Month: June 2017

BEST OF THE WEEK#1

On June 25, 2017

Best Videos of the Week

Bhuvan Bam is famous for his YouTube channel BB Ki Vines. His 2 videos Originality- the way to success and Stand Alone to Stand Apart were very inspiring nonetheless hilarious. He is indeed a very gifted orator.

Did you ever feel your reading speed needs to be improved? Then you definitely need to watch this. Tim Ferriss gives us a 4-min video in which you’ll get to know your current WPM (Words Per Minute) speed and how to improve it by 100-300%.

This video by 101India features Raghav Meattle who is a Mumbaikar and gave me a very refreshing outlook on life and running.

Best Audios of the Week

Teri Meri Kahani has got me grooved this week. This song is by Bhuvan Bam and was pretty euphonious to me.

The theme song of Game of Thrones was my song anchor this week. Very catchy!

The interview of Tim Ferriss by James Altucher dealt a little about suicide and depression and the necessity of having routines to get you back to normal each day.

Best Articles of the Week

This 1-min article by Darius Foroux is a must read

35 Things You Should Know Before Becoming “Successful”

Best article I have read so far regarding Higher education in U.S.A

Experiences of the Week

I’ve had the pleasure of having 2 school reunions albeit small ones. Caught up on so many things and recalled many memories.

It was my second visit to the Wall Ride Park on the Go-Skate Boarding Day. Did my first couple of small stunts. Improved speed in the pump track.

[wpvideo h8a79pZG]

Failure of the Week

* The 15-Day Blogging Challenge was a part failure. Blogged for 8 days and then gave up for 5 days. As Charles Munger says – two things you need to avoid: Sloth and Unreliability.
* This week was pretty bad in terms of sleeping habits. Owing to this I missed two of my cycle rides by which I would have completed 100 km more.

Inspiration of the Week

My preparation with G.R.E was a bit inconsistent these holidays. I had a long conversation with my batch mate Chaitanya about this and he rekindled my spirits. Thank you Chaitanya 🙂

Screenshots of the week

On what makes a great programmer.

On how to talk to strangers.

On why the best things are often with the ones who struggle.

Quote/Lines of the Week

“I opened my mouth, almost said something. Almost. The rest of my life might have turned out differently if I had. But I didn’t.” – Khaled Hosseini

“If you arent different in a world of infinite choice” – Ramit Sethi

“Don’t aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long-run—in the long-run, I say!—success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think about it”- Victor E. Frankl

Person of the Week

Hamza Khan is the owner of Wall Ride Park and he’s just 23. His vision of taking Skating and Cycling in Hyderabad to a whole new level is amazing.

Big Wins of the Week

I was consistent with 7-min workout this week. Considerable improvement in the state of my body.
Day 4, 5 and 6 of the 15-Day Daily Blogging Challenge were very tiring but still didn’t stop posting. Had to go past 12.

Hey there, if you loved this blog post and the articles inside it then please give it a thumbs up and also share with me what you found interesting this week, in the comments below.

Footnotes:

Image Courtesy: Google and my smartphone

5 Bullets

By gaucho

On June 20, 2017

In Ideas and Reflections

Book I’m ReadingHooked by Nir Eyal. Do you know why you are so addicted to whatsapp or youtube or facebook or pinterest and all the well-known apps? Because these apps have the ability to form a habit with you unconsciously. Nir Eyal takes you through the four steps of how to form habit forming products and these insights also apply to your personal life in sticking to good habits and overcoming bad habits.
What I’m Struggling with
The 15 Day Blogging challenge has really kept me thinking a lot. Postponing the writing to the evening has really affected my sleep patterns. The quality has been going down since the last two posts. Proper planning and execution is a must.
Present Micro Habits
I’m presently taking a warm shower before going to bed. Started doing this after reading an article on how a shower 45 min before sleep reduces your core temperature resulting in better sleep.
Another micro habit is the 7 min workout in the evening. Been doing it consistently with some misses here and there. I see an increased chest and shoulder.
Excited AboutFirst is the Go-Skate Boarding Day tomorrow. An evening full of adrenaline.
Second is the application for Microsoft Student Partner which involves me taking a video documenting the journey so far and my contributions to Microsoft till now and hence forth in under 2 minutes.
Person I’m following
Gary Vaynerchuk is a 40 year old entrepreneur and his short videos and podcasts on Instagram and SoundCloud have really kept me going. His videos on You tube are no less than exhilarating.

Small Apps. Big Difference

By gaucho

On June 19, 2017

In Ideas and Reflections

Today I’m going to share with you 3 very simple apps which have brought a great deal of organisation, productivity and vigor in me. And the best news? All of them are free!!
Each app solved 3 deep engrained hiccups of mine.

Procrastination

Everyone suffers from this, but very few do something about it. Google “How to overcome Procrastination” and you’ll definitely find a Pomodoro Technique there. Pomodoros are 25 min chunks of time. When lazy just start your work without any distractions for just 25 minutes. And TIDE helps you in just that. It has 5 different modes- night, rain, forest, muse and café. Each mode has a very soothing natural sound and a timer set for 25 minutes, just enough time for you to gain some momentum with your work. The pleasing music helps you get into the zone. Thus, also helping you get rid of the background noise.
So just put on your headset and turn on Tide and get into your flow! I write all of my blog posts using Tide.

Health

We all know that exercise and proper food intake goes a long way in maintaining a healthy body. Sometimes I just eat all the trash I find and lay on bed the whole day. All I needed was a simple reminder throughout the day to remind me “Garbage In. Garbage Out”.

To Do Reminder came to my rescue. This app lets you puts reminders throughout the day which can be looped.
I have put three major reminders:

* One reminder for every hour to nudge me to drink some water
* A second reminder every two hours to prompt me to have some light food
* A third one in the evening which reminds me to complete the 7-min Workout.

It’s been great so far!

Commute

My institution is 40 km away from my home. That’s a total of 4 hours commute every single day. Two things I always go to during this time are- books and podcasts. And for podcasts, I love Podcast Addict. Tons of content just waiting to be heard. Wide range of topics from history, politics, comedy, showbiz, entrepreneurship, business, markets, etc. My favourite is the Tim Ferriss show where Tim deconstructs world class performers. He’s almost done 250 episodes with over 150 the* best in the world. Some other recommendations would be Freakonomics, Invisibilia and Intelligence Squared.

So please do try out these three apps and I’m very positive that you can improve your life dramatically with these.

TIDE : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.moreless.tide&hl=en

REMINDER: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ToDoReminder.gen&hl=en

PODCAST: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bambuna.podcastaddict&hl=en

If you have any apps which had a similar impact on you, please leave it in a comment below.
Happy with the post? then like and share this post with your friends and family. Thank you!

An Evening at the Wall Ride Park

By gaucho

On June 18, 2017

In Escapades

I regularly check the events and rides organised Bike Affair and I was pleasantly surprised when that week’s event was a 20 km ride to a Skate Park followed by some pumping 😛 . I never expected a BMX/Skate Park in Hyderabad. Maybe in Mumbai or Bangalore but not here.I went through the Skates Park’s Facebook Page and it totally blew my mind. Going back to January’17, in an event organised for all the cycle enthusiasts and contributors in the city, I came across a guy in his twenties who explained his idea of having a skate park in Hyderabad and guess what? it was already under way. I was very excited about it back then but I slowly forgot about it. Coming back to now, I was more than animated upon knowing that the park was completed.

Along with 4 of my friends, who were skeptical of cycling 20 km till the park decided otherwise and we started for the park on our motor vehicles at 7:15 pm. The park is on the Chevella road behind the Telangana State Police Academy [TSPA]. We reached there by 8 and were greeted by Hamza and his father, both lively and amiable people

About Wall Ride Park

The half-acre park basically has two divisions – one being a pump track and the other a skate track. The pump track covering 60% of the land.

The Pump track: This track consists of a series of zig zag ups and downs which help in building momentum necessary for the pumping.

The Skate track: This track has a curved incline, inclined planes and a couple of fixed rods. A lot can be done only if you know how to skate :p

There was also a canteen serving pizzas, samosas, sandwiches, energy drinks and water. Toilets will be also be available (they were still under construction when we went). The charges were 50/- per person on that day but will be 220/- for every hour henceforth. The entire park has flood lights so you can stay there till 11 pm. The timings might be 6 am till 12 pm and then 4 pm till 11 pm.

The Pumping Starts

Hamza walked us through how to handle a BMX mongoose bike. In a pump track, there is no need for pedaling. You have to use the pumping motion of your body against the ups and downs of the track to generate momentum. He first showed us how to keep your legs leveled on the pedals and then demonstrated how one should pump the body on the track. Then we each took turns to ride the bike. You probably would have to pedal in the first 4-5 rides but once you get the hang of the pumping motion, I’m sure you wouldn’t get off the bike. Too much fun!! We started at 8:30 and went on till 11. That’s how much addictive it is!! In between we had some delicious Pizza and sandwiches followed by some energy drinks. During the end, we rode with our biker gloves on and there was a remarkable difference. See for yourself!! There were many fun moments throughout the night. Even kids had fun here. Hamza kept doing many stunts. A 180 degree turn, many flips and the best of all, a wall ride. Many other skate boarders joined too. They showed us how to skate. I tried some stunts but wasn’t successful. Will try harder the next time. Overall, an evening well spent and worth every rupee.
I’ll be going again this Wednesday on 21st June, 2017. A Go-Skate Boarding Day is being organised. Very much excited 🙂

Hey there, please do visit this park if you are in Hyderabad. If in any other city, try to visit a pump track nearest you. An experience worth having.

Foot Notes:

* Image Courtesy : Facebook
* Watch some pumping videos before you go.

Prompts

By gaucho

On June 17, 2017

In Ideas and Reflections

This is an exercise I would like you to try at least for a week. Only two simple steps.

Step 1: Every morning take a neat A4 sheet paper. Fold it and put it in your pocket. Also carry a pen/pencil with you.

Step 2: Whenever a thought worth noting comes across your mind, take the paper and note it down.
Repeat this process throughout the day and daily for a week.

This is heavily inspired from James Altucher. Undoubtedly I had nothing but a very positive experience from this. A lot of ideas and insights.

If you found this exercise helpful after a week then come back and hit like and also comment your experience below. Share this post with your friends and family too. Thank you 😊

Foot Notes:

* Try writing your prompts only with your non-dominant hand.
* Be specific about what you write. Trust me, you’ll forget what it means after a month or so.
* Image Courtesy : Google.

Cycling Tips

By gaucho

On June 16, 2017

In Ideas and Reflections

Cycling so far has given me a bucket load of memories which I will cherish forever. Besides being a very sociable activity, it is considered by many as a full body workout. Calorie burner I mean. Cycling has also many other benefits.
I’ll put down all that I’ve learned so far in the 6 months of cycling I have done so that you will know beforehand what to expect and prepare accordingly.

Note: This will be a brief post and I won’t be going into the mechanics of cycling. If you contradict with any of the below mentions, please leave a comment below. I will be more than glad to rectify myself.

Accessories for Bikes:

When you first start cycling, more than the pain in your legs and thighs (as you would expect) the pain in your shoulders, neck, spine, wrists and buttocks will be greater. If you start taking precautions early, you’ll definitely have a smooth experience.

Considering you will be cycling regularly (long and short distances), you have to buy a couple of things.

* First will be a cycling short. Why? When I cycled long distances the only real bothering was the pain in my butt. A real pain in the ass I mean!
The cycling short adds extra padding to your bottom and helps in preventing discomfort and numbness. It might cost you around 500/- to 1500/- for a good one.

* Your head is your most vital organ. You wouldn’t want to risk its safety. So, take time to buy a helmet. Also, the vents in the helmet help in the air flow and your sweating will be reduced. Remember to put a cloth over your hair to prevent hair damage.

* Next would be to buy a pair of gloves so that your palm wont twinge you. I prefer a biker gloves to bicycle gloves. The only problem with biker gloves would be with removing the glove every time you need to use your hands for say eating, handling phone, etc.

* If you are the kind of person who’s concerned about the tan ( I am!!) you need to buy a pair of sleeves and also a face mask to protect from the sunlight.

* To carry essential things like some fruits/nuts, phone, keys etc you either should have a rider shirt (which has pockets) or a light weight bag.

If you are tight on the pocket, of all the things mentioned above a helmet would be sufficient. Rest of them you can buy eventually depending on your commitment to the sport. I use a helmet, a pair of biker gloves, my laptop bag and a hand kerchief as a face mask.

Cycling Types :

There are different types of cycles suited for different reasons. For starters, hybrid bike would be a good choice and a good one would cost you 10,000 to 15,000 in INR.

* Single Speed Bikes : These are the regular bikes we see. They don’t have gears. Suitable for casual ride and exhausting on longer ones. I presently own a single speed bike.

* Mountain Bikes (MTB) : These are the bikes best known for off roading. It can handle all types of terrains.

* Road Bikes : These are the bikes on which fastest speed can be achieved due to their light weightedness, build dynamics and flatter tyres.

* Hybrid Bikes : As the name suggests these are bikes built for both on road (good surfaces) and off road (uneven and rocky surfaces).

Shifting Gears:

Note 1 : Might be confusing if you never looked at a gear cycle.
Note 2 : 2-7 means 2^nd gear on the front and 7^th gear on the back.

Moving on now, what you need to know is how to efficiently shift the gears. If you do it correctly, then you can easily cover long distances without any fatigue. This is what helped me. (with respect to 3front gear + 7rear gear).

* Always shift the gears while in pedalling motion. Do not shift when your legs are stationary.
* Never have a higher front gear(3) and a lower rear gear(1,2,3) or a lower front gear(1) and a higher rear gear(5,6,7). This will create a lot of tension in the chain and it might break. But, for the front gear of 2 you can use the rear gear range from 1-7.
* Never shift directly from 3-7 to 2-7. Go down from 3-7 to 3-5 and then shift to 2-5 and then move to 2-7. Applicable vice versa for moving from 2-7 to 3-7.
When it’s Uphill :

Shift your gears down to 2-5/2-6(front gear-rear gear) 10-20metres before the incline.
If you shift early, then you wouldn’t face the extra effort you’d have to put when you shift late.

As you go up the incline shift to 2-4/2-3/2-2 based on your requirement. If it’s gets too uphill, shift the front gear down to 1.

When it’s Downhill :

Shift slowly from 2-x to 3-5 by the top of the slope. From there on, shift from 3-5 to 3-6 to 3-7. Though you might feel like just letting go, cycle hard in the slope. It makes a lot of difference in the pace you maintain. Trust me.**

Other things to remember :

* To prevent shoulder and back pain, you need to position your back properly. Check online videos for proper posture. Also proper pedal positioning and saddle height are very important.

* Always use your rear brake predominantly and use front brake only when it’s completely necessary.
When you use the front brake suddennly shift your body weight on to the rear wheel by moving your lower body to the back positioning it in the air.

* When I ride long distances, I usually listen to podcasts so that I focus on what’s being spoken and this takes away the pain from my mind. I rode 166km on an MTB for the first time with podcasts playing a major part towards the end. ( I love you Tim Ferriss).

* Don’t eat anything heavy before riding. Check for proper chain and air leaks.

Thanks to the Hyderabad Bicycling Club I’ve been cycling consistently for the past 6 months and completed 1500 km. My goal for the next one year would be 5000 km.
So, when are you going to cycle?

Hey there, check out this Youtube channel for proper guidance on cycling. Also check Meetup for cycling clubs near you. If you found this blogpost useful please like and put a comment below and also share it with your friends. Thank You!!

Foot Notes :

* Image Courtesy : Google
** Considering you would want the fastest time.

Take Your Time

By gaucho

On June 15, 2017

In Ideas and Reflections, Reflections

One of my favourite writers on Quora, Nicolas Cole once wrote in an answer “You are exactly where you are supposed to be. Don’t Worry. “. And he’s absolutely right.

Let me give you a couple of excerpts from my life.

** This was back in Dec’15 and I was at a family get together. My cousin from U.S.A asked me what my hobbies were. I was completely stumped by that question and I didn’t have an answer to that. With a hesitation, I replied “I don’t have any”. I really didn’t get anything else to say. He snickered and asked me “How come you don’t have any hobbies”. His chuckle embarrassed me. To be honest, I didn’t have much of a hobby back then. I played football, badminton, sudoku and chess but not frequently to be considered a hobby. So, I responded with a lie. “Well I’m into programming”, I said. The remaining conversation? Too trivial to remember.

** Moving forward to Feb’16. The same question from my brother’s friend. I was better prepared this time. “I blog about chess and web applications”… I lied with a smile on my face.

** My English teacher asked me if I would like to be the Master of Ceremonies/Anchor at one of my college events in my 2^nd year of college. I was a bit doubtful of the proposition as I was a very shy and timid person. I don’t have it in me to speak in front of an audience, I thought. I denied.

** Our college did not have a proper football team when I just joined. We formed a team and participated in three tournaments in a period of 12 months. And the results were 0-4, 0-2 and 0-1. Our team never scored a goal.
Too many Failures? Read ahead.

Fast forward to June’17

** Eventually I cultivated some hobbies.
I finally started writing for my blog (Nope. Not about chess and web applications).
I am cycling regularly. Two rides a week at the least. Close to completing 1500kms since Dec’16.
I’m in love with podcasts and books. My favourite is The Tim Ferriss Show and I’m averaging about 3 books per month.

** Our Football team won its first match on 30^th March’17 followed by another win the next day. Felt amazing. ( Didn’t make it to the finals though).

** I also got the chance to introduce our chief guest on our college’s annual day. Finally got to speak in front of an audience. Also giving more presentations in my class and attending many Toastmaster events.
Along with these I also visited the state of Rajasthan three months back. Alone. My first solo trip.

These may not be too grand to call as success but I am proud that I’m making progress. A little late compared to my peers but I’m in no hurry 😊.
Take your time. Don’t rush your life. Things will happen at their own course. Don’t compare yourself or your life with that of others. Everyone is running a different race.

Now stop for a second. Get up from your chair, go to trash can and dump everything I just said in the last 10 seconds. Done?
One thing you should always remember and never forget is that Life is what you make of it. I accept that circumstances [Schooling, College, Friend Circle] play their part, but you need to digest the fact that it always has been and will be so on YOU!! Results are never in our hand, but efforts always are.

I’ll relate again.

** The first time somebody questioned me about my hobbies, I should have introspected and started investing my time in a better way. Cultivating some hobbies. Probably guitar, dance or even beatboxing.
Which I didn’t.

** After refusing the offer by my English teacher I should have taken the time to improve my presentation skills, dialogue delivery and body language.
Which I didn’t.

** When our team lost the first match we should have analysed our game, practised more often and done all the things which would have made us better.
Which I didn’t.

I left all of them to chance.

Life belongs to the prepared. “One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation” – Arthur Ashe.
** You should not rush through life. But you should seek to be a better version of yourself each and every day. Suffer the pain of discipline or suffer the pain of regret.

** Things will happen at their own course. But you should not leave everything to chance. Even the Gita preaches to never focus on the results but to focus on the efforts. For example, I can’t expect my blog to go viral or reach XXX number of views. But I can put my daily effort into writing, say 500 words per day.

** Don’t compare yourself or your life with others. But you need to know where you stand. What skills the world would be requiring? How can you make yourself more useful? . You should know what strengths you can capitalise on and the weakness to work on.

** Everyone is running a different race. So study their mistakes. Don’t make them. Try to learn something from everyone. Develop a lattice work of mental models.*(1)
You are what you think you are.
You are what you do.
You are what you make of your time.

My next goals?
** A great university after graduation.

** 5000Km on cycle by June’18.

** 250 Blog posts by June’18.

** Make it to at least one football final by the end of the year.

** Work upon the mobile applications which I have been postponing upon.

And I sure as hell won’t leave them to chance.

Hey there, Nicolas Cole is one of my favourite writes on Quora and I look up to him. Do check out his profile and his answers. Very helpful and very insightful. And also please do like and comment on this article below and also share them with your friends and family if you liked it. Thank you 😊

Foot Notes:

(1) Mental Models of Charles Munger

15 Day Daily Blogging Challenge

By gaucho

On June 14, 2017

In Ideas and Reflections

December 3^rd was the day I started my blog and it has been six months now. It’s time for some introspection. How has the progress been? Pretty awful I would say.
6 Months and 8 Blog Posts- meaning 1 blog post per month. That’s pretty bad, right?! And 5 out of 8 written in the month of May. More like cluttering all of them at once. Even my close friend and confidant (and the only subscriber to this blog post) chided me for being irregular. What I’m looking for is consistency without compromising on the quality.

I’ll share my blog’s stats with you. Embarrassing!!

Why am I sharing this with you?
Let’s go the Simon Sinek way with WHY, HOW and WHAT

WHY am I doing this challenge?

Public Accountability. I haven’t really publicised my blog much. A handful of my friends know about this and 1 or 2 might be reading it. Once I do this challenge, at the very least most of my friends and acquaintances would take a look at this. That would mean I have this unspoken thrust to keep my word. My word of being consistent about my blogging. A bit scary. Yes!
But let me move out of my comfort zone. *takes deep breath*

How am I doing this challenge?

I will publicise this particular blog post across social media – Keeping it as my Whatsapp display picture and posting stories of daily progress on Whatsapp and Instagram.
All this was inspired by the Stickk approach :
* My GOAL : To post at least one blog post every day from June 14^th to June 28^th. A total of 15 blogposts at the minimum.
* SET THE STAKES : In case I miss posting a blog post on any day, I promise to send 50/- on PayTM to whoever observes that I missed it. I think 50/- is a reasonable amount.
*GET A REFEREE : My close friend would be the referee in this challenge seeing that I would not miss my daily deadline. Yes Coach!!
* ADD FRIENDS FOR SUPPORT : I would be really glad if you guys can leave a comment or share the articles which you like (and also ones which you didn’t) with your friends for added motivation.

What am I going to post in this challenge?

I have a lot of drafts to be completed which have been pending since December. A lot of interesting ideas too. Content has always been there. It’s the execution that matters. I’m positive that I won’t disappoint you with the quality.
Finally, I would really love if you help me get better in writing by
* suggesting edits/improvements in grammar and sentence formation
* commenting your thoughts on the blogposts you read
* sharing the posts with your friends and family

Hey there, do you have a goal on which you are not acting upon and keep procrastinating? It’s high time you started realising on your goals.
Try the Stickk approach. Very unique, very efficient and very rewarding.

Back to Fiction

By gaucho

On June 14, 2017

In Book Takeaways, Escapades

It’s been a long time since I read a fiction book. The last one was John Grisham’s The Firm back in December. It was a very riveting read and reminded me of the series Suits. The one before that…I don’t remember. I got so engrossed in reading one Non-Fiction book after another and also Biographies that I casually put fiction at the back. Zero to One, Hooked, Personal MBA etc were some of the finest books I have read. You feel you are learning a lot (and you are) when you read a Non-Fiction, equipping yourself for the real world and that is quite addictive. Finally, after a gap of 6months I read two novels in a week. The first was Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer and the other being Tell Me Your Dreams by Sidney Sheldon and both of them being the crème de la crème of the novels I have read. Both being thrillers, I was completely hooked.

Kane and Abel (No Spoilers)

* The plot is about two characters who are born on the same day at different places. The 1^st third of the novel covers the journey of protagonists through their childhood and teens. The tragedies they meet with will move you. It ends with both of them facing each other the first time and the start of their rivalry which goes on till the end. The 2^nd third involves their individual success journey and midlife, respective marriages and some major confrontations between them. The final third involves a subplot concerning their children and the last major showdown between them.
* Jeffrey Archer doesn’t hurry in building the main characters- Kane and Abel. He carefully crafts their persona and builds them both into equally shrewd gentlemen on the outside but caring and loving on the inside and the circumstances that made them that way.
The storytelling covers many facets- Tragedy, Romance, Friendship, Patriotism, Rivalry, Karma, Deceit, Attainment, Love, War and Finally… Peace.
* Tragedies strike early in their childhood at equal points of time. You feel a lot for both the characters and the novel stings you in the heart at places. Be it concerning Abel’s sister and wife or Kane’s parents and best friend. You also realise that the world is very unfair and also very cruel. You have to be on your guard at all times and always have a card up your sleeve. These days, its more about Survival than Success.
* When the subplot concerning their children started, I assumed where it was heading and was a bit let down but my assumptions were wrong. The author maintained the edgy flow right till the end and gives a more than satisfactory climax.
* There are many twists in the story, most of them expected and a few unexpected like the war meeting, Kane’s last year at his bank, etc.
On the whole, a very gripping and complete read. I would give it a 4 out of 5

Tell Me Your Dreams (No Spoilers Again)

* The plot is about three main characters and their involvement with 5 murders at different places. In the 1^st third, the author takes you through the life of the protagonists-their lifestyle, fears and insecurities and their romantic interests. It ends with the 4 murders happening and mention of a 5^th. In the 2^nd third, we see a court battle concerning 3 of the murders. The final 3^rd involves the setting of a rehabilitation centre as a consequence of the court judgement. The circumstances of all the murders are revealed here. And comes the unexpected final twist and a befitting conclusion.
* In contrast to Kane and Abel, I didn’t quite feel for the characters here. You’ll feel a little bit indifferent to the characters. All of them. Be it the protagonists or the deputy or the lawyer. A less emotionally appealing read on the whole.
* Some settings are not built properly. The courtroom was the most important scene and it seems to be hurried and leaves you unsatisfied.
* There are many twists in the novel. You’ll have expected most of them but the climax is very much unexpected.
* The novel ends with the Author’s note regarding female abuse. Shocking figures regarding them. You see the plight of women, even from the people she trusts.
On the whole, another gripping novel and I would give it a 3.7

The next novels on my reading list are The Murder on Orient Express by Agatha Christie and The Prodigal Daughter by Jeffrey Archer. Back to Fiction indeed!!!

Hey there, if you find it too tasking to read complete books why don’t you read summaries of popular books instead. These are the ones I go across frequently
* Paul Minors

* James Clear

* Booklet App on Google Play Store

* Derek Sivers

And please do Like, Comment and Share this article with your friends if you liked it. THANK YOU!!