Book Review: Murder in Amaravati

Book Details

Title: Murder in Amaravati

Author: Sharath Komarraju

Format: Paperback

Pages: 220

ISBN: 9381506108

Publication: Amaryllis

Price: Rs.250

My Ratings: 4.5 out of 5

It has been a considerable hiatus from book reviewing for me- Pre-Exam Stress, Post Exam Stress and then House Renovation stress. So amidst all the transitions in my life (and I am being overtly dramatic about this one!) I was mailed by Blogadda that I was one of the chosen bloggers to review this book titled, Murder in Amravati, written by Sharath Komarraju. What fascinated me the most was it's cover design, and being a slightly aligned feminist, the idea of opening a closet of murder mystery and suspense of a woman who was the village hostess (who in today's lingo would be the prostitute).



The setting of the plot is in a typical village with a sarpanch, a priest, a postman and some others with their respective families living peacefully in a neatly hierarchized order which no one in the village dishonoured. But trouble arrived in its chariot, shaking the volatile stability of this village of Amravati when Padmavati is found within closed doors of the temple at the idol's feet, lifeless. An autopsy identifies drowning to be the cause of death while the village-men speculate and brush it off as an act of suicide by Padmavati to get rid off her sins. The mystery thickens as it is revealed to the police constable, Venkat Reddy who had gone to record the case, that the only keys to the closed room were with the priest, Krishna Shastri. Other characters join in the bandwagon of suspects as Reddy determines to dig the case further instead of agreeing to the villagers plea to let the case be as a suicide.




Seetaraamaiah(The Sarpanch), Satyam(postmaster), Lakshmi(Satyam's wife), Shekhar(half-paralysed), Vaishnavi(Shekhar's wife), Kishore(Sarpanch's son) and Indira(Sarpanch's daughter who is fully paralysed) are some of the characters who seem to be the multi-focal points to the murder that Reddy begins to investigate each of them and corresponding their statements across to reach conclusions about what actually happened to Padmavati. How did she die of drowning? If she had died, then how did the body come inside the temple? If it was a murder, who killed her?It is amazing to see that there are first-time authors who come up with such impressive story-telling skills and it is so readable that I could not turn my attention away from it, despite all the chaos I had in my house during the renovation-the book simply hooked me on to it as the story unravelled itself. It has all the masala- suspense, easy language and readability and narration to make it a national best-seller. In a market, where every author thinks of himself/herself as a best-selling one, this guy truly has reasons to celebrate.




A different concept, and interesting commentary with the polarities of the characters gives a different edge to this book. However I must add that the promotions for this book seems to be insufficient. Not many people know about the book which clearly shows a lack of interest and knowledge in both the author's and the publisher's case. Such inadequacy of promotion and marketing leads to the losing out of the audience in the book market which has now threateningly become more of a flea market. Also another point that seemed iffy was that it is priced at a very high price of Rs..250 which in comparison to the other books floating in the market, is too costly. This might again prove to be unprofitable for the book.Nonetheless, I liked the book as a whole and thus, proudly give it a 4.5 out of 5.








This review is brought to you by Blogadda . 

The author can be contacted here: www.sharathkomarraju.com

The Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/AmaravatiNovel
You can buy the book here: 

Be The Ray of Hope this Summers!

Dearest Kyra,


Summer has to be my time, when I shed off the inhibitions that circulate around a girl who isn't 36-24-36. Unlike winters, summer is a time of brightness merry-making and colours! Wearing bright coloured clothes, nude shades of lipsticks and red nail paints is truly blissful!


But then, I am sure there are people who can sob throughout the entire day cussing the summer heat, sitting in air-conditioned rooms and sip lemon colas! I am so glad that it is that time of the year when I can run around in the streets wearing half pants and no one would object; when I can go to my neighbour's house and pluck some amazing mangoes from his tree and suckle on it till my heart's content! This is that time of the year when I can remember my aunt, and her beautiful smile and the way she filled my life with excitement and joy every time she hugged me!




Summers make me feel nostalgic. This aunt of mine wasn't blood-related but seemed as close as family. I met her when I went to an old age home from our school. This was six years back! I still remember how she was keenly knitting a sweater for her son, as I walked into the façade.She was so tiny and back-wrenched that she could be easily mistaken for a child, even though her grey tresses spoke of the wisdom and experience, her life had provided her. I can still feel her voice tingling into my ears as she narrated how her son dumped her in that old age home, and also kept stressing and over-stressing on how good her son is. I'd  been so upset- how could one's own child be this cruel, I wonder even today as I see thousands of such elderly men and women strawing out the last couple of years of their lives in some one-roomed boxes where they are left to make a "home" out of those houses.


I am not sure if the same happens in your country too or not, though I pray it doesn't! No parent deserves such a life, for all the sacrifices they make! This was Revathi aunty's last summer, as she passed away ten days back due to a cardiac arrest in her sleep. She left me a note: 


"Keep Smiling and Keep the Smile passing.
Lots of Love,
Revathi Aunty"






I always believed man cannot fathom his own time of death or re-birth. But aunty knew she was going. And she wanted me to continue what we did for the last six years. I will do it, not just for myself or for others, but for Her. Because she taught me how, by being that one ray of hope to someone, could mean immense transformation for many others. It is like, what you would have studied in the sciences to be the "Treble Effect".


While we gorge on mangoes, wear our bikinis and go for our summer games in the sun, I'd love it if you come along with me to the old age home Vishwas, where Revathi aunty stayed and the orphanage, Khawahish just adjacent to it. Every year, on the 3rd of June(her son's birthday) me and Aunty went to the nearby temple to pray and after that we bought stationery and cakes for the kids in the orphanage and took the elderly people from the old age to the orphanage and all of us celebrated the day-laughing, playing games and most importantly, spending time with each other. And every year she'd buy me a little token which she said was a token of thanksgiving for being a heralder of the Ray of Hope. 


And she'd asked me to pass it on to someone else, and who else for me but you Kyra! You have not just been a cousin, but rather a soul sister to me. We are not just pen friends and once we meet after you come here, we'll be closer than real sister, I promise! Come over and we'll have a great time together!




P.S.
I am sending you some gifts that Aunty had gifted me, the Lakme Sun Expert creme that will be the only thing you'll need once you land in here to beat the heat. It is special to me, because I love this product and of course, it is a gift from my dear aunt and I am sure you'll love it too! Also, I had recorded a song for her on her last birthday and she wanted me to gift it to whoever I thought could be the next heralder of the Ray of Hope. So I am sharing this song with you, and I am sure you will feel her around you too and remember her words!
See you soon, Kyra!






Loads of love and remember, Keep smiling and passing it on!Be the ray of hope for someone!





28th of May,2012

This entry has been written for the Indiblogger contest, Lakme Diva Blogger Contest. Please do leave in your comments about the post. Indibloggers may vote for my post HERE.

Lover's Cove Challenge

So, the challenge here is to construct a poem, written by different bloggers. The prompt comes from my friend Andy's Blog

I am posting this on the Linky here. You may follow the Lover's Cove Challenge post HERE to know more.

Title: (to be determined later)
Andy’s line: A sleeping flower is more beautiful than a heart without love.

Kriti’s line: But I bleed enjoying your thorns of love, rest awhile so I may breathe

Punam's line: The loss of your love, O Heart!  Put me to an eternal ignorant sleep

My Line: And let me dream of a distant peace, that keeps swaying from me to him




Do try and enter your lines in here too! :)

This Ache

This ache
moulds
dispassionately casts,
making me breathe,
then gulp, breathless
a cord tightly
clasps the unspoken words
that threatened to break free
from the kiln.
The wheel works it's way
spinning all of it, into an unshaped vessel
that never fills, only gloats sometimes
when the night is young for the sleepless
and too old for those who know
it'll come back again tomorrow
to tap on what rests within
like clay
the ache
that'll bake the moist tenderness;
fluid and porous
till the residue is left:
black tar of venomous ugliness
into this bowl of vile
This ache
rests, gleaming
till it coldens into rock,
This ache.

PLEASE NOTE: A wonderful prompt given where I had to think of one particular profession/trade/job and use the verbs that are commonly associated with them to write a poem on a completely different subject.

So here, the profession is that of a Potter. And my subject is The Ache. That is devoid of any other feeling or emotion. That has no cause nor consequence of it's own. Just remains. Not static but not moving. Like a heartbeat, it leaves a sense of it's presence and yet, affirms it's absence when it gets a little too crowded, if you know what I mean..