Author: Namrata
Publisher: Revelation House Books
Language: English
No. of pages: 162
Year of Publication: 2015
ISBN: 9789381841617
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Love is one of the most amazing feelings on this earth, one that makes you the most powerful person or the most helpless person in a split second. These stories capture those feelings of despair, longing, love, lust, desire, want, dejection and admiration to create deja vu. Hold onto your hearts as you flip through these pages and take a walk down the memory lane, as "metro diaries" will revive your innermost feelings and imbibe in you the magic of love. Touching, amusing and deeply moving, metro diaries - love classics are tales that will hold you from start till end.
About the Author:
If someone were to ask her to describe herself the one befitting word would be “ A Dream Catcher” followed by a child - woman, a dreamer, a dancer, a bibliophile, an author, a poetess, a writer, a painter, a singer, a go-getter, a doer, and an achiever. Having a decade’s experience to boast of in the corporate world, Namrata today is striving to strike a balance between her dreams and reality.
Mastering the nuances of finance does not deter her from giving voice to her inner most feelings at her Blogs. Having been bitten by the writing bug very early in age she had her first poem published in a coffee table book "Letters from the Soul" anthology of poems at the age of 17. Since then she has been a contributing author to many anthologies and has penned her first book Metro Diaries which is a collection of love stories. Apart from being a reviewer for leading publishing houses, she is also the editor for various books along with Writer’s Ezine. (An online mag)
Her world is made up of loads of wonderful books, a handful of beautiful souls and tons of memories she gathers every moment. She dreams of making a difference to the world, one word at a time!
Mastering the nuances of finance does not deter her from giving voice to her inner most feelings at her Blogs. Having been bitten by the writing bug very early in age she had her first poem published in a coffee table book "Letters from the Soul" anthology of poems at the age of 17. Since then she has been a contributing author to many anthologies and has penned her first book Metro Diaries which is a collection of love stories. Apart from being a reviewer for leading publishing houses, she is also the editor for various books along with Writer’s Ezine. (An online mag)
Her world is made up of loads of wonderful books, a handful of beautiful souls and tons of memories she gathers every moment. She dreams of making a difference to the world, one word at a time!
My Views:
The words used bring the characters to life and you see the scenes happening in front of your eyes, as if you are witnessing someone's life invading their space.
The simplicity of the stories in this book makes it an easy read.
Each story seems to be taken from someone's day to day life. The letters in this book seem to be from someone's diary.
The sentiments - real.
The cover design is the kind that would make you pick up the book to explore the content. The font size makes it possible to read at nights, which is how I like to read.
Instead of writing my views on individual stories like I do when reviewing an anthology, I would prefer mentioning the lines from each story that left a lasting impression on my mind.
- Once in a Lifetime: It is said, in life you meet many people who will make you, break you, hurt you and hug you. But it happens once in a lifetime that you will meet someone who will define you like none other. And that day you will realize what is it to be alive.
- Then, Now and Forever: Love is always beautiful then, now and forever. It is people who make it ugly.
- Love Thy Dreams: I am a dream that could remain incomplete to complete you, a star that could could fall to make your wish come true.
- The Wait: As you lie beside me, blissfully unaware of the turmoil your touch creates in me every time you turn, I keep staring at you.
- A Secret Revealed: But as they say, love truly finds its way. And it did. It entered through my heart, melted my fears, strengthened my thoughts, weakened my doubts and hugged my dreams
- A Promise of a Lifetime: It maybe unfair, but what happens in a few days, sometimes even a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime.
- Will You?: You take me in your arms and look into my eyes; in that moment I lived a thousand lives. I feel your warmth all around me as your rays color my world in various hues.
- Love Beyond Words: My definition of love was scarred beyond recognition till I met you and all of a sudden those scars became beautiful. You pushed me to delve deeper and bring out the beautiful me, who was hiding quietly amidst the ugliness. You not only made me redefine love, you made me redefine life, and most importantly myself!
- Imperfectly Perfect: He almost made a dash to the station just to be on time when her train arrived. It didn't matter to him that she barely noticed him or that she rushed into the arms of a man who seemed to be her lover. All that mattered to him were those three minutes where he would just watch her alighting from the train and walking till the spot where that man waited for her every day.
- A Thing called Love: When did he fall in love with her? Was it that day when she had cutely smiled at him with her mouth stuffed with gol-gappas or wait ... that evening amidst the heavy rains when they were walking together in silence? Or maybe... that night when in a moment of weakness he had made love to her.
- The Sole Soulmate: He continued walking on the beach towards the edge, where the orange sky seemed to meet the brown earth. 'What a beautiful way of co-existence ... One merges into another without losing their identity. A perfect amalgamation of made for each other.'
- The Yellowed Diary: Perched on the shoulders of your imagination I have seen every nook and corner of your city. Even today as I close my eyes, I can still smell the flowers of the annual natural exhibition held in your town every winter. I can sense the breeze ruffling my hair as we go on a drive on your bike, though we have never been on one. I try to imagine you straightening my tangled hair softly as you try to steal a peck.
- You Me and Love: I had read somewhere that you are your most vulnerable when you are asleep. And the only strength that you have is your thoughts. Every night before she sleeps, I remind her what she means to me, so that the power of my love seeps into her thoughts, giving her all the strength that she needs. If anything were to happen to either of us, I always want to ensure the last thing I said or heard was I love you.
- Unlocked: He knew he did not love her but there was something else also that he knew; he needed her. He needed her by his side as he kept chasing his dreams; he needed to speak to her about all his fears; just to regain his strength; he needed to know she was there by his side come whatever may; he needed to hear her voice when the chaos of the world got too much to bear; he needed to touch her to feel alive; he needed to feel her skin next to his as he slept every night. He needed her beyond words could define.
- Memories: Turning back the pages of time, the memory captured in that moment etched in my heart clearly starts making movements, breathing, kicking and finally, it comes completely alive. Plucking a leaf out of my wandering thoughts, I grab a thread and weave it around the memory, just to hold it a bit more tightly.
- A Message of Love: Today I met you again in my dreams. You still looked the same, untouched and pristine like one of those beautiful poems, written somewhere in the heavens. I wanted to touch you once and believe you are for real, but for the fear of the unknown I sat there staring at you for long, wondering what went on in His mind when He would have created you. He surely must be feeling poetic, wanting to created a swan song that would haunt the readers for years together.
- Her: When she smiled, it felt as if he didn't need any more reasons to live and the moment a tear would begin its journey in her eyes, his heart would break into a thousand pieces and perhaps even more. He hated her frowning face. Hated it with a pain known only to him, for she defined beauty with her smile.
- Love Revisited: What followed was silence, not the uncomfortable one but one that comes after the storm has passed away, signalling that all is well now.
- The Last Letter: Every morning I wake up with the same dream of meeting you. With open hair, wisps of hair flying across your face, those lowered dark kohl lined eyes and a faint smile on your face, you look like a poetry formed somewhere in the thresholds of my imagination, waiting to be given a form. Off late, I noticed there is a need inside me, a need to see you in my dreams every night just to remember the reason behind my existence.
- You and I: I remember long ago when you had proposed to me for marriage and I had refused, you had told me that marriage was nothing but a piece of paper for you and it won't change anything, for I was, I am and will always be your wife.
Overall, the book was a good read; that said - there were a few things I would have changed/corrected in the book.
There are a some lines; some stories that could have been written in a much better way and since I know the author personally, I have seen her grow in her writings with time and I am sure the Metro Diaries - 2, if it is ever compiled would show her as an improved author.
