Blurb (from the jacket & GoodReads):
Interested in funny, heart-warming, and inspiring real life travel stories? You will love reading Railonama. It is an anthology inspired by travel on the Indian Railways.
The book contains stories from authors: Ajay Mankotia, Ambika Jindal, Anindita Deo, Anupama Sharma, Asiem Sanyal, Atul Sharma, Bala Parthasarathy, Chandrashekhr B. Kulkarni, Diane Caldwell, Dilshad Sanyal, Dr K.C. Jindal, Dr Roshan Radhakrishnan, Elayne Clift, Francois Juneau, Frank Joussen, Ganesh V, K.H.D. Karr, Ken Haigh, Kshitij Bisen, Lalita Bhatia, Malini Mathi Vathanan, Mary McCormack, Michael Clifton, Monali Ghatge, Nikhil Narayanan, Pat Hale, Pradeep Chaswal, Raminder Rayar, Renuka Vishwanathan, Rohit Khanduri, Savita Mudgal, Shailender Arya, Sharada Balasubramanian, Sheela Jaywant, Sheila Kumar, Sijeesh V Balakrishnan, Snigdha Khurana, Sukanya Mohan, Sumedha Sengupta, Susmita Bhattacharya, Tessy Koshy, Varsha Halabe, Vibha Batra, Yogesh B Sharma.
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RAILONAMA is a collection of heart-warming, inspiring and surprising stories of train travels in India. Stories have been carefully selected from people all over the world who have traveled in India pre- and post Independence. This commemorative book of enriching and entertaining short stories and poems is a must read for anyone who has lived in or visited India.
My take on the book:
The first I came to read the blurb of this book, I was reminded of a quote by Ruskin Bond is one of his TV interviews. The host asked Bond what was his inspiration, where did he get his stories from? He replied, "From railway stations." He emphasized that spending a couple of hours in a railway station could inspire any author with a story. Indian railway is so full of stories.
And this is book is just about that. Collection of short stories and poems from around the country, from whomever that traveled aboard it.
Well, I think the title's a bit cheesy. I won't be dishonest, the idea of the book seems to be the same, too. I realised the latter after I actually started reading the book.
Most of the stories could be related to, but was it a interesting factor? No. I am an avid traveler. Due to my puny finances I always preferred train to any other transport. I had numerous tales of my own. The stories from this book were more or less very much relating. Though somewhat engaging, the stories don't have that 'Unforgettable Stories' factor. (The tagline: Unforgettable train stories)
Maybe I was expecting too much of the book. After all, it was a non-fiction and it haves it's own limitations.
I could have overlooked everything I have mentioned earlier as they differed from taste to taste, but then the narration was pretty immature. The editor, Anupama, should've spent more of her creative juice into the work.
Maybe I was expecting too much of the book. After all, it was a non-fiction and it haves it's own limitations.
I could have overlooked everything I have mentioned earlier as they differed from taste to taste, but then the narration was pretty immature. The editor, Anupama, should've spent more of her creative juice into the work.
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Title: Railonama
Author: Various
Tagline: Unforgettable train stories
ISBN (edition I've read): 9789380619798
Rating:
Read between: 07-02-2014 to 10-02-2014
Reviewed for: BlogAdda.com
Publishers: Good Times Books
Pages: 238
MRP: ₹ 250
The best deal for this book could be found here:
Pages: 238
MRP: ₹ 250
The best deal for this book could be found here:
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHey you said,
Delete"Hi, Have you even read the book?
You have copied information on the cover of the book. Nothing about the book? Then why 2.5 stars?"
Its good to hear from you, whoever you are. I immensely hated the book for I had taken time out in between my end-term exams and it was pure crap. I tried to be describe the book better, but it was impossible to talk about the book and be polite at the same time.
The above review was just a result of my politeness, because I didn't want the authors to be discouraged.
Forced to mention that I had talked to other reviewers who happened to review this book. I asked them how have they rated the book a 4-star? They asked me to never mind, If you know what I mean.
I also asked how come the book has so high rating on GoodReads. They said, "So many authors of the book. One 5-star from each and they you have it."
After all, I was expecting a comment like this one.