“Among all the creations of God; human beings alone have the ability to make impossible things possible, achieve the unbelievable, see the invisible, and create its own destiny.”
Author–Nabaghan Ojha.
Nabaghan a bibliophile, is an avid reader of philosophy, mythology, and scriptures. He likes to call himself, ‘A thinker with a difference.’
His works extensively involve social issues in India and abroad. A committed contributor to the world development platforms, Nabaghan dedicates his debut book to the wish of his friends and well-wishers from the ‘Paradise of Change’, an institution for intelligent life.
Nabaghan went to the University of Delhi. And is a recipient of the prestigious ‘Commonwealth Scholarship’ for his Master’s at Bangor University, UK. He lives in Bhubaneswar, the temple city of eastern India.
The Title – A Conversation With Time
The Language – English.
The Genre Specifics – Faction–Non-fiction laced with fiction. (Inspirational, Philosophy, Self help, Religious.)
The Publication – Evincepub Publishing
The Style – Contemporary (Informal)
1. The Title – Pivotal, around which the book is based. The author talks about ‘Time’ as a personification. The ‘Time incarnate’ converses with us in its various forms at various phases of our lives.
2. The Book Cover – Thematic and aptly conceptualized, with symbolic representation of ‘Time’ and a man (Representing planet earth and the living beings in general) looking up to it, in the backdrop.
3. The Storyline – Philosophy with a blend of religious dogma, tackled with scientific theory and its basis. It is not purely a Non-fiction book, but written with a dash of fiction to make it interesting and seem conversational.
4. The Theme – However successful we may be on our own merits, yet while thinking on a higher plane disturbs our inner calm. The conflict of thoughts and the ambiguity of unanswered questions about our existence leads to the quest for its solutions. Thence, the concept of this book took form, which attempts to answer and explain these fundaments of wisdom through its fictional characters. It is a classic blend of rich knowledge of ancient traditions and modern science. The author has extracted precious pearls of wisdom from Indian Scriptures and ingeniously interpreted it in the current perspective, and presented the blend to the readers as ‘A Conversation With Time’.
The book elaborates upon a spiritually enriched life through focused, positive thinking. Clarity of purpose in life, also the divine aim of one’s life for a fruitful living.
5. The Characters – Protagonist Nishit, a successful modern youth, and Yogeshwar, a man of wisdom, and divine understandings are the central characters in the story.
6. The Narration & Style – The author has told the story in the shifting POV. The contemporary informal style of the narrative does all right. The language is simple and conversational. There are barely any dialogues and most of the narrative is in dramatic monologue. I found the narration a tad stretched at times. A crisper version would have added to the pace and made it a faster read.
7. Whose read – A Philosophical note with a touch of fiction to convey the universal message, to the society at large. “The new way of leading the life and taking up leadership to make this planet a beautiful place for all the living beings.”
Good potential in the Self Help/Spiritual Enlightenment niche of the readership. The book sits heavy on my table towards serious readers. Nevertheless, anyone looking for motivational upliftment with a blend of spirituality and religion in the modern context can go for it.
8. What I liked – Amalgamation of religious philosophy, and the wisdom thereof, and its scientific basis elaborated through interesting parables, particularly from Mahabharata, has been deftly handled by the author. Many of the things you may have already read can be re-read with author’s fresh perspective.
and – Little moral stories, relevant citations and quotations are very interestingly and thoughtfully chosen by the author, hold a special place in the book. There is something to be learnt from each one of them for all us.
and – A sign that I look out for, in a good writer, is to be able to grab and most importantly continue to hold the interest of the reader with whatever he is trying to say through his writings. Nabaghan does it efficiently from the cover to cover.
then – Easy and light read, with barely two characters to provide a fictional garb to the entire non-fictional concept.
9. Not as much–There is nothing to dislike in the content as it has some in-depth thinking and an amazing assemblage of, ‘Words of wisdom’. Although, I would have personally preferred the content to be presented in a niche style. Fictional scenes/dialogues/settings, needed a little more attention. I would have liked it more, had they been prominently brought out in the narrative.
My appraisal – The review is based on the specific genre to match it evenly.
Narrated in the third-person shifting POV. Written in a contemporary style. The book meant for the young adults would attract the serious readers instead. It revolves around the protagonist Nishit, and Yogeshwar, his philosopher, guide and confidante. And deserves to be read.
I hope that gives you a clear insight. Must grab your copy and check it out, folks. Drop in your comments on this review, until the next.
End Note – A lot of man-hours, hard work, emotions, love, care and above all some deep thinking has been put into writing so much; kudos for that. Thank you, Nabaghan, for giving us another thinker, writer and philosopher. Keep up the good work. Cheers!!