natural habitats. It takes them across various oceans and continents. We get a glimpse of how our oceans have changed since Blaschkas and how it has affected the ecological balance. Reading the book is like going on a scuba diving adventure with the author. She has tried to show us her experiences first-hand instead of preaching to us about the conservation of the environment. The colourful photographs of the glass creatures and watercolour drawings of famous naturalists add to the experience.
If you are excited by the infinite creatures that live in the deep oceans or want to learn more about them, this is the perfect book for you.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Book Review 154
Name of the Book: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
Author: Gail Honeyman
Publisher: Harper Collins
Year: 2018
Category: Fiction
Blurb:
Eleanor Oliphant has learned how to survive – but not how to live
Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend.
Eleanor Oliphant is happy. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled life. Except, sometimes, everything.
One simple act of kindness is about to shatter the walls Eleanor has built around herself. Now she must learn how to navigate the world that everyone else seems to take for granted – while searching for the courage to face the dark corners she’s avoided all her life.
Change can be good. Change can be bad. But surely any change is better than… fine?
Eleanor Oliphant leads an unremarkable life in which she is content. She likes predictability, order and pragmatism in her daily life. She knew most people saw her as different from them. Whether it was due to the scar that ran down her face or her visible eczema, or it was due to her non-existent social skills, one could never tell. With that being said, I could not help but appreciate Eleanor’s eagerness and openness to trying new things, albeit through baby steps. Call it serendipity, but we can see how it opens new doors for her and she enjoys things that she never previously thought she could.
From the beginning, we can see how her colleagues are unkind to her and alienate and bully her at her workplace. Only Raymond tries to get to know her instead of judging her from her appearance. We are all guilty of judging people around us too quickly. This book is a small reminder that we need to be kind and learn to look beyond physical appearances. It shows us how acts of kindness can go a long way, even to the extend of saving a person’s life or getting through the lowest points in their life.
Eleanor’s relationship with her family is complicated, especially with her mother. She was a child whose emotional needs were unmet, which leads to many issues as an adult. Her childhood trauma comes in the way of a proper relationship as an adult. Eleanor was initially reluctant to attend therapy due to the stigma associated with mental health and her general reluctance to delve into her painful past and split open the wounds. However, we can see that once she gets over her initial inhibition, she can feel much lighter and work one by one on all her issues with the help of a professional who is qualified to help in such situations. The author has tried to normalize taking professional support and being open about mental health issues in a professional environment. One of the most pleasantly surprising incidents was how her boss Bob views her absence from work right after her promotion. Most workplaces even today are ill-equipped to deal with the mental health of their employees with the required empathy and support. Bob is highly supportive of Eleanor as his own sister had previously suffered from depression, and he can empathize with her. It is also powerful to see that her co-workers also come around and are very warm to her once she returns after a long break back to the office. This shows how one person, especially somebody who is in a position of power or a leader, can set an excellent example for others in a workplace. There are times when we feel that the relationship between Eleanor and Raymond is more than platonic. However, I love how the author never alluded to it directly in the book and left it open-ended.
The book has quite a lot of funny moments lined with Eleanor’s quirky social commentary. Eleanor starts off as an unlikeable character, but she will grow on you, and towards the end, she almost becomes a close friend. Eleanor forges some beautiful and unexpected relationships, like with Laura, her houseplant Polly and her cat Glen, Raymond’s mom, Sammy and Keith, among others. Having family and/or friends with whom we can spend time and share our feelings will go a long way in helping us get through the days, good and bad. The book also brings hope to those who had a difficult childhood and a non-conducive environment growing up. Their past does not have to define them, and they can lead happy life. The language, the style of the prose and the theme make it a great book to be incorporated into a syllabus for academic purposes.
It is a book that will leave you with a feeling of warmth for days after you complete it. If you want to pick up one book on mental health awareness, let it be this.
Shades Of Lavender 